 pues aprender y pues eso le está sirviendo también para él. Qué bien y la felicito por su hijo. Gracias, gracias, thank you. Miss Perez, we're doing one-on-one interviews. Marisa Perez, you are a state board of education member, right? How long have you been on the state board? So I was elected in the fall of 2012 and officially started in my role in January of 2013. And your presentation of the conference today was about? I was speaking specifically on ESSA and how it pertains to family engagement and empowerment. So what are the key points about family engagement that you stressed? So, number one, we really need to take a different approach at family engagement. It's not about involvement anymore, right? We don't want to be superficial with how we're partnering with our parents now, bringing them in to make copies in the classroom or for the school is great. But we want to make sure that we're dialoguing with them about policy decisions, about program planning, those sorts of things. And that is the difference between no child left behind in ESSA. We're in a new phase of what parent engagement looks like. And so, what are, in terms of the details, as you look at family leadership and education, influencing policy and practice, what are some things that came out in your session that you elaborated on? Well, so, we spoke specifically about what's happening here in Texas. And it seems that in talking to the individuals that were in the session, everybody shares the same challenges. Sometimes schools are not open settings for families to come in. They're inviting, they're not welcoming. And so, how do we change that mindset at the campus level to make sure that parents are welcomed first and foremost. And then really engaging them in conversations about making decisions that are best for their own children. We talked about how, you know, it doesn't matter the level of education, the diploma. Every parent comes to the conversation with some sort of education. It doesn't take a diploma to mean that you're educated. It's key, right, because parents are the very first educators in a child's life. And so, making sure that we bring them into the conversation is absolutely vital. And that was kind of the resounding message throughout the time that we were speaking. In terms of family engagement, what, at the state level, do you think the agency is going to be doing to support that? Well, I'll tell you, one of the initiatives that the State Board of Education has undertaken over the last year is the creation of our long range plan for public education, which is focusing on four big factors, and one of which is family engagement and empowerment. And through that conversation, we're talking to stakeholders from across the state. We've had 11 community conversations. San Antonio hosted the largest one in the state. We had about 146 people attend. And what we're doing is talking to everybody from superintendent down to the student about what they hope to see in trends in parent engagement. And that evolved, that conversation involved into, again, creating policy together, remembering that parents are leaders and that they can be the champions when you engage them, or they can be the largest critics when you don't. And so, it's really, really important. But, again, the State Board of Education is really supporting what our long range plan looks like with a huge focus on intentionally engaging our parents when it comes to policy decisions. This is quite connecting to the theme that is family leadership of this particular institute. We thank you for participation and thank you for being here. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Your name, please. Hilda Villegas. And who do you represent today? I'm here representing Familias Unidas del Chamisal. It's a community. And what is Familias Unidas del Chamisal all about? We are a community organization of parents, but also families in the Barrio Chamisal. And we are working together to work on four areas of need, which is education, the environmental health, housing, and our community center. Now, we're working together in education. What are your biggest challenges in education in your barrios and your neighborhoods right now? I feel that it's the same as any other that I've seen, low income communities, just getting that communication gap between the actual families and whatever else is happening within the city and how it's affecting our communities. In terms of education, that's something that information that's being produced is not getting to the communities. And if it does get to the communities, it's not understandable. It's really hard for us to interpret what that means to us. What are your challenges in terms of your specific schools in relationship to the school district? Right now, there really isn't a relationship between the parents in the school districts. I feel that they don't consider us as partners in education, that we might not have anything to contribute. And it's because of that misunderstanding that if they take the time to communicate with us that we won't have anything valuable to say or to contribute. In your work with the families that you work directly with, in your neighborhoods, in your barrios, what are their dreams and visions for their children? I think that their visions, the way we evaluate those dreams is just like very, we want them to graduate or we want them to at least just make it to get their diploma. But then beyond that, we really don't understand how complex and how important it is within us or what it entails to do that. How important is an organization like yours, an independent advocacy group to the future of those neighborhoods? It's extremely important because we as a community of parents, I think we understand both worlds. I think that teachers might have their perspective, both with the students, but since there is no real relationship or communication that us as a community organization, we're trying to do that. We're trying for the parents to have a relationship with the schools, to have a relationship with the students and for us to be able to actually understand, like to bring that information and for us to be able to be inclusive of that process. It's extremely important, especially in communities like ours. Let me ask you, in terms of the families that you work directly with and you work with a lot of families, how do you see leadership emerging among those families? I think that it's, we see it, it's gradually, we're gradually getting there. They're still very much, they feel that the same way that they don't have anything to contribute, that they are not knowledgeable enough because of the experience they have. So I feel that us just being able to consider them important and us being part of that struggle and that we do have a lot to say and creating that space. They are very, they're confidence, like confidence as leaders and parents. It's growing and it's, we've seen it gradually. They're taking leadership, they're actually speaking, but not just complaining. Like at the beginning we say, well we just complain, complain. They actually do feel that they are contributing. Their analysis has developed. It's not just complaints now, but actually we are developing certain plans that we can propose. How do you feel about the charter school movement moving into your barrios? That's very scary right now. I think that we are analyzing the charter school ideas as they are putting our public schools into entering the funding but we also have what we're dealing with is in public school charter schools that right now we're facing that but we don't know how to interpret that. So we don't know if it's something to embrace it or to consider it also as damaging as the outside charter schools and that's something that we need to evaluate. In terms of your schools, I know state funding is controlled at the state level but what do you think about the funding of this particular school that you're most concerned about? Well, I just came out from a workshop that we're trying to understand the funding at the state level that the state is doing a lot, especially because of Texas, cutting a lot of those resources but then at our local level, at the district level, we also see a lot of disparities within the schools and that concerns me too. So I'm trying to figure out because there's not really a lot of talk about this in El Paso about that. There's like talk about the state funding and the cuts and all that but within the district there really isn't any discussion and when we bring it up that there's disparities then it's like, they're like, no, well we're not going to deal with that because we're dealing with the state. So for me it's something, it's a battle that we have to bring up, we have to make that battle and to say, you know what, not just within the state and within the districts but also within the schools, within the district so we have many challenges, congratulations for the Familias de Chamisal and for your work Ilda. Thank you. Good afternoon, it's afternoon. Your name and who do you represent at this conference? Of course, my name is Angie Rozo, I work with Mi Familia Vota. Mi Familia Vota is part of the Northside Education Coalition that's been starting Education Cafes in Houston. And what is the coalition about? The coalition is really to decide and to look within the Northside community and see what are the goals that we have for the Northside Education System, part of that being early education, community partnerships after school programs and then from there on deciding what programs and what initiatives we can bring to the community through the coalition. So you're part of the largest school district in Texas, one of the largest in Houston. Why is that area of interest, that Northside area of interest to your coalition? Of course, so the Northside area has a lot of community organizations, but sometimes we maybe don't have parent engagement or we are not seeing the best education system as a whole. So identifying those challenges that we face through our education system and really focusing on the Northside community and seeing the strengths that the people have, the students have, and allowing them to be empowered and to share our resources and our knowledge with them so they can be advocates for their community and their school system. Thank you. And what is your vision for the Education Café? How would you like it to become? Really, we really want to see parents and students through the Education Café to be empowered and to say, hey, we want change in our community and we're going to be the leaders in this that they're not waiting for someone to come and make the change for them, but that they understand the capacity they have to take ownership of their community and to be able to be strong advocates for their children, for their grandchildren, for the students of their area. And for me, Fiala Elota, I'm glad you're part of it. Thank you for the interview. Thank you so much, Adelio. I'm happy to be here. Welcome back to the general session. Bienvenidos todos otra vez a la sesión general que les vamos a dar clausura esta conferencia. We're going to have about 45 minutes of what we're calling a press briefing. I don't know if there's any press here, but we still have the briefing. Before I start, I want to remind you that if you want to be eligible for the door prizes you have to have left your card. Si quieren un premio, tienen que estar en el concurso para premio, tienen que dejar su tarjetita ahí en el cuarto donde estaban las exposiciones. Y después de esta sesión va a haber una lista con los nombres los que ganaron un premio. So those that win a prize, you go to that room after work through here and you'll see if you got a prize or not. Okay. There will be more pictures taken out in the garden when this session is over. Si quieren tener una foto de grupo, se van al jardín y les vamos a tomar foto y va a estar en el internet, so pueden ustedes hallar copia de esa fotografía. In closing our 20th annual semana del niño, we decided we wanted to have a keynote speaker who through her life work and through her children has been a model. And to do that, we also wanted to honor our president-CEO, Dr. María Cúca Robledo Montesel, our president-CEO for over 25 years. Tiene más de 25 años desde la presidenta de nuestra organización y ella va a presentar a la que va a dar la plática principal en la conferencia. Buenas tardes. Welcome to each of you. Bienvenidos a todos y a cada uno de ustedes. Gracias, Aurelio. Aurelio y yo tenemos más de 40 años de trabajar juntos. Él ya estaba viejo, pero yo tenía 10 años cuando empezamos a trabajar juntos. Durante esos 40 años que hemos trabajado juntos en IDRA, Aurelio ha hecho muchísimo trabajo. His work, Aurelio Montemayor's work has focused on developing leaders and on creating linkages across generations, across communities and across schools. All of us are very grateful for you, Aurelio Manuel Montemayor. Gracias por convocarnos este día para celebrar 20 años de este instituto. Quizás ya sepan que el IDRA Parent Institute celebra 20 años en este día y reunimos padres y madres de familia, jóvenes y educadores en pro de escuelas de alta calidad, no para algunos niños, sino para todo niño, para todas criaturas. Welcome also to Becky Barrera of the National Latino Children's Institute. You'll hear from her in a bit. She is here as the steward for el día de los niños que se celebra en los Estados Unidos el 30 de abril de cada año. I'd like to now introduce our keynote speaker, nuestra oradora principal, María del Rosario Castro. Rosie Castro has been called a political matriarch by the San Antonio Express News and a firebrand by the New York Times. Rosie's mother, Doña Victoria, came from Mexico with a fourth grade education. Rosie's mother, Doña Victoria, came from Mexico with a fourth grade education. She cleaned houses to earn a living and she raised a daughter here with us today, a daughter of uncommon courage and action. In turn, Rosie raised two sons, Congressman Joaquin Castro and the Honorable Julian Castro, whose political life and accomplishments are based on Rosie's fundamental teaching. Stand up for our values. As an activist, an organizer, a political candidate and an educator, Rosie Castro saw injustice and discrimination and stood up in word and in deed. She worked and works to make a difference. Rosie's courage and strength inspire women and men of all ages to study, prepare themselves and get involved in the community and in politics for what? To create a better world, a fairer world. Last year on Mother's Day our Lady of the Lake University became an honorary doctorate to mark a life dedicated to creating opportunities for Latinos. Dr. Diane Melby, president of our Lady of the Lake, is here today. Welcome Diane and thank you for joining us. Así que gracias, María del Rosario Castro por tu ejemplo, tu dedicación y tu trabajo. Sabemos que a Rosie le encanta la poesía. Así que termino con un cachito de una poesía de Violeta Parra. El poema se llama Gracias a la Vida y es uno de los favoritos de Rosie sobre todo en estos días de Pascua. Y dice así, gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto. Me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto. Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto los dos materiales que forman mi canto y el canto de ustedes que es mi mismo canto y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto. Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto. Yo agregaría gracias a la vida que nos ha dado a Rosie Castro y les presento a nuestra muy querida y única Rosie Castro. Thank you Castro. Thank you so much. It is so wonderful to see all of you here and I am reminded that it wasn't that long ago when my children were younger that I was sitting where you are trying to learn everything that I could to make sure that my children had the best opportunities to learn and the best opportunities to be able to create a better life. I am going to take a little personal privilege right now because I know Kuka didn't want people talking about her but I have to say that someone told me and I hadn't thought about it but someone told me not too long ago this will be Kuka's last parent institute as the head of IDRA because I'm sure we'll see her again we'll see her back but in thinking about that I thought about the difficulty of losing a leader of Kuka's quality it is difficult I think to find in one person all the kinds of skills and abilities and aptitudes and knowledge and all of that that you find in Kuka for most of you know what a lot of that is a person who's a writer who's an orator who's a researcher who's a teacher who develops curriculum who goes and talks to the legislature and has staff that give testimony adherence and has done that herself both on a national state level that's a real and there's so much more not to mention all the programs that IDRA Kuka's leadership has started and the impact that those programs have had on valued youth on parents on the testimony of bilingual education on so many multilingual education and then you look at the research and you look at the workshops she's done and produce for teachers for parents and for students you look at this vast amount of work and you can't believe that it's one person that has been able to provide all that leadership and I've got to say one last thing about that I mean there's so much that I could say about Kuka but let me also say it is not easy for a leader to assemble the outstanding amount of people that work for IDRA years ago when I thought about how many PhD folks do we have in San Antonio because whenever you run in higher ed and people would say we can't have a president or we can't have a chancellor because there's not enough PhDs so one day I started thinking how many PhDs you know that you could find IDRA and even if the amazing thing about that is I think people come because they're attracted to working for a person who is excellent and demands excellence so along with Kuka Aurelio whom I've known for many many years and all the other people that work at IDRA I want to thank you for all the hard work and that will continue to showing up it's going to be difficult to find someone to step into Kuka's shoes but I know that her spirit will always be there and I think her too hopefully will always have her back but I want to say thank you Kuka for all the years of service that you've given this community we appreciate it there's just really three things that I want to say because I'm going to try to keep it short just to be a trainer so I can do hours you need to say one what you're doing today like I started out saying is so important because it's part of life long learning and that is something that as your kids see you doing that they think one education is important education never stops and education is transformative so always always is when you get home from any kind of whether it's a community center class a college class an IDRA any kind of class be sure you're talking to your kids about it have them ask you questions what did you do, what did you learn always communicate with your kids about that learning because that's the kind of thing that will get them thinking about how exciting it is and that's what you want you want to make sure that our kids believe in life long learning because the future that is upon us is going to rely heavily heavily on that ability to learn all our lives and to adjust to be flexible to be able to grasp something new have any of you seen that commercial that they're showing recently about this woman who she had this great job I just started seeing it I'm sure it'll be over and over again she has this great job and then the company closes and she's looking for jobs and there's no jobs and so what does she do she thinks about it and she goes to an IT school to a school that teaches IT information technology and she decides she's reinventing herself and that's very important throughout our lives to reinvent ourselves so if you teach your kids now to always be on the lookout for learning opportunities they will do very well and that's one of the things I try to teach my kids all the time was to look for those opportunities another thing that that I felt very strongly about besides communicating and make sure that the kids will always communicate to you about whatever's going on in their lives I see some of the workshops briefly but they're great workshops and I know that as parents we're concerned about issues like bullying we're concerned about the quality of education of our kids and so I think it's very important that we teach our kids and hopefully later you'll see Beccas Milagros we teach our kids early on in their life to set goals and to think about goals was to change the world that's great I mean the world needs changing right now things are tough but you also then develop how would you change the world you ask your student you ask someone who has dated a goal how would you do that what are the steps does it cost money, does it cost time but if you develop that ability in your kids to set goals now you're going to have a child who's always thinking ahead who's always planning who's always ready for those opportunities so my kids used to laugh at me because I would talk to them about things like balance and setting goals but you know what those kids that pretend they don't hear anything you're saying I don't know if you have experienced that but especially when they're teenagers it's like they're my nine year old granddaughter she's into her tablet yeah but you think they're not listening they're listening to everything that you say and that you do and so the best teacher you were their first teacher but you're their always teacher and you will be their best teacher if you're able to be supportive always help them and guide them in setting goals making plans and that kind of thing finally the last thing I want to say is that education is transformative learning changes your life not just your income but your spirituality your health your every aspect of your life change by education just think back if you can remember something that you didn't know before that you learned at a class or somewhere else it makes a difference it makes a big difference and so you are transformed intellectually and in many other ways when you're learning and that's why again as a lifelong learner and teaching kids to be a lifelong learner you really need to be ready for the future today kids need to know through education that there is an entire world of possibilities people always say oh you can do anything not all our kids believe that because of the things they run into sometimes in school what they run into sometimes in the neighborhood or in other places but if you teach them that education is the way that education can change lives then they will look for opportunities and I believe that with through education and my family believes this strongly each one of us my sons my daughter-in-law all of us are committed to education not just for the family but for all people if you have that opportunity for education then your life doesn't quite turn out the way that you would like my mother was pulled out at third grade from school she basically knew Spanish but despite that she taught herself to speak English and Spanish and to read and write it she had a bunch of books at home that she liked to read and a large print but she read all the time and my sons like to say you know right now as we have this debate about immigrants and all that by the way policymakers look at my mother at his grandmother she wouldn't have been one of those people that get let in for these quotas of immigration because she never owned a house she never had a car that she had to make sure that I understood there was no other way but you're going to college so I hope that and she made sure again not only by saying things but by living a life surrounded by books surrounded by curiosity my godmother once told me that her dream had been her name in lights she never got to do that but my sons have done it for her you being here today is a gift that you give not only to yourself but to your children again because you're here they understand how much education will mean you give your children as advocates to make sure that no one no one can do to them anything that is not respectful and if anybody tries you're going to organize you're going to go to the school board you're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that no one continues that way I think one of the things we give our children is the ability to dream and that's an important ability you don't want to ever see a child that has no dream if you've ever seen that it's a very difficult thing and so I believe that all of us are dreamers and I hope that your dreams for your children and for yourself will continue to be supported by organizations like IVRA and by others who are resources for our community thank you, good luck and if our family can ever do anything for you please let us know la mamá de los cuates thank you very much Rosie that was really good one of the themes today there's two themes one is family leadership and education hay dos temas y el segundo que pronto va a ser el día de los niños so para animar esa celebración to support the celebration of the day of our children we have some of the students from the Coca-Cola value youth program at South San Antonio that have some messages to us as adults I think it's Samantha no, right Samantha, Nicole and Alexander Samantha would you bring your message up front Nicole, Nicole I don't know who's who good afternoon I'm Nicole from South San Antonio and we are tutors from Kendrick Elementary our messages are for community members, business people and educators communication is the key hi, my name is Samantha and I have a message for all mothers and my mother I'll spend more time with your daughter my name is Alexander Ortega and my messages to all adults and especially to my mother love is kind show me love and be proud of me so they're going to stay on the stage with us there are many messages we need to listen to from our young people as we're hearing them from other parts of the country and as part of our event and our celebration Kuka mentioned that she had a special connection to our day-to-day university we have their president here Doctor Diane Melvin would you please join us Buenas tardes my apologies to those of you who speak only Spanish it is a poverty that a person with a doctoral degree it is a poverty that a person that leads a university is not bilingual it's a poverty that a person of my stature should have grown up in a community where culture was not value to a point that I stand before you can only speak English so my apologies to you that may struggle to interpret my words today talking about the need for public policy and advocacy with our public figures to promote education for every child in the United States and there is no doubt at all the jury has been in, the jury has been out and we all know that education is the key to leading a successful life now we used to say that education was the key to leading a successful life in America but the fact of the matter is it is a key worldwide and so I want to talk with you today and talk with you about the idea of collaboration it's a word we hear every place we go in fact the mothers and the fathers in this room today are here because of this collaborative effort but we tend to think that collaboration is interactional a discussion between you and me and I'd like to propose that collaboration is circular and it's not a stagnant circular but it's circular in the fact that you keep moving society forward and so yes the route to education a free, appropriate education that leads to success in our country is the right of every individual and that starts with public policy but there's some other things that come into play to keep that circle not just going around and around but to keep that circle moving us forward more like a wheel that's taking us someplace and the first is another C after collaboration is conviction and that conviction is that every child can learn every child can learn no exceptions no exceptions and following that is a commitment once we believe at our core as a society that every child can learn once we have that conviction that we must develop the commitment that this can only be realized if all the community comes together no exceptions no excuses every child can learn and there is no excuse for while a child is not learning and accessing education to its fullest potential it is not an excuse with what a child is born with it is not an excuse where a child is born it is not an excuse for the economic ability of their parent a child can't be too poor to learn a child can't be too rich to learn every child can learn and we must have that conviction learning is not dictated by the color of one's skin the language that a child uses or the child's birthright and in order to bring this conviction and this commitment together no exceptions no excuses we need the collaboration of the entire community so I once learned that public policy our lawmakers will never be at the front of the parade they wait for the citizens to be at the front of the parade and it looks like when that parade is going they'll get in the middle but it's the community that has to lead the parade and I thank you all for being here today and I want to give you just one example of this collaboration that I'm talking about it can be found in the Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation that was started and funded by HEBs Charles Butt he put this year $50 million to be spent over 10 years by 10 institutions to improve education and our Lady of the Lake University Oulu is one of those 10 institutions we are working with IDIA we're working with community partners all around the city to put our faculty our student teachers in the classrooms embed them right in the classrooms of SAISD and other school districts and particularly in Rodriguez Elementary School right across the street from the university in the heart of the west side this shows a remarkable commitment it shows a remarkable commitment conviction on the part of a corporate entity a non-profit entity a university and a public school system using the best practices developed by organizations and non-profits across the city and especially like IDRA this commitment and conviction will only take the wheel around the circle unless something else happens because if you think about what I said this is a remarkable opportunity with remarkable funding that's going to affect remarkable numbers of teachers as we prepare the next teachers for the next generation but it's only going to circle and circle if we don't bring that back to public policy and say it's worked here now fund it and bring it to the next school system bring it down to the RGV bring it down to Laredo bring it over to El Paso bring it into the little rural school systems that I can't even name today it has got to be a systematic systematic change fundamental to every school system no exceptions no excuses and it starts here with you today it's an awesome responsibility and I give you every credit in the world today for being here because you are here today you could be doing a thousand other things if your youngsters are in school I could give you about ten better things to be doing getting your nails done whatever that might be but you chose to be here today your conviction that every child can learn and your commitment to making sure it happens so I congratulate you and I thank you and as I watched the dreams that were expressed up here on this stage I saw that so many of you are worried about finances to make sure that your youngsters can go to college and I want you to know that our lady of the lake university we are all 201 absolutely committed to making sure that your children can afford to come to our university or any university that they so strive to go to thank you and God bless en el programa en our program at the front you see that the theme el tema de esta conferencia es keeping the promise families lead manteniendo la promesa las familias lideran your power as families is critical to have the policy and practice in our schools el liderazgo de ustedes como familias es esencial para que las escuelas proveen la excelencia que queremos para todos nuestros hijos eso es importantísimo en abril va a completar 45 años mi organización idra it will be 45 years old we started with one issue in 1973 equitable school finance empezamos con un tema el financiamiento equitativo de todas las escuelas con el tiempo ahora manejamos todo currículo maestros y especialmente el liderazgo de familias en educación especially the leadership of families and education because you know in parent involvement they have you as volunteers and that's great they also teach you how to be better parents and that's great but we're concerned about your power because the school is the best school possible and the doors don't shut down lo mas importante es que las escuelas en sus vecindades no la cierren we need more money we need support we want good teachers but it's you, ustedes vigilando hay familias del paso ahorita que están tratando de que no seren las escuelas en los barrios más pobres we have people from Houston from San Antonio so I want you to think about that y el otro tema que es muy importante es porque una organización cuyo fundador hasta aquí con nosotros hoy the founder of the organization who had worked at IDRA before then the National Latino Children's Institute started 20 years ago and a major major effort was to have the country realize how important el día de los niños was so this year we're having it two weeks before that happens and what we want to do is to spur action in all our communities in support of our children the children whose voices we're hearing today so I want to ask those students to come again and join us in the stage and to be with Becky Barrera from the National Latino Children's Institute who will walk us through some very important activities for the día de los niños buenas tardes todos I feel short behind this very tall thing but I promise you that I'm full of energy and full of all kinds of other things and first thing before we start I want to say happy birthday IDRA if it wasn't for you I can easily say I learned from you everything I know today mi primer trabajo al salir de la universidad fue en el Edgewood School District anybody here from Edgewood and my boss was Dr. Jose Cardenas so four years later he created intercultural development research association maybe five years later and it was natural that I would eventually find my way and I was like the third or fourth employee at IDRA and I can truly tell you that the five years I spent there gave me ground and foundation and grounded me solid in justice fair play what was good for our children what's fabulous for our communities and also what's wrong so it was only a little while later that the entrepreneurial spirit in me forced me to step out and do something on my own and Jose and I over the years continued to talk about now and it's just amazing that I ended up creating this amazing organization called the National Latino Children's Institute so we're here today to celebrate our 20th year as well y me da mucho orgullo estar aquí con ustedes para celebrar estos 20 años de apoyo para nuestros hijos el día de los niños no fue idea del Estados Unidos el día de los niños esperando jóvenes americanos el día de los niños celebrating young Americans this is a new twist of a very old holiday those of you who are from Mexico no el día del niño is the most marvelous holiday in the country because it's not religious and it's not political it's a beautiful day just like mothers day and fathers day well in this country we do not celebrate children quite the same way in fact when the united nations and the UNESCO passed its bill of rights the declaration of the bill of rights for children the united states refused to sign it you know why because of our tradition of incarceration and how we handle children in the courts and so we would not be a party to that so here we come at a conference 20 years ago very much like this where a national summit where families from all over the united states came together to talk about young latinos and what was happening in our country now in 1996 our children did not have their faces in our books you did not see them or images in museums the way we do now almost everyone told us that neighborhoods were divided by the rich neighborhoods were over here and then there was a highway and then the barrio was over here and we were left out of a lot of things and our school completion rates were not great so we brought everybody together and we created this event and a hundred young people came from 22 states all over the united states and at that conference they went into their own room and then they came out and they said we want to be heard you're talking about us but you're not listening to us we want to have a voice also and in the course of that dialogue they determined that they wanted us to make some promises to them now I went outside and I saw these lovely milagritos and I just want to share a few of them with you because I think they're so beautiful this first one says I wish for safe neighborhoods this is what parents want for their children because some of you are parents who are here some of you are students and some of you are teachers this one says I wish for my family to be happy and healthy and this one says my dream is to make a difference now that's a powerful statement I'm just love seeing these and here's another milagro and this one makes me cry when I read it it says it's a heart it's a happiness peace, love and health and then it says I love you Suraya with all my heart you are my world my life my home Irene is that just touching avance somebody from avance it's beautiful felicidades so these milagritos we have been making milagros for 20 years now all over the united states and every year schools make them and we gather them up and we send them to washington and you should see them and in the rotunda and they come in and these guys are tough guys they're important they think they're important and they come over there and they start picking up these little milagritos and this one says I wish my dad could come home he's in jail and the next one says my little brother sick and we don't have insurance and the next one says I just want more time I don't want to play but my mom works all day and then she has another job at night and I have to stay with a babysitter and another one might say I wish we could live in our own house and you start seeing a pattern of what is happening in our country to our children because the children tell you the truth they tell you exactly what they are feeling and so this milagro project has just spurred so many things and it's an important part de dia de los niños because this celebration is not just a party and a festival this celebration is an opportunity to hear our children and to have power meetings like the one we're having today where all of you and in many many cities are talking about what's important for our children but more than that we want to know what the children think so 23 23 years ago when we had that first national summit on young latinos they made a list of promises that they wanted us to promise because it's one thing for us to say we wish this and we wish that and we dream for that but it's another thing to make a commitment and a promise and that's why we have a process a lot in a minute but right now I would like all of you to stand up and I'm going to ask you to make the same promises that we made to the young people who were at the first national latino children's summit and our young people are going to read them to us come forward please and and first we're going to ask only parents to raise their right hand and you're going to repeat after semantha after semantha parents only first to be involved with my family I promise to be involved with my family to believe in my child I promise to teach my children and their heritage, history, language and moral values and moral values it's a long one I promise to openly communicate with my children I promise to spend time having fun with my children I promise to inspire my children and tell them my goals and dreams so they will have dreams and goals too let's do it in parts let's do it in pieces I promise to inspire my children I promise to inspire my children y sueños, así que tendrán sueños y sueños también. Ahora, ¿no es interesante que, 20 años más tarde, los niños están preguntando por las mismas cosas, comunicación y amor y promesas? Yo creo que es tan poderoso que tenemos que hacer la siguiente parte. Ahora, este es para todos los que están en la comunidad y nos preguntan a todos para poner su mano y hacer estos promesas. Esa va a leer esto, ¿y tú, Niko? Este es Niko. Yo prometo, comencemos con eso. Yo prometo ser un mentor. Yo prometo ser un mentor. Yo prometo compartir mi conocimiento sobre oportunidades con los jóvenes latinos. Con oportunidades con los jóvenes latinos. Yo prometo conectarse con mis niños y niños en mi comunidad. Y niños en mi comunidad. Y preguntan por ideas. Y preguntan por ideas. Con el desarrollo. Con el desarrollo. Y implementación. Implementación de programas. Yo prometo dar una comunidad. Yo prometo dar una comunidad. Y los forums nacionales. Y los forums nacionales. Para que te discuses. Para que te discuses. Los problemas que afectan a ellos. Los problemas que afectan a ellos. Yo prometo enseñar a niños. Yo prometo enseñar a niños. Y niños sobre la cultura latina. Y niños sobre la cultura latina. Y historia y lenguaje. Y historia y lenguaje. Yo prometo dar un lugar pacífico. Yo prometo dar un lugar pacífico. Y la comunidad para los jóvenes. Y la comunidad para los jóvenes. Para que te vengas ocho. Y estar en la noche. Y pagar al niño en los programas. Y pagar al niño en los programas. Y considerar a ellos en tus decisiones. y consideren ellos en todas las decisiones. Gracias, te amo a todos, gracias. Si eso no mueve a ti, no sé qué puede, porque esto es lo que está pasando todo sobre los Estados Unidos. Estamos preguntando a comunidades para hacer estos promesos a jóvenes y para llevarlos a todos los lugares que pueden. El día de los niños es el 30 de abril. En San Antonio, celebraremos el 29 de abril en la Plaza Guadalupe. Todos los de ustedes están invitados. Se invitan a ser voluntarios, a ser sponsoros, a tener tus niños, a ayudar a decorar las cosas para el parade. Queremos que seas involucrado, pero también queremos que seas pensando sobre las cosas importantes que las personas necesitan hablar de y de cómo crearemos un futuro mejor para jóvenes. Si quieres más detalles, te invito a ver en el website. Todo el mundo ha recibido información hoy. Desplazan la información, el Instituto Latino Latino Latino, solo vayas en el website. Hacemos un partner, creen esta línea de personas que cuidan de nuestros niños y el futuro que nos lleva. Pasaremos el 20 de abril, este mes. Y, probablemente, tenemos a un congresor a leerlo, porque los senadores no van a venir. El Senador Texas no va a venir. Pero quizás podemos llegar a un congresor, si tenemos una conexión de aquí. Si tenemos una conexión a esta mesa de la mesa, quizás podemos llegar a un congresor que va a leer la resolución del Senado. Las resoluciones siempre son bipartizantes, y han sido llevadas a muchas, muchas personas maravillosas de las partidas políticas. Así que siempre hemos podido pasarlo, por lo que, infortunadamente, no tenemos esa liderazgo aquí. Así que, agradezco a todos ustedes por estar aquí hoy, por ser parte de esta voz que crea energía y excitamiento para un futuro genial. Nuestros niños son, o sea, todos dicen eso, pero realmente son el futuro, y tenemos que hacer una ronda para ellos, y tenemos que escuchar a nuestros niños, porque, sin eso, podríamos estar mirando las cosas malas. Y yo, lo que puedo decir es que deseo a todos ustedes un día maravilloso de los niños este año, hacer algo poderoso, hacer una diferencia, cambiar el mundo, como este milagrito dice, hacer una diferencia. No solo digas, hazlo, y happy birthday IDRA, y happy birthday National Latino Children's Institute. Muchas gracias. A mí me dices, gracias por esta hermosa partnership, porque la Latino Children's Institute ha podido llegar a todos de tus audiencias, y porque tenemos el sistema web, puedes llegar a las horas, así que, es una partnership hermosa. Quiero que tengas algo más, cuando nos conocimos, nos llamamos, ella era flaca, y yo era el flaco. Sí. Tengo un cabello de cabello, entonces, hay algunas evaluaciones, y tú evaluaste las sesiones en particular, y entonces, queremos que te evalúes toda la conferencia. ¿Están evaluaciones en las tablas? Sí. Ok. ¿Qué color son ellos? Orange. Hay algunas oranges. Hay unas evaluaciones. Queremos que evaluen toda la conferencia. Recuerda, si quieres una foto de tu grupo, estará en el jardín. Me gustaría que todos los staff IDRA estén en la casa. Todos los de IDRA, párense, por favor. Gracias a todos, por todo el trabajo que has hecho. Gracias. ¿Están en la casa de nuestros voluntarios que nos ayudaron hoy en la casa? Por favor, estén abajo. ¿Voluntarios? ¿Los voluntarios? Ya con esto, vamos a darle clasura. Vamos a cerrar la conferencia. Gracias mucho. Recuerda, que tú, como padres, como adultos, como escondidos, son los que pueden hacer una diferencia para nuestros niños en nuestras escuelas. Es bueno para ti, para que te ayude a ser un parente mejor, pero es muy, muy bueno que te asegúrate de que las puertas estén abiertas en tus escuelas y que lo que pasa dentro es la mejor educación posible que nuestros niños reciben. Gracias. Y tú puedes ir a casa y disfrutar el resto del día. Los ganadores de la puerta van a aparecer en la pantalla.