you so much for coming on the show tonight i know you're very you've got very busy schedule and i know you've done a lot of things recently which will get into and will talk to the audience about and let them know what's going on both statewide and also with a lot of the you know a lot of the  organizations that you work with especially you know you're the one that informed you know the latinos that would state a statewide nonprofit organization and we'll talk a little bit about that but before we get before we get into that we want to talk a little bit about you she is a dedicated bilingual professional with extensive experience in developing a promoting services while dressing in the needs of the community with superior record of successful community service and engagement prior to her current position she worked in the public affairs department at university hospital in newark where she managed the hospital overall community outreach program ranging from partnerships with local government agencies educational institutions faith based law enforcement  a graduate of ken university where she got back her choice in management and also she received her master's degree in public administration from mark hughes university in newark and was inducted into the national honor society for public affairs and administration which is pi alfalfa i know that because having been a gradual professor at rutgers i know the program very well and it's a high honor sir is also president of the loop a fund which we talked about before about the nonprofit organization which is dedicated to the empowerment of all that he does in new jersey and inside a new jersey's latest to two thousand and eighteen one hundred top policy makers to look out for and to pay attention to she was number seven on all the number ninety seven on the list but not ninety seven in our hearts because she's never won the hearts but she was one of the up and coming policymakers that we should be looking forward to for advice and guidance in the years to come so sara thank you very lou this is great it is great and maybe first of all let's let's talk about a little bit about what the office does what the center first party policy is all about what is the purpose you know what is the mission sure the center for hispanic policy research and development established back in one nine hundred seventy five when it was formally known as the office of hispanic affairs under the governor brendan byrne and it was primarily to address the needs of the hispanic community throughout the state of new jersey what they realized the new found out that it was important to focus on the hispanic population because it was such a growing population in the state during those times but very neglected so that's why the hispanic affairs department was created this division was created over the years we pretty much administer grant funding to community based organizations that serve the latino population we provide employment and training opportunities for our youth by our governors hispanic fellows program would revive technical assistance and referral services for our community based organizations to and power them so that they can better serve the latino community in new jersey as well as conduct and support research of latinos in the state of new jersey o next developing the next generation of leaders that come out and primarily it is celebrating well let me just start by saying somebody i get so excited when i talk about this program so passionate about it because i'm very passionate about our program and it combines the hands on training with the traditional classroom structural you know curriculum and giving exposing our young people to professional leaders and the opportunity to do skill building leadership development and so forth for them in the workplace so that they can be successful in the twenty first century economy you know as well so for students looking at this and so i want to be involved probably get involved absolutely so they have to be an undergraduate student in a university here in new jersey and the application is right on line right now so you can just go online and apply and we're taking applications all the way until april the program is an eight week summer program there runs from the beginning of june to the end of july and once a week they get a leadership workshop presented by one of our co sponsors hisper which runs a role model program and that's where they have the opportunity to meet presenters and develop some of their leadership skills once a week they anniversary we had the commissioner from the department of health the keynote speaker talked about is his experience and you know migrating to the united states and his family and some of the issues that he faced and how he overcame them was very inspirational something that our students and young people need to remember you know so what are some of the other programs that the state runs so at the center for hispanic policy research and development one of the things that one of the things that we do is fund organizations that address the needs of this panic community so some of our sebille the community based organizations that deal with mental health issues workforce development for students in a lot of school work force development for adults also entrepreneurship  programs we have a variety of different grants that we we are able to fund in programs and to make sure that we are empowering our community to you know to develop itself i think that's really important you know it's not just what you're doing with the fact that you have results and the fact that a lot of times people feel that they're not inactive they don't have the or they don't know where to go for the resources mysie others to do so for those who are looking to find a  connection you know what type of connection can you talk about and provide so they know exactly where to go to find some of these resources we just you know covered you know and i'm so glad you talked about that because that has been one of my pet peeves is the communication component how do they get connected how do they know about the grants so we redeveloped and rebranded our website thanks to the great communications team that we have over at the department of state and we've been able to make it very easy you know to navigate so a lot of people also old school like to go on a website but then the know the younger generation you know is more on social media so we have our facebook page we constantly stay in communication we've created a database where people we can always stay connected and just even let them know if there's a grant that opens up at the department of labor or the department of health hey here's some information maybe you can apply to this so i think it's really important that they look for us on the websites of social media we're really out there and i'm really working hard  rebranding the center and letting everyone know in the state of new jersey hey we are here to help you ok worthwhile that's what it's all about and we want to be that that that source for you we're currently working on a wonderful research project what will  be getting key stakeholders of the community around and kind of getting some feedback so that we can start addressing some of the current needs of the latino community it hasn't been done in a while and i think it's something that's really important in order for that for the direction of the center to continue to move forward to meet the needs that are important today are different than what they were ten or fifteen years ago tremendously important and if we go out of individuals i don't know what those leads are  we see is the economic disparities you know within but that's also that's been trending for many years now and we feel that it's something that hasn't been the way we want to see it address so the center is currently working with state legislators and different levels of girl branches of government to see how we can kind of strategize and develop legislation and policies that are going to help bridge some of those gaps also with the higher education you know we're getting some of our students into the schools but are we keeping them you know data shows us that they're not staying in school and forth to kind of brainstorm and how do we make this happen and that's why the internship program is so important because we get so much feedback from these through dence and hey this is what we need and i want to be able to have that communication with them so i personally make it a point to meet you talk a little bit about that sure how that came to be so i was very interested in seeing visiting you know just getting to see where does the hispanic community get served that what does this location look like you know so i went and steve the executive director from main street runs a tight ship there let me tell you he is constantly communicating with the center and letting us know of the of the latest trends or what's happening over there so that we can share that information with those in you know within our database and so forth and it's just been a tremendous you know it gives you like an insight of one happening but it keeps me in touch with the community and what's going on that's in west orange then rising tide has a couple of different locations that i'm able to go to new york but i am bound area was a total different experience and seeing how they run their programs and so forth so i really enjoy it i'm a community person so know i love getting down there and i clearly people personally i really enjoy it because i want to make sure that we are focused on what is important to the hispanic community today in new jersey ok and you go all feedback from people about what they like to see organize with the fifteen years ago yes and so maybe we can talk about that and you know about all the people who come together from different sectors of their experience with the will education human services business wherever  be what was the process and you know with the mission so the mission for loop is to educate empower and engage latinas through civic engagement and leadership throughout the state of new jersey we've been in existence as you mentioned fifteen years we're going into our sixteenth year but in reality this group of women who work for government back about sixteen years ago had this idea and it was about to to twenty of them to found this organization that was going to empower  women and create an awareness to latinas that hey we're important we're relevant in this state and we have a mind of our own and we're going to pursue political careers and we can do whatever we want to put our minds to and this wonderful group of women got together and formed this organization and today we have the new pay fund which is the one that i'm president of and then we have our sister organization the looper pac which is run separately but it you know they endorse the candidate so we train them we get them ready and then you know we have that sisterhood with them as well but it's a wonderful group of women that you know comprises wonderful organization and i can't thank them enough for the great job that they did in bringing all of us together at the table we have the opportunity to offer scholarships to women today to attend leadership programs we have a wonderful partnership with the center for american women in politics where we host the elex young at the now which is a part of their ready to run program and we've been doing that for the last ten to twelve years as well with them so it has really just a great dynamic it's all about collaboration you know and just the same vision so we go together when it comes to doing the training for alex you know latina we had training for women who are now in office you know so we're very proud of the great work and i'm really grateful to the founders of this organization that put this together with great struggles very personal to you it sounds like something that's near and dear to your heart you know have come to be know women more we only have so we are you know it's it is near and dear to me because growing up i didn't see that you know i never thought that i could ever be where i am to ok just going to city hall in newark was a big deal for me and you know later in life i was able to just walk in there like it was just a routine and i said people forget that that means so much to a young child to go into their city hall and meet the mayor or meet somebody that looks like them that's in a leadership role so that to me i don't forget that feeling and so that's why i think i'm extremely passionate about new power fund the great work the amazing board that we have the scholarships that we're able to give we're giving almost close to eighty thousand dollars of you know our scholarships have been have increased to the undergraduate latinas that are pursuing higher education and they come back and they give back and they serve on our board now you know also i obviously look at funds vision fifteen sixteen years ago is now we really continues to grow and develop and we're developing these amazing women who are just out there so i yeah it is very near and dear  it absolutely funding is always an issue and obviously with a lot of cuts even at the center for hispanic policy research and development we have to be creative we have to make sure and hold these organizations accountable to make sure that they're doing the work that they say they're going to do i like to see the impact that they're having in the community so the same thing with luper fund you know we want to make sure that you know we show the numbers to our funders you know we had a wonderful turn now with great support from comcast state farm tremendous funders you know and private donors as well so we are we have been fortunate but there's always an issue with fund raising obviously you know  administration you know secretary of the way deputy assistant secretary williams and mean they have been phenomenal in supporting the center and the work that we want to accomplish and you can always use more volunteers to have all the time  through the center all over we always welcome volunteers but i think it's also about changing perceptions and also about getting students in paris and like you were mentioning what city hall looked like to you as a young girl and it's about what that building represents right and what's what the building represents and to be inside the building now as those we go inside buildings we're going to stay capitals the house will think twice about when you're young you look at it and you have this  that i don't think is anybody who looks like me and they are my work and in their you know or is a place that is welcoming to me and i think that's part of the work that you're doing to make sure that you know it's not just diversity but it's also about so that's why i also started my own organization called boys to leaders foundation so the boys leaders foundation i started in two thousand and thirteen out of vision about it maybe a couple years prior and i just kept sitting down and say i'm never going to be able to do this and yet one day i just woke up and said you know do this do i feel empowered right i felt like wow all these great women around me this positive energy i can ask some of them to help me or mentor me this is my idea so i did that and i did it because i felt there was a strong need in my community to expose my son to leaders that looked like him but he came home from school one day said mommy i never met a lawyer that looks like me that's brown like me so i had you know i said wait a minute as a single mom raising my son in a work i said wow ok have to really change this dynamic because i must not be the only one there must be other parents just like me and so we started this organization and i did it for my son and i hold a yearly annual conference with rocker's university in new office of community partnerships and we hosted there in newark once a year and we bring all these phenomenal leaders and we provide workshops on topics that are related to what the youth are going to because when i started i would just have conversations with my son like what's important to you or what do you friends talking about and that was how i directed the workshops in the conference and now older he's developed the youth advisory council and they tell me ok this is what we want to see this is what we're interested in this is what's going on today and you know we've been able to address some of the issues that are important to these young men to develop their leadership skills and it's not only for latinos it's it's for minorities or whoever would like to attend the conference now with a voice would you give to a young youngster who say maybe it's just ten years old and just wants to get the reaction and wants to know what to do and what would have us would you give i would say do what you're passionate about and dream big just keep dreaming you know nobody ever told me that i thought that there was only where i lived run and little that i know there was the south and east toward you know and a dream big dream  big and there's more out there in this world and there's nothing you can't do without god and a goal setting and having a mentor you know it's very important to have that mentor and that it happened for me until later in life successful political campaign for senator menendez she was the first latina in charge james administration so you know those are the women that kind of helped pave the way and keep me focused and opened some doors and said you can do this early on my father spoke english a little bit but he was always working ok so open houses and things like that i would go and translate for my sister from my mom and so forth so i had won this contest in the fourth grade an essay contest for the state of new jersey my teacher just felt the need to submit my essay i didn't know she did it and i won some contest and i didn't know what that meant at the time she said wow look you won this contest also i go home and my mom says oh that's great fantastic but i knew that she didn't really understand you know the you know how big it was because my teacher kept telling me it was a big deal there was a ceremony and that my mom couldn't go she had to work and then my aunt sent me this book and inside it was a beautiful scripture and she said you know it was just all about how she believed in me help proud she wasn't me and i kept this little book and it's a treasure of mine to remind me that there's nothing i can't do you know and there's always somebody the person you least expect you know in your corner and just cheering you on you know when you need it and it happened just at the right time and i was like wow ok ok i can dream you know somebody is noticing you know like it wasn't that my parents didn't notice but it's very difficult coming from a different country into a new land and getting acclimated with how other things are run here it's totally different and they came from two different countries so you may not even are dialects spanish you know it was totally different  just you know it were brought on wife and i think my father taught us that our early age you know he would have the kids over who needed help and school at the house it was like you guys have to help him there was no no negotiation or argue it was like you would have to help him  my father was very instrumental like that he was very community he would sit outside his guitar and play and everybody come over and we're very neighborhood you know we were all close and he always said we have to help each other without expecting anything in return and he instilled that me very early on and i always believe that that's great and i instill that in my son today was there anything else going on they want to talk about because really trying time but you know i think we want to talk about as far as not profit or anything  that you see in the future coming down that's that's important to you that will discuss what we want to encourage everyone to get involved with the center for hispanic policy research and development on the great work that we're doing we're trying to really work with for example the new jersey historic commission and other departments from the state and get the latino community involved so we're just looking for people to just support some of the initiatives that we're doing give us some great feedback negative or positive because that's what we're here to do and just kind of stay connected with too to help you and to guide you and to give you some advice along the way as to how you can help others too and if you want to volunteer volunteers are always welcome if you feel the need that you want to get your checkbook and donate i'm sure sarah will not argue with