The United States of America was founded on the land of indigenous peoples in the 1400’s by European explorers, among them Cristopher Columbus for Spain and others who followed from England, Spain, France, the rest of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Mexico was ruled by Spanish and French before independence and mainly occupied what is the western U.S. until 1848. Thus the U.S. population Hispanic/Latinos are about 64% Mexican American,and the others are from Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain and are 1 out of 5 Americans today. The Spanish language is the second greatest spoken language in the nation and our culture, diet, music, values and our people and their small businesses have spending power that is fundamental to the U.S. economy.
The new policy on meritocracy by the Trump Administration will be an experiment to show that all can become better students and workers if held to one standard. But we know that it is the wealthy and those with legacy and networks who gain acceptances in higher numbers to universities and top jobs in most of our institutions.
However, this is the challenge – for the young adults starting thier careers – to become disciplined and motivated to work hard; and the experienced persons of color to mentor those whom we need to represent our communities of color and to invest in the next generation through their businesses and organizations. We need to work together now more than ever – rural, urban, border, young and old.
NHHF calls on our National Hispanic Health Professionals Leadership Network to work to inspire leaders from among your members and work together with us on mentorship. Our Leadership Fellowship and our Scholarship and Mentorship program has been strategies for us to work to build leaders since 2004. We have a focus on leadership and network development with this group and look forward to buidling the best and brightest Latino leaders for the health care system and the public health care system — so that our communities can be healthier. We also work with non healthcare community and welcome the collaborations at the regional level too.