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October 10, 2014
Contact: Jossie Flor Sapunar
ACTOBER ADVOCACY DAYS: Last week, LULAC members participated in the organization’s ACTober: Fall Advocacy Days which included conducting advocacy visits with Members of Congress on the Judiciary Committee, the Education and the Workforce Committee, the Natural Resources Committee and the Agriculture and Energy and Commerce Committee. Among the issues that LULAC members discussed included education, health care, the Voting Rights Act Amendment and the status of Puerto Rico. In addition, LULAC pressed for Congress to do what is right and pass common sense immigration reform with a path to citizenship. The members also participated in a luncheon where House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer and Congressman James E. Clyburn addressed the membership and students.
AMERICAN RED CROSS MOU SIGNING: In an unprecedented act of collaboration, LULAC and the Red Cross entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU provides a framework through which the two organizations will work together to establish prepared communities, plan for disaster responses, and provide mutual assistance to communities across the country.
TOYOTA PRESENTING CONVENTION SPONSOR 2015: Also during the ACTober luncheon, Toyota announced that the company will serve as presenting sponsor for the 2015 LULAC National Convention, which will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah from July 7-11, 2015. Watch the 2014 convention highlights video now! As the Presenting Sponsor for the 2014 LULAC National Convention, Toyota presented LULAC with a hybrid Prius that was as the official vehicle of the convention. LULAC can use the car for one year in efforts to raise environmental awareness among the Hispanic community and to encourage greener and more sustainable lifestyles.
BORDER CHILDREN RELIEF PROJECT DONATION: The influx of unaccompanied minors that arrived over the summer has overwhelmed processing facilities and strained our community’s ability to provide critical services. These minors are being placed with families across the country who need help with putting an extra plate on the table. In the month of October, through our partnership with Feeding America, LULAC and Tyson Foods are partnering to donate necessary food items to food banks in Washington, D.C. and cities in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. The first donation took place in Washington, D.C. at the Capital Area Food Bank on October 3, 2014. The next donation will be on Saturday, October 11 at the Beth-Hark Christian Counseling Center in New York City.
WASHINGTON YOUTH LEADERSHIP SEMINAR: LNESC kicked off its 17th annual Washington Youth Leadership Seminar (WYLS). During the week-long event, Latino high school students met with Members of Congress, STEM experts from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, Fortune 500 corporate executives and national non-profit leaders. These experts discussed with the students the importance of STEM educational attainment in the Latino community as it relates to U.S. economic growth and overall global competitiveness.
GOVERNANCE PROCESS UPDATES: In other good news, the LULAC National Board unanimously passed three far reaching motions designed to improve LULAC’s elections, governance and training. The first motion is to conduct the next LULAC National elections via secret ballet overseen by an independent firm that specializes in organizational elections. The second motion is to retain Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, one of the world’s leading law firms, to perform a pro bono review of the corporate governance structure and practices of LULAC that will result in a set of recommendations to improve our governance principles, provisions and policies. The third motion is to transfer our pilot online council training curriculum to the national staff for nationwide implementation this year. We are confident the board’s strong actions have now set in motion key reforms that will strengthen LULAC’s internal operations for many years to come.
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT LULAC
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Through the Border Children Relief Project, refugee children and their families received over 30,000 pounds of food in Washington, D.C. on Saturday at the Capital Area Food Bank.
At the LULAC-American Red Cross MOU signing, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Floyd W. Pitts announced that the American Red Cross responds to about 70,000 disasters in the U.S.
 Corporate champion Toyota announced that the company will again serve as Presenting Sponsor for next year's national convention.
The Washington Youth Leadership Seminar students met with Congressman Albio Sires’s office to petition for higher college tuition assistance and STEM issues.
“None of you are too young to be involved in the issues,” said Congressman James E. Clyburn, who was president of his NAACP council at 12 years old.
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer encouraged ACTober participants to vote, saying, “We cannot continue to ignore the most important challenges of our nation. We must come together to make meaningful change.”
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