 Good afternoon. My name is Autumn McDonald and I am the head of New America, California. Thank you for tuning in to this webinar, Latinx Economic Resilience in the Time of COVID. This is our eighth online conversation since mid-April. Others have focused on COVID in the black community, small business supports, and we're imagining work in the workforce. New America is a think-and-action take based out of Washington, DC. New America, California's efforts focus on issues of economic equity, community voice and agency, as well as how those with lived experiences can drive policy and systems change. I'm incredibly grateful to our speakers for being with us today. I'm also particularly grateful to our moderators, Cecilia Munoz and Lily Genghis. Lily, a huge thank you to you and to the K-PoY Center for your partnership and for co-leading this conversation. Cecilia, thank you to you as well, so much for your amazing mentorship as well as your national leadership. And for agreeing to moderate not one but two of these conversations. I'm really excited to be able to be here as a participant and listen and learn. And with that, I would love to pass it over to our incredible moderators. Thank you so much, Lily and Cecilia. Thank you so much, Autumn. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome. Autumn, thanks to you for all the hard work in setting this up, and thanks to our participants and Lily and Echoing. Autumn, thanks to you for hosting and for your partnership and for co-moderating with me. I have been looking forward to this because we have a really extraordinary group of panelists. So I'm just going to introduce them briefly and then pass the microphone as it were across the country to Lily. So we have with us Jacqueline Martinez-Garcel, who is the CEO of the Latino Community Foundation. Irma Olguin, who is the co-founder and CEO of Bitwise Industries. Jose Quignones, who is also founded the Mission Assets Foundation. Who is also founded the Mission Asset Fund and is the CEO and Amanda Venteria, who is the brand new lead CEO of Code for America, which is a very, very important partner of New Americas. I am kind of fangirling all over all of you. I'm very, very excited about this conversation. And let me kick it over to Lily to get us started. Over to you. Great. Thank you so much, Cecilia. And thank you so much to our panelists right here. And thank you to you all who are joining us today across the U.S. and maybe even global, who knows, who's registered as well, specifically in these such important and crucial times. We are in the midst of a global pandemic and one of the largest social movements with Black Lives Matter. And so being able to have the time and space is really important for us. So thank you all for being here as well. And that note, I'm Lily Ganges. She heard pronouns. I serve as the Chief Technology Community Officer at the Caper Center. And for those who may not know where the Caper Center is, I'll do a quick brief and then we'll jump right in. The Caper Center we focus on making the tech ecosystem and entrepreneurship more diverse, inclusive, and impactful, but only focusing on closing gaps of access via STEM education, investments, intersectional research partnerships, and advocacy. And more personally as the Latina, immigrant from Bolivia, proud Bolivian, Boston Community Engagement in Tech is super critical. I'm honored to be here with you all to raise awareness on the specific, this proportional impact COVID is having in our communities of color, specifically the Latinx community. With more data being shared and increasing spread, it's definitely sobering. Just in California this week, we're anticipating over 100,000 cases being diagnosed, especially in an area that I call home, which is Oakland, right in Fruitvale, right in East Oakland, we're starting to see even more significant rise, according to some data from the USF Chronicle. And so these implications we know are also just beyond healthcare and they're across entire economic spectrum for an unforeseen time with a large subset of essential workers that are also Latinx. And so I wanted to set some of the context today because we know that there's a lot of ground to cover today. And as you can see from our panelists, we have an amazing cross sector representation. And with some of the leaders in our community that are seeing some of these impacts and changes directly. So with that said, let's get started. And let's move the dialogue into what are the things that we can do to move forward with resilience. But before we do that, I would love to start with Jacqueline. And if you can please share your two-minute story of how this whole movement in time, especially the impact COVID is having, how does that connect with where you're at personally right now? First of all, Lili and Cecilia, thank you for hosting the conversation. I know like Jose and Amanda Niedema, we've been on a multiple calls and panels talking about this. So it feels like we're on a revolving chair just sitting down talking and doing. I'm also an immigrant daughter of parents who immigrated to the Republic in the 1960s. Jose, I love your background because it's reminding me of home right now, a place I'd rather be in at this moment. Personally for me, I'm daughter of a Black Dominican father, I should say, and a white Dominican mother. So in this space right now with the Black Lives Matter movement, thankful that the unity and the history that is shared between Blacks and Latinos in this country will move us to the right direction right now, counting on all of our young leaders who've been leading the movement and who have been not just organizing in the streets, but also organizing and run for office. And Amanda, grateful for your history in this space too of making sure that our young people have the space to speak about an agenda that speaks of their to their issues and their priorities. So I've been living in California for four years now and I came here because Latinos make up a majority of the population of plurality in the state, 39% of the population and run an organization that exists to unleash the civic and economic power of Latinos because we've been the economic engine of our state and have yet to benefit from the prosperity that the state actually boasts about. So like everyone on this panel have been working to invest in Latino leaders, Latino led organizations that are on the front lines of investing in our youth and our families and creating those opportunities to access capital, to access jobs, to create new jobs, to be the entrepreneurs that is in our DNA, but figuring out ways where we can invest in them and elevate and amplify the range of creativity and leadership that comes from being Latino in this country. And so, you know, this has slowed us down in part because I've been personally impacted, had six family members in March 26 who were diagnosed, three died by April 19. This morning spoke to some cousins in South Florida, two of them have gotten a positive result. And so while trying to navigate the professional, there's still this immediate impact that's hitting close to home and trying to navigate and take care of my own mental health because there are mornings that I wake up where I'm just trying to figure out where do I even get started. And that's just real for a lot of our leaders right now that are on the front lines. Thank you so much for sharing Jacqueline and I know that these are challenging times and so thank you for sharing so much of that. So definitely appreciated. Irma, you're not too far from Oakland. How are you doing? How is this specifically also impacting you personally? What's a two-minute story there? Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's much more than two minutes but I think what you're going to hear from each of the panelists is how personal this has become, not just the disproportionate impact of COVID on the Latino community but also on our businesses in the way that we choose to live our lives. I think that each of us on the panel, we have dedicated ourselves to a life of service and that manifests this way in a number of different ways. And I think that that's unique also to the Latinx community in the way that so many of the folks that you're seeing sort of come through in leadership do so from a place of service specifically to help to lift up other folks in our same communities. And so even though there's an addition to there being this disproportionate effect on our community life, I think there's also a disproportionate effect on our personal life, on our missional and spiritual lives and then of course as Jacqueline was saying, our mental and emotional well-being as we watch our actual family members and our actual friends and the folks who serve us coffee and those types of things in our daily lives become afflicted with all of the number of things that are going on. So it's very, very close to home and I don't mean that in a hyperbolic way. I can name names and I can tell their stories kind of way. It's not an abstract thing and it's not just a matter of headlines that you see that are affecting someone else someplace else in the country. I think in addition to that as a member of the LGBTQ community and just coming off of pride month and sort of celebrating that in a way that hasn't ever been experienced in this country, meaning there was no true celebration and in many ways sort of sharing this time with the Black Lives Matter movement incredibly, incredibly important. I think that what we're seeing is this sort of on a very personal level you feel like it's never been more important to be you and in addition to that it's never been more important to be you out loud and that feels you know when I think about all of the different things that are happening in the world today, COVID and the recession and any number of things that we can list and talk about, it's super personal and it feels really, really important to do things like this panel to make sure that what we're doing is very, very public and to sort of revisit the mission of all of the different ways that we spend our time. Definitely, definitely. It's a little journey that I think provides us that even extra fire under us right to to represent for our communities as well and so thank you so much for sharing that. Amanda I'm going to go next to you, see how you're doing, well how are you personally experiencing this moment? Yeah first of all I just want to say thank you for inviting me on this call with so many leaders on the phone not just in the state but who are national leaders really changing the discussion to really bring in the Latinx voice and so it's really honor to be with you. So you know for me my story begins in the Central Valley and I look everything through that lens have throughout my entire life. My parents were former farm workers and I grew up in the lowest income congressional district in this state among the 10th lowest income across the country and as I look about as I look at what we are going through as a country I have to say having spent most of my life in public service both on the policy and politics side you know our communities have been going through a lot for a long time and now add in COVID and now add in essential workers and now add in economic instability and what we are embarking on political instability as well and for me what has been something I've thought a lot about over the course of time is how invisible some of our communities are some of our hentais and right now we need to see them more than ever. I just started a CEO role at Code for America and in part I did it for three different reasons. Number one I still believe government is the place that we can make change at scale. Number two I think technology can be that magic bridge so that it serves everyone and number three if we're going to recreate this government right now which we have an opportunity to do we've got to do it with a much broader lens and I'm proud to be part of an organization that for the last 10 years have really been serving and seeing the kind of communities that I grew up in and I know we're going to talk more about this but I just want to tell this story here because I don't often get a chance to tell it but the day my first day of starting this job of Code for America was the first day that we launched the disaster relief assistance act for immigrants and Code for America sat right next to the state of California to do that and it will forever have shaped this chapter of my life because I believe that we as a tech world we as public servants need to make sure that we are seeing all of our communities especially in this moment so some folks might look at Code for America and go oh those are the techies that make government work but the truth is what we are really doing at CFA is using the tools and language of technology to reimagine a government that actually sees and serves all of its people and so with that heavy sense of responsibility again it's an honor to be with all of you on this call thank you Amanda and if for the folks who are joining us and just joined us we are in for an amazing amazing experience I'm already so inspired by all what's been shared so far and just understanding also how it is personal and I think that that's one of the parts that I think it's going to be very important to also have the marathon mindset as we go forward and so now with Jose how are you feeling this moment and tell us a little bit more about yourself as well thank you and I was having some tech issues and going from one conversation to the other it's been overwhelming I mean I just I tell people that you know in the past three months we've been working books at math particularly working harder than ever before and I think it's because the moment requires us to do as you know the most that we can do because you know the issues they they're impacting our communities are so overwhelming and so yeah so I feel overwhelmed I mean I think that we hear from clients in our daily basis we're getting emails we're getting Facebook messages we're getting send desks you know tickets I mean we're getting calls you know a day in day out of people you know just you know their financial lives have been devastated and and that's what we do at math is to help people help low income you know families immigrants particularly to build the financial lives and so to sort of see a lot of our work just sort of like evaporate if you will on one day to the next one week to the next is because of the of the crisis of the pandemic or just the lack of you know government help and support of our people it's just it's just overwhelming I mean I just I don't know how to also say it and but but but we're using that sort of sense of frustration really to you know power our our efforts you know even more so right do not walk away from you know the work or not walk away from this moment but to really try to figure out what else can we do I mean how can we choose finance for good how can we use tech for good how can we do more do different things so that that while we can you know step step in and and and and provide some relief for people I know this is something that you know I've always been passionate about and trying to work with you know work and work for and advocate for immigrants as an immigrant myself you know I know the struggles that people go through uh in fact you know uh this week 40 years ago we came to this country I was a nine-year-old from Mexico we walked across the US-Mexico border in the dead of night on the 4th of July you know uh you know as a nine-year-old I saw all the fireworks you know blazing in San Diego and I thought I was like a welcoming committee I didn't think that it's a funny joke that I tell myself but you know but uh every time I see the fireworks on the 4th of July I actually remind myself of that of that journey that I took you know as a you know as a young kid and also within our family and 40 years later you know here I am but but not never forgetting the struggles never forgetting where we come from never forgetting that you know that the key components that made us survive and thrive as a family and and that's what we try to espouse you know frankly within math and everything that we do you know uh in our work for support of of immigrants and families alike so so I'm always been driven by this issue um and then because of that you know in moments like this when our communities are not just in the front lines but they're the ones being disproportionately impacted by by the you know COVID crisis and you know even health-wise I think you know if people like us in you know in positions of leadership and you know being professionals we have to do more you know and so so I'm I'm I'm feeling that way uh and uh but but every day we wake up and we have to sort of say well what else can we do you know because we cannot be you know we can't let um uh you know we can't we can't just let that you know what's happening go on and answer go on answer if you will so let me jump jump in here um I'm finding this conversation very moving for two reasons one because I have a lot of anger myself at the extent to which we know from our experience in the community but which the data also tells us the extent to which as a community we're affected by the virus um some numbers put out two weeks ago by the Brookings institution found that we are Latinos are more likely to get sick than other populations and we know this right we we could have told you this at the beginning of the pandemic that that would be true because we know we're overrepresented among essential workers um and African Americans and and and Latinos are also um dying at higher rates um and sometimes by a factor of eight to ten compared to um people who are white in our same age cohorts those are huge huge disparities um and it means that the policy decisions that are being made uh by government at every level you know as usual kind disproportionately affect us but in a way which is obviously very painful and Jacqueline that you you shared with us your you know your grief and your loss and thank you for your generosity and doing that what I'm hearing from all of you right is that you're feeling personally affected um and at the same time the need to kind of dust yourself off and make sure that you are bringing your best self to your work um for the Latino community foundation what does that mean in this moment how are you focusing your work um in this moment of crisis in the community so you said dust off I feel like I'm so crawling from underneath the weight of the moment and to host this point understanding that we're standing in front of uh opportunity and I know that's hard and I that's why I had to share where I was coming from personally because literally wiping the tears away in the morning just to kind of get started but realizing that we're standing out across roads where the walls are caving in um the policies as we've known it we know they haven't worked we've all been sounding the alarm that when a public health crisis like this will hit it will hit the black and Latino community the most because it's not going to follow just a random pattern it's going to follow the patterns that we've created with the systems we've created so we've all been sounding the alarm now we're living it in the middle of a global pandemic for us it's just really heightened and raised the volume of the importance of our mission unleashing the civic and economic power of Latinos what does that look like in California well 7.9 million eligible voters are Latinos here in the state of california the largest voting block in the entire country here in the state of california people will say oh california is not a blue state well there are important elections happening in fresno merced and bakersfield and we're now beginning to see even the fresno city council for example amanda i know you appreciate finally reflect the demographic of the region salinas is a place that is predominantly latino over 70 percent when you look at city council the leadership it does not reflect the people so the idea of changing what life will look like the ac moment the after coronavirus moment will have to be one where Latinos and the black community are overrepresented in making policies overrepresented in government because for far too long we have not been there and when we come with our lived experiences to those spaces we will create policies that make sense we will create policies that can be executed in the real world we will create policies and opportunities that will touch the lives of people thankful that i live in the state right now that is pretty progressive thankful that there are about a hundred million dollar set aside for small businesses but are we also making sure that that money is being made available by not just banks but also uh cdfi is like um uh inclusive action in la which is a nonprofit organization that now has the capacity to provide capital to street vendors because by the way they're making a living to support their family so are we widening the definition of what an entrepreneur looks like and then investing in them so that someone like caridad who's from boil heights who's selling tamales and posole to keep her family fed actually has the opportunity to access money to grow her business just just like in 1987 when we celebrated baby boom this woman who was making applesauce in her house and everybody's like yeah that's the american dream when we think about entrepreneurs we're not thinking about the street vendors and the woman making that if us to sell to keep their children fed right so expanding the definition of that having people in policy making positions that will make money and capital available to our communities when they needed where they need it and then on the and that's me merging the civic and economic power because it's not just about voting we know we gotta got our communities registered to vote and vote but it's also how are we creating the pipelines of those individuals to run from office from a place of understanding where the real world our world is coming from right and so sisi to answer your question it's going on the offense not just thinking about the defense of survival right now which we are in um just got off a bunch of calls with our staff talking about the organizations and studying us who've been incredibly hit not just the families are serving but their staff so it is an issue of how do we support them to just even keep their heads up and above water right now while at the same time understanding that there's a moment of us reimagining a new economy reimagining a new democracy a stronger democracy that's more reflective of who we are and that's where looking at community foundation sits um stands i won't even say sit where we stand and we're running towards to really just build that power here in the state of california so great let me ask one more and then lily i'll hand back to you um amanda i'm really familiar with code for america's work we're partners um and you know you described what was happening your first day you also work a lot on making sure people can access the safety net making sure people can access justice what are you seeing in this moment that is relevant to what code for america does and how you can make a difference yeah so our approach at code for america is really to partner with a lot of organizations that are out there but we do the work we actually deliver the services um our and and one of the big pieces that we've been working on for a really long time is how do you build a strong social safety net and the thing not a lot of people might not have thought very much about and all of a sudden find there's themselves a lot more in it understanding that it's particularly important to our black and brown communities i want to share this story which is for me as i think about the latino community i think about our kids not only because i have kids who are also in school but when you think about the kids 55 percent of our kids in school are latino right now when you think about that statistic across the country it's almost not different of the nine largest cities 10 out of nine out of the 10 largest cities majority are latinos place like houston it's you know in the 60s even a place like bosson that you might think of not think much about 42 percent of public school kids are latino this is the part that bugs me though um we at code for america really read what's happening out there and we try and drive it through the data and here's a here's a stat that we've focused on about 16 percent of households with kids reporting that children were not eating enough in the previous week 29 percent of black household holds and 24 percent of hispanic households reported that children were not eating enough compared with nine percent of white households these levels are incredible are insane and devastating one of the things that we have been working on and what we what we asked ourselves at coach for america is what can we do well there's a program out there that's a pandemic ebt and this is essentially creating cash assistance so that families can buy groceries particularly families who are on school nutrition programs this is important for two reasons number one we have a lot of our kids in schools number two it's one of the few programs that actually help immigrant families make sure that they have food on the table um so we launched with the state of california as well as with a number of other states across the country 88 percent of states currently right now have pandemic ebt programs in place and they're looking towards implementation so code for america is trying to partner with as many as we possibly can because we know that based on our research over 10 years we know how to build free and simple processes to reach our kids um just as a matter of what we did here in california within the first four hours of this program opening 210 000 kids applied to get cash assistance for groceries so when you want to put some numbers on what is happening out there that's what's happening and so i share it with you because one of the things we all can do is we can get the word out about get cal fresh dot org we can get the word out about get your refund dot org which is our earned income tax credit one of the biggest anti-poverty programs out there and for the first time coach for america developed a free and easy simple app that you can go to and for the first time ever it's also in spanish with spanish chat and so to the extent that we all can do our part using the power and systems that we have we've got to not only produce it but then we got to tell each other and so isn't the money that right we talk about this let's get it out to our comandes let's get it out to our communities out there and say listen you know here's a chance to be able to get the money that's owed to you and the earned income tax credit here's a chance to get your ebt card to make sure that food is on the table and then third we got to start advocating like heck to policymakers because there's not enough of us sitting at that table and as the first latina chief of staff in the history of the u.s senate there's definitely not enough and so we've got to be even louder for all those who aren't sitting at the table um so thank you for for allowing me to show that cecilia and then out of staying louder and building specifically the changes that we want to see specifically building tech ecosystems in areas that are for many times have been forgotten and so this question is for for irma given the role that that you and the bidway team have been doing in building tech ecosystems and specifically in areas that are called under dark cities right of what does that even mean and so the question is what what role is bidwice playing in the community and specifically what have been some of the additional key challenges that you've seen of impacting the latinx community and how bidwice has been uh taking leadership role in these yeah that well bitwise like it is a complicated business but it has a singular goal which is to use the technology industry to change the face of who gets to work in that industry who are those resulting technologists and do they get to participate in this high growth high wage industry in ways that change their lives um and if you look at places like fresno where we're headquartered fresno california um uh this is a really really challenged place a really um disadvantaged place in many ways you could argue i'm at one of america's most broken cities um and so the goal of bitwise to bring technology or catalyze the technology industry in places like that in underdog cities that are similar um and invite people to the technology industry who have never really received that invitation before that is all we do that is our singular mission and in this time of we're doing that well i think you know pre-covid and then coveted and you have to change everything about the way that you are operating but you can't lose sight of that goal right because i think what we are doing and what's incredibly incredibly important is that the lower third right the folks who are in the hourly jobs before the non-matriculating college students the folks who are working you know three part-time jobs and still having to find childcare with a pia so they can make it to the fourth right like the lower third of earners in places like this in in these underdog cities those are the ones we need to be most concerned about as we begin to you know recover and i use air quotes here because i don't think that we actually have a true recovery in sight at the moment but let's just say right the rest of us those of us on this panel lots of the the folks who are viewing you think once this pandemic is over you start to think about where am i going to vacation uh what's the first concert i'm going to see which restaurant am i going to eat at you know i mean those are questions that we get to ask ourselves from a position of privilege right but there are there's an entire set of my own community members and your own community members who are not asking themselves that question it is how am i going to get out of this hole right how am i going to climb out of this hole that i didn't create but is now in front of me uh what are we going to do then and so that is the question that the wise is concerning itself with is what happens to those folks as we start to climb out of that and can we do something about that today can we begin the path out of those holes today and so we work a ton with um apprenticeships and we work a ton with um really reaching a more equitable technology industry amanda knows all about this but the face of the technology industry literally the face of the technology industry does not look like the people on this call right that is not what the technology industry looks like and we can change that we can be deliberate in changing that and not by waiting for it to happen accidentally but by setting up real things in place that reach those rural edges and sort of the inside of california the second california if you will and then pathing folks into the technology industry using really deliberately constructed programs that take things into account like single parenthood like lack of transportation like bus tokens like mental and emotional well-being those types of things so that's what we are working on we have a couple of initiatives out one hopefully you'll be hearing about soon is called the digital new deal but one you may have already heard about is onwardca.org and that is a platform that we built actually in conjunction with the caper center specifically to match folks who are being furloughed in large numbers from hospitality industry and similar into jobs that were surge hiring logistics e-commerce those types of things right so could you take folks who are was you know someone who's formerly a barista got laid off from their job and and help them take those same customer service skills and put them into say like a call center job or a delivery job or something along those lines and so we built the platform for that it's called onwardca.org but its specific focus is not just like this random jobs site where you can find your next you know promotion so much as can we take that lower third of folks who are struggling to just stay even right just to continue to tread water while the economy does what it's going to do and while this pandemic does what it's going to do and can we just hold steady for a while longer so that it's a little bit easier just a little bit easier to climb our way out when we're done and then anybody that knows me I think that you hit on such a great point which is part of my own journey as well of understanding the power that technology has in changing somebody's like my my life path right I was a immigrant at six years old and fast forward had to go through the same issues that you're mentioning I grew up with a single parent my mom didn't we had we got in a car accident actually the first month that we were in the US and we had no transportation so navigating some of those things and not even knowing like the language were really challenging but fast forward being able to now have been able to be an engineer and being able to see firsthand the power that technology can bring especially that's applied for good that's you I mean your life story my life story highlights exactly the the issue I think especially in the underrepresented communities in the black and brown communities in that like your ability to succeed in the technology industry had literally nothing to do with whether or not you were smart enough to succeed in the technology industry it was not about potential it was not about ambition it was about life circumstance and these hurdles that were sort of in your way that were non-technical barriers to entry that you had to figure out a way you and your family had to figure out a way to navigate and we can be more deliberate about those solutions it does not have to be left to chance and so yes that is that's what Bitwise is about and your life story is is really the the story of so many of us that again we can be intentional about creating new pathways into this industry definitely definitely and having a very strong mom I think was the other part that you know pushed pushed along the way as well so thank you thank you Irma this question is going to be for Jose and then Cecile I'll pass it on to you after this especially as we start to take a look at the importance that financial and in financial marketplace and capital has right Jose what do you envision when you speak of a fair financial marketplace specifically for what are very hard-working families and the role that the mission asset fund has in this and accomplishing this vision you know it's interesting you know because the vision is really about being intentional of creating services products creating programs you know with with our community in mind you know because you know a lot of people talk about you know checking accounts savings accounts or you know technology products this or that you know but to a large extent you know our community is really you know really like the secondary users of all those products and services and by secondary users I mean that those products are never built you know with you know with people like us in mind or the communities that we come from in mind you know we're always the second thought or the afterthought or the ones that we have to sort of pick up try to figure out how to how to make ourselves understand that product or service you know and and when that happens there's always a disconnect you know that people are not using that product or not using that program you know because it was never built with them in mind to begin with right so what we're trying to do is to say look we can actually use technology we can actually use finance for good but only if we build product and services to fit the realities of the people that we're serving and so so that's really been the premise of all of our work at math in terms of you know building credit building programs building lending circles building you know even right now in terms of what we're doing with the current pandemic we build the whole rapid response fund you know to try to get people immediate cash assistance of $500 grants you know directly to people you know we build that you know knowing that you know as as you know as as they at home orders were starting to get issued you know we knew that you know a lot of our community members a lot of our clients you know we're not going to have you know income then we're going to get paid then we're going to be able to work and we also knew that government which is not they were not going to step up I mean you know I've been around the block a couple of times you know and you have you know for undocumented immigrants that we're not going to get any funding from or support from the federal government I mean you know thankfully you know the governor of California came through with some funding you have 75 million dollars to help you know with with some cash grants you know but even that wasn't enough right and so so so we you know lifted up a whole new product you know a whole new grant in getting process to help individuals that were undocumented people that were not getting any help from the federal government and then and then we started to fundraise around that and so in the span of you know several months you know actually as of today we've raised that close to 26 million dollars from philanthropy from corporations from individuals just going to our website and then just donating $25 here $50 there that we've been able to sort of fundraise 26 million dollars that were you know turning around and giving that money to individuals and families you know that needed most and so so we're able to do that because we built technology with our clients in mind you know not them being a secondary users or or after thoughts you know to the products and policies and services that you know that mainstream society has you know and so so that's what we're doing so what we mean by fair is that it's like we want to be seen we want to be heard we want to be you know catered to we want our issues to be relevant our issues or challenges to be addressed you know and not be again just the after thoughts of services that are out there so so that's that's really what we do and and thankfully because we have our own you know technology our own platform our own you know sort of ability make that happen you know we don't have to ask permission to a bank or credit unit to do anything we said we need a product we can create it you know you know you know in the span of a day and then we can you know help support that and and bring it to market it as they say you know right away so so having that ability you know has really helped us you know to do this at the national level so we're you know we're kind of grateful for that but that's that's what we mean by fair it's just that we want to be seen in this space so thank you I just want to note that autumn Mcdonald my colleague has been putting in the chat links to some of the things that you're hearing our panelists mentioned so there's a link to onwardca.org and you just heard Jose talk about the mission asset fund that the the money that they've been able to raise because some of some of the folks who are participating are asking how they can help so that link is also in the chat if you're interested. You talked about it's interesting Jose that you just talked about wanting to be seen as you know somebody who's worked around policy for a long time I feel that way too that there's a degree to which we're still I mean even in a place like California that we're still more invisible than we should be given the extent to our to which we're in the population I know that's true in national policymaking that's a fight that a lot of us have been fighting for a long time so I'd like to ask really any of you to jump in but maybe Amanda starting with you because you've worked in the US Senate you've worked in politics at the national level now you're working in California which is home for you but what do you what policy makers miss what do you wish they saw that they're not seeing right now and then let me invite anybody else to jump in after Amanda god where do I start there's so much you know I used to I used to often say I wish I can bring them to my hometown and walk around so they get to know us and I've changed over the course of time where I believed that if they if folks would just see the numbers they would know that it really does matter to get education policy right for Latinos because it's a growing population or that the numbers for voting right this is the first year will be the largest racial minority voting in the presidential election and if they just saw and if people just saw those numbers they would then reach out to the communities where we are I have changed over the course of my career where I now believe it is on us that the only way we are going to be visible is to make ourselves visible you heard today we've got to be who we are out loud we got to lean in more we got to do the work that Jacqueline does in all these communities in California to say yes we are part of what we do is help you with resources but part of what you do as a part of that is you collectively stand up together too and say I am here and this is what I need so as I think about us as a community and what we need to be saying as loud as possible as much as possible is we are the largest now racial minority voting voting block we are now the majority of our public schools kids all across the country we are now an economic engine for this country we have to not only us as a responsibility say it out loud but then we have to start holding people accountable so it does make a difference who our leaders are who we're voting for when they're get elected what are they what are we saying to them and frankly all of us as leaders ourselves but also in our in our circles of leaders in business and in all the different communities how are we collectively doing our best to build a voice that people will listen to with actionable and I say this again and I know you and I said Celia we've been in a lot of rooms that say what can I do and the truth is we also need to come up with very actionable this is what we need from you government this is what we need from you policymakers and the more we can do that the easier it is to hold everyone accountable and I gotta tell you on this call I am inspired because I know there's all kinds of folks not only on this call but are also listening in that if we speak together we can make a real difference here as we move into whatever is AC as Jacqueline would say does anybody else want to jump in Jacqueline yeah I mean everything amen to everything Amanda just said I mean how many of us can change a room when we walk in because we know how to be loud and this is our moment to be loud and be an unapologetic about what we're demanding I am so inspired by Edman Jose and what they're doing and LCF wants to see more latino led anchor institutions like yours exist up and down the state because you know what it's like to be on the other side you know what it means for our theas to actually know where to turn to to get that check when they hear it about it univision or del mundo like we we we know we understand because we're living it and so we need more of those leaders to have the funding that they need to grow their organization and to the third sector that I'll add to Amanda she mentioned the public sector she mentioned the public one because I'm with you at the scale level like government it's that's the only place where we can work at scale but the one that I want to add it's a philanthropic community 1.1% of all philanthropic dollars gets invested in latino led organizations and Jose to hear you say that 26 million like thank like I'm so grateful that you made the fund available and are using those funds to reinvest back in the families but we need more of those philanthropic dollars to go into other latino led organizations that have budgets of less than a million dollars but are so connected intricately intertwined into the communities that they serve but they're not getting the resources that they need so we need to change that and that's why LCF changing this narrative is also important let's own it so we have now the largest latino philanthropic network in the country because we were tired of pointing a finger to the philanthropy say invest invest invest so we said to a bunch of Latinos here in california let's do this together let's pull our resources and invest in latino led organizations and anyone can join you don't have to be bill gates in terms of the dollars that you have in your bank account if you are in a place where you have some privilege and have some discretionary funding and just have some resources available to pay it forward be part of a network that's 500 plus that's already investing a million plus into latino led organizations right like there are ways that we can shift this narrative that we haven't been at the table i'm so tired of hearing of where you know where's our martin's okay well i'm looking at them right now like we were their leaders all across our country who are latinos we don't we don't need to wait we're we're them where we are them and so we just have to continue to be loud um and unapologetic and demand the things that we want to see happen in our community and not stop until we get it you know i think it's so that's tremendously important and so powerful and it is also powerful and moving that we're doing this in a we're lifting up what we're seeing in our community but we're also doing it in a non-competitive way that we're doing it in a supportive way at this moment in which the country is also focused on our history of systemic racism and racial violence and particularly focusing on the african-american community like all of this is connected and we we understand that it's connected and we are in a place where we we're it's clear that we have to live lift up all the voices that have been left behind with respect to the virus with respect to the economic fallout um that is something that feels like it's changed over the course of the you know the 30 years i've been doing this work is that we understand this is not fighting over pieces of the pie this is about understanding how much we are connected and how much our struggle is is you know also the struggle of other community but with that i have a question for edma and then lily i'm going to hand back to you so edma you do work in place you you have a place-based component to what bitwise industries does and you you you are recruiting people for tech work in places that people don't necessarily associate with the tech industry right you are giving the lie to the notion that only certain kinds of people can do this work and only certain kinds of places can sustain it can you talk a little bit about that because i think in the seeds of what you're doing are the seeds of how we recover in and build a more we don't we're not just trying to get back to where we were because that economy wasn't working for enough people we were trying to build a different kind of economy and the seeds of what you're doing i think are are showing how that's possible for sure i think well if you think about technology as a tool and stop let's demystify this for a second and and abuse yourself of the notion that you have to have gone to mit or stanford in order to succeed and the technology industry it simply isn't the case um think about this moment in time that we're in where everybody is trying to go online and trying to modernize you know systems that we have sort of been ignoring for a couple of decades you know whether that is the unemployment insurance system or that is remote and digital learning or if it or even it could be the chew cleaning business down the road right and the ability to drop off and pick up things in a safe way all of the things in this new society that we expect to live in in the near term starting now they're all digitally powered they're all powered by software and the ability for technology to take the place of things that would be considered unsafe at the moment think about the way that you pick up your food right now yes some people are still going to the grocery store but by and large lots of people are are we're creating jobs and having that food delivered but we are the way that that transaction takes places over a piece of software and so a gigantic piece of this new economy will be powered by technology it was already the fastest growing industry on the planet the pandemic like it has done for so many things has just accelerated that right and so now we're in this place where and you probably have heard this phrase that that technology is the new blue collar work and in some ways that's very very true you can teach we don't gait for for any specific ability when we when a person takes our classes we ask for three things that actually two things now but we used to ask for three things that you can read and write in English that you can divide by three and that you have an ardent interest in learning how to write code that's it we've we've got we've done away with the first one which is you no longer have to read and write in English we now do classes in Spanish and in Mong and in a couple of other languages so being able to reach more people with that technology education but the point here is that you can you can take somebody who has an interest in technology and skill them into entry-level work in a period of months we're not talking about years we're talking about months from something between six and 18 months we typically will see somebody get ready for entry-level work that has a lot to do of course with practice and cultural and familial support and those types of things where you do in fact have to have a family support system or even a chosen family support system that doesn't believe that just because you're on a laptop means you're playing games you could very well be looking for your next job we do have to change that sort of in the home that's a different conversation but what we see is that it's not related to race it's not related to gender it's not related to last name it's certainly not related to whether or not your parents went to college your ability to enter into the technology industry has to do with whether or not you have the time and the resources to put in the practice and that's it so if we can reach these underdog cities where we know that the technology industry is that future that is the way out of the the economic crisis that we're in in these underdog cities if we can get more people to skill into the technology industry the real the only real thing we have to solve for is how do we block and tackle for them long enough to practice and that's it it's not my business is not it's a complicated one because there are a lot of fronts on which you have to block and tackle but it's not a complicated one in terms of what what makes it go right what is the what's the the fuel here what's the power we're just we're just moving kicking rocks out of the path so somebody can walk and that if we do that enough times you know this and this has been studied this is not a number that we came up with but for every technology job you create 4.3 additional jobs and local goods are also created so here's the net economic impact if you can get one person to skill into the technology industry if you can just block and tackle for that one person long enough they change their lives they change that of their family 90 of them will stay in the place in which they were trained so they're likely to stay home they're likely to stay in those communities and you've created four additional jobs so now for the price of just helping somebody study you've got five new jobs in that local economy that's more sandwiches that's more coffees that's more gas in the tank that's more times rent is paid on time that's more times you're not trading PG&E for groceries right and so if you can and again I I hate to minimize the breadth of what my company does to this one thing but that's all we're doing we're just giving people a shot to try to be good at something and in this case that something is technology and in this case that can change an entire community if you just do it a couple of hundred times and I would say change generations like it's all about building that generational knowledge and wealth and opportunity in my just as you were talking I think that one out of three Latino children right now live in households of families whose sectors are going to disappear retail service as we know it and so it's not just the impact right here and now but those children where they're growing up and what they're giving access to right now it's about generational change and that's what I love so much about the work of thank you yeah completely agree I mean Lily I mean she can tell herself but I mean the life of her her family and everyone she knows forever and always will now be changed because of the experience that she had in the technology industry and definitely and on that note one of the the areas that I've been also looking at is it's kind of crazy that we're still talking about a digital divide in 2020 right so like I was just remember when I was a kid being in college back at USC we had Wi-Fi for across the campuses and a lot of the where I used to volunteer which families that look like mine right even I was in college but to me it was like oh it's like Wi-Fi is everywhere and when we realize what happened with COVID with with it being overnight we're now a digital first yet we have more families disconnected literally from resources information that could save their lives and it's so crazy that when you start to start to take a look at the map the data just shows how systematic it's been by incomes by income level by zip codes and so it's one of those things that I think it's super critical to also take a look at of how is that reshaping and to your point earlier that was right up about the intergenerational changes this is something that I think I'm super passionate I'm gonna get off the soapbox because I can go on for that long but taking it a step further from the students the talent the individual experience I want to also just move it towards a small business impact so this question is for Jose specifically where you've been at and looking at the economic impact there are small businesses have had of all different rages whether they were either not not having a technical platform but they've been forced to rethink how they're existing in this world and how to pivot with a little bit more of the tech lens what are some particular solutions that maybe you've seen or would like to explore to help meet some of these families who were caught in a place where they weren't ready where a lot of these businesses got caught in a place again that they weren't ready what are some of those those solutions that you see specifically to help close some of these gaps of income that is not being gained so I don't know if you have some specific solutions that you've been exploring well you know my clients have I mean I'm just sort of witnessing what they do and try to help as much as as much as we can but you know but I think you know we talk about small businesses and you know that word needs a lot of different things depending on what context and depending on what agency you're talking about I mean the way we think about the clients that we serve is that they really are operating what I call like nano businesses you know really tiny you know you know organization that might be comprised by one or two or three individuals I mean small businesses you know at the federal level there I think this defined by no more than 500 employees is that the right number 500 facility I don't know if you remember that anyway but as you know for an immigrant to have 500 employees that that's like making a big time because that's that that to me would be a huge business but so we you know essentially have to help you know folks again that are just working for themselves or the families operating them and what we've seen you know even in the current pandemic and the crisis is that you know people are really resilient you know and and yes you know people are taking a lot of hits you know yes they're you know their restaurants or their offices you know have been you know closed and yes they are losing income you know but you know I'm getting you know food delivered by different you know mom and shop up and shop folks that are cooking at their homes now you know people that used to work at different restaurants and now are you know are rebuilding you know their their sort of operation from from their homes and then they're trying to find you know clients like that and so so I think what we need to do is to kind of find you know those strategies and support them to support people where they are not where we want them to be or where we think they should be right and and I think that's what that's one of our values and principles and everything that we are not is need people where there are not where we where we think they should be and then from that we can elevate you know their strategies their coping strategies they're the things that they're already doing to kind of you know survive and say yes survive and then after that you can you know help elevate and help move forward right but so so that's just sort of like a strategy now what we do at math is is do that and also provide them with resources financial resources zero in zero fee loans grants we provide them you know ability to you know participate in lending circles so that that way they can improve their credit score and and also their ability to kind of access you know a low cost credit as well but I I think you know to me you know the most fundamental thing and I would like to sort of interject this in this conversation is that you know you know this is a really unique moment in time you know that we have you know America's really transforming itself right before our eyes and I think the question is like you know what do we want this to be to become to you know and and I think this is where we you know as was said earlier we have to sort of show up and not be invisible anymore and really be loud but not just be loud to say like oh it's our turn it's our turn because we have more people than everybody else it's not that it's about we have something even more important to share to the world and that is our values our systems the way we've managed to maintain and relate with our families and communities because I think that's something that is you know it's important you know for America to remind itself you know that we're not just this you know you know individualistic you know you know society but it's more like we need to kind of go back to you know you know that the family structure that that that has allowed many of us to actually survive and and I think is those values and those principles that we need to kind of put out there in a really loud way you know because that I that I think is what can transform the policy conversations you know at the state level also at the federal level because it's not just that it's not just a question of it's our turn or or to do that but it's more about we need to kind of help reimagine what the society could be so that it could be truly inclusive you know and truly equitable for all and and I think that that's that's the moment that I think is there you know and I think it's something for us to sort of like you know step into and really do more with it than just you know you know do our current normal day to day work so we have so that's very helpful um enormously helpful and just speaking of getting loud I will just report that there's a big thunderstorm I'm in the DC area so so I may make real use of the mute button as it gets loud here but we have a bunch of questions that people are submitting and I'm noticing that there are folks in the chat and some of them are sending chats just to the panelists which means the rest of the attendees can't see them so if you're adding things to the chat which we totally welcome be sure to make sure that they're going to other attendees and we have some questions that have that have come in here's one that relates to uh latinx businesses from Regina Moreno Fernandez who wants to know how we get latinx businesses on board when it comes to technology and social media so let me just throw that out to the panel and see who who wants to respond anybody I'll jump in I mean this is related to a new initiative that we launched in May it's a latino entrepreneurship fund and it's not just about providing c capital or just money to uh to what Jose said these are micro nano businesses these are folks that are actually starting them at home right whether it's a cleaning business that started with three women who came to this country together are now owning that business right cooperatives um but it's also about giving them the tools uh to be able to digitize their marketing their outreach and so we're partnering with groups like the Eva Longoria foundation who's done this with some young entrepreneurs um working with Prospera Cooperative I see your beautiful daughter behind you I think she just popped out of the beach by the way I love it um but Prospera Cooperative who's actually based out of the Bay Area but they actually have created a community of women who are immigrants and who have launched their businesses and they're giving them a space to learn about digitizing their marketing about creating podcasts to actually reach a wider audience about their work and to lead their businesses so said to your point that was the most important thing that I hope everyone can take away from the audience is lead with our values like we don't need more of the same what makes us like as a people so special is that we want to pay it forward that this is just about me that it is about community and neighborhood and family and when we bring those values and how we build our our businesses um we can change the game and change the rules so I just want to share that because that entrepreneurship fund is now recently established working with groups like Prospera uh working with groups like Eva Longoria and I've seen my staff on the on the chat room so maybe they can just share that information with the wider audience and we need more of that especially right now where again um outreach looks very different and our businesses need to be able to tap into those resources in my don't know if there's something that you can share maybe through the work that you're doing a bit wise with some of the entrepreneurs that you house yeah I think I think uh the biggest thing is demystifying I think which is central to your message as well um I think a lot of folks who are running especially on the small business side feel that technology is out of reach for them um and that it's a giant six or seven figure lift in order to be modernized in sort of a technology sense um it's not it's it is sometimes true absolutely um but in many cases especially if you're running you know a taqueria or something and you're looking for a mobile ordering app you don't have to go spend you know five six seven figures to get your your own app done you can there are lots of resources for you know for for small businesses to to be modernized in that way and it's a matter I think of asking folks like yourself myself Amanda um Lily the other folks on the call I'm a small business and this is my specific need are there options for me um uh and demystifying the or or sort of disabusing ourselves once again of the notion that you've got to have uh something specific in order to use the same tools that other other people are using um and we can help with that like we can answer those questions in a way that's non-threatening that is not like oh I can't believe you didn't know that you know what I mean like and let's let's let's get it done there are lots of free and low cost tools I think to get started with uh when uh when you're a small business and I think that that's where most of it is fear-based uh in terms of getting more Latino owned businesses uh into technology so let me just say to Gladys Jimenez who asked the question about how to support other Latino businesses to check the chat because there are now links for you that can help you do that and then now let me pass the baton back to Lily thank you thank you um and going off on that question and this is for Amanda because one of the the questions that came in from the audience as well is specifically around kind of like the Code for America model of how do how do you build and invest in the communities right at a at a national scale so I wonder um if you can share a little bit more of that especially as we're relating to technology right in the intersection of our communities who are a lot of the times depending on some of these opportunities where they're welcome in to leverage the technology especially especially around social services so we can share a little bit more about for some of the folks specifically this question's from Eric Renswood Moore um of how to build and invest national communities uh that have a very grassroots feel as well yep so one of the things that um is really special and unique about Code for America is that we have been around for 10 years and we really started off with this idea that we wanted to get um technologists into government so that they would bring a new talent to the way we deliver services today um along with that there was an energy that also grew around volunteers that work all across the country in what's called our brigades 25,000 brigades across the country um and what these like for instance Code for San Jose or Code for Miami and what these groups are doing is in their free time they're using their technology services or as a group coming together and they'll food map for instance they do a lot of free translation they're sometimes the chat if you go in and you do the EITC program in Spanish and you have a you have a question that chat could come back to you in Spanish and it's a volunteer all across our network the really interesting thing about that is what we're finding in our code what we call our brigade network or code for America network is it is also an opportunity for young people who are sitting at home have this talent to get involved in the community in a way where they can use their talents to connect with city services and for us what we have seen around the country is it's one of the best ways um for because what you know about what's happening in your community you know where you live you know what is needed you know sometimes that bus route you just like to have a service to know when it's going to be there and a lot of our code for America brigades are the folks who have teamed up not only in their national day of hacking but teamed up in their communities to say let's build this app and let's build this app to serve who we are and where we are um as I think about all the folks who are listening to this conversation and really the power of tech as Irma has said is the door is open we are recreating it as we live today our kids are getting online and learning how to do this and as we think about technology and as we think about technology's relationship with government the more engagement you have whether it's at Code for America or whether it's in Irma shop or whether it's you are in government now having a new lens to say let's do it this way a very good example um and I could go on all day about the things that we are learning that technology has surfaced in some of our government programs if you have an accent in your name you get kicked out of the system in some of our systems if you're trying to do an application it times out on you and I got to tell you as a as a parent at home with kids and you walk away because your kid is hungry all of a sudden you come back and the application you did is gone and so that's the power of technology but like Irma was saying we all can do this now and I do have to say Code for America we're always out there with job postings please apply we need your voices we need your skills within the organization um you you I I keep saying this over and over again um if you want a tech job let let us help you because we need more of your voices and faces in this space nice saw the our Latinx community members such as Taqueria and Latinas and tech are widely sharing those opportunities at Code for America so it's really great to see all of us really sharing those opportunities as an ecosystem um I'll hand it back to Cecilia okay so we have a question from Martin Castro for Irma about some of the emerging technologies she talks about how um sometimes our kids tend to fall further behind within our educational systems when we're just getting started with coding more and more new tech like augmented reality virtual reality machine learning AI like how do we break through into some of these more emerging technologies I'll tell you the truth in technology it doesn't matter what your background is you're going to fall behind it changes so quickly and we come out with new languages and new platforms and new things to learn on a regular basis that um that you from day one regardless of what door you enter into you will be in a maze of technology as long as you're in that career and so my advice to folks who are experiencing that on day one is to pick pick a technology something that in general is getting a lot of attention um and specialize uh if you can there are some sort of staples that you can that you can sort of get into into uh in technology um it's not really almost ever going to be a language um or a piece of hardware that you specialize in so much as a technique um and so you know you might learn and this is actually something that I know that traditional education uh institutions struggle with call especially at the collegiate level in that you'll learn a programming language um that is obsolete by the time you walk out of those doors um and I know that the colleges struggle with that but the truth is in technology you've already learned those foundational pieces that you can translate that now to another language that's more modern um and so spend your nights and weekends spend your summer go get an apprenticeship or an internship that's going to reskill you into another language but think of technology less as a um a straight path and more as a set of building blocks that you're going to pull from for the rest of your life so that's that's so powerful and so important I will say that New America does work um that's sort of like a cousin to what Code for America is doing and trying to get technologists into government into NGOs to kind of bring those skill sets into delivering what it is we try to deliver for people and I find that part of the obstacles when you start talking about tech people think they they think it means kind of building the app that's going to save America and what we actually mean is exactly what you just described right which is bringing a set of skills to problem solving to solving our public problems to solving community problems and to also bring your knowledge of the community which is something that the tech sector doesn't necessarily provide like they don't have magical skill sets that are going to solve our community's problems we have the magical skill sets that can solve our community's problems and sometimes the answers are not technological answers some of the answers are often just about problem solving and and close said it turned to you I mean essentially when I was first I mean you and I worked together when you were in DC when you were working and organizing um but as I understand it part of the insight that led to your your founding of of your organization had to do with the understanding that in the community we already had the capacity to solve some of our financial problems even from from our modest means and that sometimes the answers are not tech sometimes the answers are community answers right that's exactly right and thanks for bringing back to that because I you know I think the way I sort of see it is that you know in in our society we think of you know poor people are just being broken or being lazy or they don't know enough but they just need somebody to come and save them and you know over to see those right because they're just you know there and and then they become you know our objects to help and to solve you know but and I think that's you know that's the vision of society you know right that's something that we know we all have to connect with and in front of that vision we build products and services and policies you know with that misconception of people and so I've always pushed back on that because again you know I came from you know an immigrant work on the flea markets in San Jose you know and I was hustling to make ends meet and I knew that that's a different reality you know of people within the reality that we espouse you know in a policy circles you know because the reality that I knew was that people that were hard workers people that are struggling yes you know but they but they didn't diminish their dignity and any less and they were coming out with really ingenious solutions to navigate you know their lives in general and so that's when we sort of lifted up this idea of of lending circles that is already based on this you know age old tradition of people coming together and lending and saving money with one another and so for us we say like no yes continue to do that because what they're doing is something you know really important which is like there's lending money just based on on their trust on their social capital and the relationships they have with one another so instead of saying like oh forget about that that's not how we do it in America we said actually keep doing that and then we're going to bring technology to help it make it even better make it easier make it more efficient so that we can you know translate it you know report it to the credit bureaus so for us technology was not this you know handle solution it was just a thing that we had to use in order to you know change the world you know because nowadays I tell people it's like yeah you want to do anything in the world you have to use technology it's not you know it's you know you're like a fish you know you're like you know it's just you're like in the water that's technology from nowadays so to me that's not an issue now it was an issue with funders right because funders the foundations they don't like to fund technology because they think they're you know we're taking the money to buy like you know fax machines or I don't know what they think what we're doing but we said to us technology is programs technology investing in technology is investing in there in a programmatic you know ability to deliver services and so they're one in the same they're not separate things they're not separate by like budget items they're exacted because nowadays how can you not use technology right and so so to me it was that wasn't the issue but I think what was most important it was about having the vision to see the solutions that were already embedded in society in community and the families that were helping with and then we bring something to that so that that way we can elevate the elevated and help them even more and so and I think that's why I want to underline the notion of you know of values and love and connection with one another because you know I think in a society we've been so so disconnected from one another I mean we're actually forced to you know to like not even have a sense of community sense of togetherness right because that's just the notion or the drive of this you know this this system that we built I think this is the moment that we can actually challenge that and say no we need to do it in a completely different way in a way that is more human there is more you know you know family life and so that way we can use technology to help that vision and instead of the other time so I think on that end and I'm also looking at the time I think thank you all so much for sharing so much information so much data I think we have hopefully been loud so far everybody that's that's listening but I also want to go back how how do we go from here with the same urgency that we started because we don't want this to just be a conversation we want to make sure that this is leading to action and so what is your specific call to action and this is an open question and I'll start with Jacqueline what is that what is the the call to action that you want to see us take from today well I mean everything has been said already I just want amplifying it to hear that we'll say again I'm going to go back to the 26 million fund that you raised I think about Todek and the island empire is also being used as a vehicle to give the state dollars 75 million from the governor to families in LA like we need those organizations to not just be in a moment of crisis a place that the governor goes to to distribute those funds but how do we also use that infrastructure those relationships that institution that people trust and they go to as the avenue to create opportunities for wealth as an avenue to create opportunities to get licensed for new automated jobs but we need to support these nonprofits just like we need to support all the entrepreneurs that Jose was talking about about the the problem solving that they bring to table but we would need capital to invest in them and their ideas and take risk and know that maybe one out of ten ideas are the one they're going to actually become something so the call to action to the audience is listening it's let's invest in these leaders because they are risk takers they know the community the communities trust them the ingenuity the word just we as daughters and sons of immigrants like we know that we're we know how to create something out of nothing right and we know how to recreate every time crisis hits and get back up again and that's what this country is supposed to be all about so why are we not investing it at the scale that we need it so desperately right now so that and vote and fill out the senses is my call to action at this moment that's right we'll see jump in i'll jump in um i think there are unique moments in time that shape um our country's history and we have two of them right now one is the census you really are we it is whether or not we will be counted period is dependent on what happens in the census right now and it will shape decades not just this next decade but it will just shape generations of how programs get set the second is we have a presidential election we have a president election presidential election at a time when we are the biggest racial minority voting it is our moment to show up and the question is going to be as we reach the end of the year latinos had an opportunity to have a voice did we do it or did we not do it and it will be seen again not just at the end of the year but it will be seen for decades to come whether we showed up this year and there's no doubt to me having been in public service and in politics and in the 2016 presidential election that it is a very unique test for all of us in our community to make sure that it's this year that we have to be seen we have to be counted and we have to vote because it will shape the future for our kids thank you Amanda you gave me the chills right there definitely ermah i have to echo the sentiment in the beginning we said it's never there's never been a more important time to be you and to do that loudly and that does mean the census and that does mean get out there and vote and that does mean amplify small businesses that are uh latino led um i think the i think we have untapped potential and power economic power as well like you everyone here knows somebody who's having a piece of software built right send them to one of these organizations to get that done right like go to a place where you know that that organization is deliberately looking behind us and saying who can we bring along who can we bring with us to this new moment um spend your dollars there spend your dollars on the folks who are doing things in such a way that invest in our specific future and i think that when we collectively look at all of the decisions that we make in a day where we buy from um who we contract with to do x whether or not we have an uncle or not who is is also having a piece of software built or is also sending a kid to school or what have you think about how we make those decisions uh think about how you specifically make those decisions and then think about if there's a different way to do that such that your dollar is stretched and it goes twice as far as you thought that it might um that would be my call to action is look at where you're spending those dollars and whether or not you can make them go further okay great we'll go to hosane then i will hand it over to sicilia for the closing thoughts on all of this amazing amazing dialogue yeah i i would echo everything that was said you know and i think it has to be understood that we can do all that we can you know show up and be counted and participate in and be heard you know i think when we feel like that we that we belong in this country you know when we feel that we matter in this country because once we feel those things individually as a community as a society then all those other all the other elements will follow that and i think for for for years and you know decades we have been we have been made to feel that we don't belong that we don't matter that we deserve to be separated that we deserve to be you know uh victimized and scapegoated and so and i think we need to sort of tackle that because it's not about the lack of power the lack of ability or the lack of imagination from us as individuals as a community it's just that we're made to feel like we don't even belong in this country so i think as as leaders we have to sort of tackle that and say no aquí estamos y no nos vamos because this is our country and you know and we're building the future we're building in in an america that would truly be inclusive you know of everyone including ourselves including everybody so i think i think that's really to me that's a really important sentiment to put out there because it's not just a lack of you know for the lack of people not participating it's just because they just don't feel like they even you know they're even seen and so you know and i think you know once we do that then we can build you know our campaigns and products and services and software you know based on them you know there are the primary users of the things you know instead of being again you know being secondary users of the things that are being built in you know in society right now and so i would i would say that it's a call to action you know let's be uh proud to who we are and make sure that we're creating the spaces and feelings of making us feel like we belong and that america belongs to us as well so we're seeing people writing the comments how inspired they are by this panel by the work that you do um we have one that's been written to the panelists from Jorge Reyes Moreno saying you are all in your role for a reason i will say i you know i've been working in latino policy and politics for more than 30 years and for so long the kind of argument that we were making is that we need to have right we need to be raising our own voices we need to be leaders of organizations we need to be leaders of foundations we need to be leaders of companies we need to be not just leaders of community institutions although that's important we need to be leaders of national institutions and we have each of those kinds of leaders right here on this panel stepping up at a time when you know as a community we're also and as individuals we're feeling some some pain and so i just want to acknowledge that express real appreciation not just that you participated in this session with new america and with new america california in particular but for the work that you do every day and for the way that you're standing up for community but also for country so it's it's really important in these times right now to find sources of hope to find sources of strength you are you are providing that i had a colleague say to me today these are times in which you have to find and bring your very best self um and and that's what i'm saying on this panel so really thank you so much for co-hosting this for co-moderating this with me a two boliviana moderated panel um thank you to amanda and jocelyn and irma thank you to otta mcdonald my truly wonderful colleague at new america california and to all the folks who participated we have a lot to do um but we should never doubt our capacity to do it so thank you all so so much and we'll see you next time