Currently, the LA City Council consists of 14 council member: three Blacks, two Asian-Americans, four Whites, one Armenian-American, and four Latinos. District 6 is currently vacant after the resignation of Nury Martinez. Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund shares how common it is for Latinos to face under-representation when it comes to positions of leadership in LA.
Category: News
CALÓ RECAP: First California Latino Senator, first South LA dog park, UCLA Latino projects get funding
CALÓ NEWS offers this weekly recap of the most important events and news stories for Latinos in Los Angeles and beyond.
COLUMN: NURY MARTINEZ doesn’t speak for Latinos, now we must heal
What now? The political process will largely determine the fate of Martinez and her cohorts. What is essential going forward is to begin the work of healing between Latino and Black communities. Both communities are bonded by struggle, similar circumstance and the cruelties of racism and subjugation. Rogue political leaders should not be allowed to break those bonds.
INCLUSIVE ACTION FOR THE CITY, LA non-profit fights for street vendors
At Inclusive Action for the City, Rudy Espinoza serves as the Executive Director and advocates for neighborhoods, entrepreneurship, and financial empowerment. The majority of Espinoza’s work involves identifying profitable investment opportunities within low-income communities, building private/nonprofit partnerships, and training working-class communities to participate in neighborhood revitalization. It is among the groups that took the lead in supporting and promoting the Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign. The organization also sponsors a bill regulating street vendors throughout California.
BAMBY SALCEDO, LA group protects Transgender Latinas
Governor Gavin Newsom announced his five appointments to the Commission on the State of Hate, one of them being Trans Latina activist and community leader, Bamby Salcedo. As the President and Chief Executive Officer of the TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC), Salcedo guides the nationally recognized organization which advocates for Transgender and Gender nonconforming and Intersex (TGI) immigrant women in Los Angeles.
ROSA MORENO, dedicates psychology practice to helping Latinx, POC students
Moreno is now a psychologist and faculty counselor at California State University, Long Beach. She has been a counselor at CSULB for the past 24 years. She has been in charge of a drop-in space at CSULB called Latinas at the Beach for the past 24 years. It’s where Latina students can openly share their struggles and thoughts with their peers.
ZULY GARCIA, from contractor at Google to working full-time at the iconic tech company
Traveling back and forth with their father from Oaxaca to Los Angeles, Zuly Garcia found it difficult to assimilate to American culture and their Mexican counterparts. In addition to always feeling split in two between the two countries, they also faced brutal racism and had difficulty finding a supportive community. When Zuly was 15 years old, they began to struggle with their identity and loving themselves. That is until they found a creative outlet through Photoshop and photography.
JUAN HERNANDEZ, undocumented entrepreneur building a startup company to help others like him
Hernandez’s business provides undocumented students and undocumented immigrants with videos that explain how to make money as an undocumented immigrant, as well as how to apply for DACA for advanced status. In addition, the Prepare website allows users to ask each other anonymous questions and answers them as well.
California’s Stop the Hate Fund invests in violence prevention in LA
In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced the complete lists of grantees that, with this money, could provide direct services and support to victims of hate incidents and facilitate hate incident prevention measures in their prospective cities/regions.
Latinas fight for reproductive rights
This summer’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization took away Americans’ constitutional right to abortion. The webinar brought together Latina leaders at the forefront of the local reproductive justice movement to discuss how they got here, the impacts of the Dobbs decision on Latinas and their bodily autonomy, and the economic wellbeing and political inclusion of Latinos in American democracy.
LIBÉLULA BOOKS & CO. serves Brown, Black, Queer, Indigenous and all people of color
Housed behind a bright, yellow door attached to a 1920s iron and triangular building, the bookstore features floor-to-ceiling length bookshelves, art and greenery, knick-knacks that just belong, and that satisfying just-opened-a-book smell create an atmosphere that feels like one you’ve experienced before. But what truly punctuates the nostalgia of a classroom is the bundles of toys, a decorative and interactive feature, that definitely heals the inner child of both the owners and guests.
Biden to host unity summit against hate-fueled violence, while LA hate crimes soar
The United We Stand Summit, which is scheduled for September 15, aims to counter the “corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety,” as well as to highlight and address the Biden-Harris Administration’s response to these dangers, and “put forward a shared vision for a more united America,” as stated by the White House.