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Jorge Neri: My name is Jorge Neri.
I'm the Associate Director for the Office of Public
Engagement here at the White House,
and I have the pleasure of introducing my boss, Julie
Chavez Rodriguez, who is the Deputy Director
of the Office of Public Engagement.
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: Thank you, Jorge, for that
kind introduction.
Jorge's a little bit humble.
I want to take this opportunity to just really
thank Jorge, thank Rafael Lopez, who's also with
us today, Pedro Suarez, our whole team of interns
and staff and support that have helped make today
possible, as well as Rumana Ahmed,
who serves over all of our Champions of Change programs
here at the White House.
So my job is easy.
I get to welcome you all to the White House today.
And we're really excited to have you all join us,
and we're really excited to host today's
Champions of Change event.
This is our third year, I believe,
doing the Cesar Chavez Champions of Change, and today
is a little unique, because we actually get
to do it on Cesar Chavez day, which is today March 31st.
So, we are very excited to have you all.
The Champions of Change program started in 2011,
and it was really an opportunity
for us to be able to honor and recognize everyday heroes
that are doing extraordinary work
in their communities.
And it is really, you know,
exactly the work that each of our champions exemplify today.
My grandfather, Cesar Chavez,
used to tell us that the job of an organizer
was to help ordinary people do extraordinary things,
and that's really what our champions have spent
their lifetime and their career doing.
One of my favorite quotes of his, and those
of you who I've known for a while -- I see some friends
in the audience -- have probably heard me say this
before, but one of my favorite quotes
is a quote of his that says, "Once social change begins,
it cannot be reversed.
You cannot uneducated the person
who has learned to read.
You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride,
and you cannot oppress the people
who are not afraid anymore."
Now, for me, it's such an important quote,
because it really does speak to the heart
of what organizing and advocacy can do for our community.
Working, you know, tirelessly
in our communities to ensure that everyone has a pathway
to opportunity to be able to get ahead.
And to that point, today's champions, I think,
are particularly, you know, fitting to really
exemplify my grandfather's life and his work
and his legacy, and what that means
to our communities today.
So I'm going to go through our 10 champions,
and then we're going to invite them up here to be able to hear
directly from them about their life's work,
and why they've chosen each of the different career paths
that they've had.
And for the champions, when I call your name,
if you could just please stand
and be recognized briefly.
So Nahla Kayali serves as a Founder and Executive
Director for Access California Services
in Anaheim, California.
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: And Access Cal
is a Health and Human Services nonprofit,
culturally and linguistically competent family resource
center, dedicated to enhancing the quality
of life for underserved American -- Arab-American and Muslim
American communities.
Next we have Germain Castellanos,
Program Director,
SHINE Educational Leadership Program.
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: Now, as Program Director
for SHINE, it's a workforce development
program serving over 300 at-risk youths in Waukegan
High School since 2008, where the student
population is over 70 percent Latino.
Next, we have Herb Lee, who is a native Hawaiian
that has led multiple and highly successful
youth leadership programs --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- and helped to establish
environmental education and cultural-based
curricular projects, including the
award-winning, and hopefully I will get
the pronunciation right, Caje Loco
and the Aloha Aina Projects.
So thank you, Herb.
Next, we have Javier Muñoz,
an AmeriCorps member here in the local area.
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: And as an AmeriCorps
member, he serves with the Literacy Council
of Northern Virginia, and has been teaching English
to adult immigrants and refugees in family
literacy in beginning-level ESOL
classes since September 2012.
Next, we have Helen Gym, who is a community
and education leader, who's worked across
the organizations --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: She's worked across
different organizations, supporting the right
to quality public education for all children.
In case you haven't noticed,
there's a theme amongst our first panelist
in the sphere of education.
Next, we have Luis Urrieta,
who's an Associate Professor and Program Director --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- for Cultural Studies
at the University of Texas, Austin.
I think I'm supposed to now say, hook 'em horns --
(laughter)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- and Coordinator
of the Cultura en Accion, Culture and Action,
after school program.
As a son of Mexican immigrants from rural
Michoacán, his motivation for advocacy and work with
communities stems from his family experiences
dealing with the perceptions, and oftentimes challenges
facing immigrants today.
Next, we have Khin Mai Aung,
who is Director of the Education Equity Program --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- at the Asian-American
Legal Defense and Education Fund,
and I'm particularly excited that she's bringing
the next generation along with her as we speak.
And as the Asian-American Legal Defense
and Education Fund, they focus on --
or advocate on issues, such as bilingual education,
language access and school discipline issues, among others.
Next, we have Armando Chavez,
who serves as Principal of Columbus Elementary School --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- in Columbus, New Mexico,
and the school serves a population,
in which 99 percent of students enter as monolingual Spanish
language students, and most of this unique group
were born in the United States and living
in other areas of Mexico.
Next, we have Sandra Gutierrez,
who is the National Program
Director of Abriendo Puertas, Opening Doors.
And it's the nation's first evidence-based
comprehensive training program
for Latino parents with children aged zero to five.
And last, but not least, we have Diego Uriburu,
who is originally from Argentina, and has --
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: -- and who has promoted
the rights of Latino immigrants in LGBT
communities in Washington, D.C. area,
since he immigrated to the United States.
In 1998, he co-founded Identity, Inc.,
a community-based organization
in Montgomery County, Maryland, and serves
as its Executive Director.
So, please join me in welcoming
and congratulating our
10 Champions of Change once more.
(applause)
Julie Chavez Rodriguez: So now
is the real exciting part.
You all get to hear from them about their journey,
about the reasons why they've taken
on the important work that they do today,
and what has really, you know, given us the opportunity
to recognize them and honor them
as Caesar Chavez Champions of Change.
But before I leave the stage and invite our first
moderator to come up and lead our panel, I would be
remiss if I didn't remind folks that today is March
31st, which is Chavez Day, but it also happens
to be the last day of open enrollment
for the Affordable Care Act.
And so we want to make sure that
if you have health insurance that you are continuing
to spread the word with friends and family, and getting them
to sign up for quality affordable care today.
We were very encouraged last week when
we found out that over 6 million Americans have enrolled
in the health insurance marketplace,
and we know that that's 6 million and counting.
And so, as we honor and celebrate Cesar Chavez's
legacy today, as we celebrate the great
work of our 10 champions, let us also remember to ensure
that we're doing everything that we can
to use our voices to spread the word about the
important access of quality affordable care.
So with that, I am going to invite our first
moderator up, who we are honored to have
join us today.
And it is Lisa Garcia Quiroz.
She is the Chair of the Board for the
Corporation for National and Community Service.
So, Lisa, I'll invite you to come up,
as well as the champions that will be serving
on today's first panel.
Thank you all very much.
(applause)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: So, good morning everyone.
My name is Lisa Garcia Quiroz,
and I'm Chair of the Corporation for National
and Community Service.
And I know many of you in the audience know,
but for those of you who are on the live stream,
the Corporation for National Community Service
is a federal agency that administers AmeriCorps,
Senior Corps, and the Social Innovation Fund.
The organization engages more than 5 million
Americans in over 60,000 locations throughout
the United States, and we engage them in service
and in volunteerism.
It's really an incredible feat, and in many ways,
just a, I think, a truly
wonderful American program.
In many ways, the spirit of service
is something that is so deeply entrenched
in this country, and that's why I'm so proud to really
serve on the Board of the Corporation
for National Community Service.
And I'm in awe of many of you, who have devoted
your entire lives to this, and I'm thrilled that
we have members of the AmeriCorps family with us today.
So I don't want to go -- because July introduced
each of you, but I do want to make a special mention.
Perhaps what people didn't know about Germain,
for example, is that he was an AmeriCorps Member
of the Year.
Is that correct, Germain?
So I just wanted to make special note of that,
because I think that's important.
I also wanted to be sure that we recognize
that in the audience today are members
of Virginia State Commission on National Service.
Want to stand up, and we can give you a warm
round of applause?
Thank you.
(applause)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Thank you
so much for your service.
In addition, Xavier's mother and members
of his organization, the Literacy Council,
are here with us today.
Is that also correct?
Do you want to wave?
(applause)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: And actually,
I completely forgot.
When I mentioned that Germain was
an AmeriCorps Member of the Year, I forgot to mention
that he also started the first AmeriCorps dating service.
His wife, Christine, is an -- was an AmeriCorps
member as well--
(laughter)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: -- and his two children, Delilah,
who's here in the audience, and I believe
his wife Christine, and Tomas stepped
out for a moment.
But we're glad to have Delilah here,
and I suspect she's going to be an AmeriCorps member too,
so yeah, I'm excited.
We're excited about that; we're ready
to recruit her.
So I want to start off with a simple question.
I love the quote that Julie gave earlier
about Cesar Chavez, talking about ordinary
people doing extraordinary things.
And certainly the thing that all 10
of you have in common today is exactly right,
that when you read the bios, what's extraordinary about
it is that you're all very accomplished individuals,
but who decidedly took the road of service.
And I want to start off with
a question along those lines.
And if you can just tell us a little bit on,
what was the moment or what was the experience that led
you to really lead a life of service?
And I want to start off with Herb.
Herb, you've come all the way from Hawaii.
You've traveled the farthest.
I thought we'd start with you today.
As we said earlier, he's the Executive Director
of the Pacific-American Foundation, and you've
done extraordinary work with young people.
So, what was the moment for you?
Herb Lee: Well, about 20 years ago, we started
the restoration of an ancient Hawaiian fish pond
that's about 400 years old, and we were learning,
and I got a call from a teacher -- her name
was Sheila Cyburn from a local high school called
the Castle High School.
She was a science teacher, teaching at-risk children,
11 and 12th graders, and she said, you know,
"I'm not reaching them in the classroom.
Can I bring them down to the fishpond,
and maybe teach them science in a different way?"
And when the kids first came down, the students
first came down to the pond, they didn't want
to be there, but we saw this amazing transformation
in these students over the next nine months.
And we asked ourselves three questions:
can we duplicate this?
Can we reach more students?
And imagine if we could actually be able
to expose them to sort of a community classroom
relevant experience in what
they were learning younger.
And imagine the kind of attitude that
they would have towards community service,
towards taking responsibility for their own learning,
if they had that kind of motivation.
And that was a turning point for us.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Great.
Well, that's a great turning point to Germain,
who also works with -- Germain, do you want to
tell us a little bit about what your moment was, what
brought you to AmeriCorps, and now
to a life of service?
Germain Castellanos: Min is a little more
of a personal story in that the -- I dropped out
of high school -- I was kicked out.
I should tell the truth; I'm on national --
(laughter)
Germain Castellanos: Someone's going
to say something.
Okay, so I was kicked out of high school.
I tried to go back and was kicked out again.
So I got a GED, and a couple of years later,
my -- I hit rock bottom.
And my daughter was born.
And I thought of the world we live in,
and I wanted to develop the world around her, right,
to develop it into a better place.
So I threw myself into service with AmeriCorps,
and transformed my life from that into what
it is today.
And what that did to me was that helped
me realize that service can transform lives and repurpose them,
and that's what I -- the message that I give
to the young people that I work with, is that your life --
I work with at-risk youth, I work with low income
youth, and that's my message, is that service
can transform your life and your community,
by just one act at a time.
And that's where -- that's how we get started,
and that's what truly changed my life, is that when
I saw what happened in my life, I -- you know,
I started telling other people about it,
and getting them hooked on service.
And as an AmeriCorps member,
I was able to do that in my community.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Actually, I love that
theme, Germain, the fact that giving actually
transforms the individual,
and not just the community.
I think that's an important point.
Can you just tell us briefly,
how did you connect with the AmeriCorps program?
You mentioned that you dropped out of school,
you got a GED.
So, what was the program that drew you in?
Germain Castellanos: I was looking -- I was a part
of a workforce development program, and they
put me on the Youth Council for the Lake County Workforce
Development, Workforce Investment Board.
And I kept seeing programs coming
in and failing and failing.
And I said what's so hard about it?
And as a youth in a program, I said I could
do a program, as a, you know, a 20-year-old who was
ambitious and naïve, and I started going around
talking to people; and I worked a third-shift job.
I would wait -- get out of work in the morning
at 7:00, take a shower, and I had a list of --
and change, and have a list of appointments,
and I would go and I would pitch people my idea and say,
hey, I want to start a program, and then
I ran into the executive director
of the Youth Conservation Corps in Waukegan.
And he said I can't help you write this grant,
because I'm writing the grant also,
but I'll give you a job if you want one.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great, that's great.
Germain Castellanos: So that's where I started.
And my family thought I was crazy,
because I took a 50 percent pay cut to work for AmeriCorps
as a youth developer, and that's how I got started.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great.
Thank you.
Helen, I want to turn to you.
You come to service in a slightly different way.
You're Board Chair of the Asian-Americans United,
and you are also co-founder
of Parents United for Public Education.
You've been a huge vocal and engaged advocate
for public education in Philadelphia.
Can you tell us a little bit about
what your moment was?
Helen Gym: Yeah, well, thank you very much.
About 15 years ago, there was a proposal
to put a baseball stadium in the middle
of Philadelphia Chinatown.
And at the time, it was considered, you know,
to be economic development and progress
for a rundown area of the city that had not shown itself
to be visible enough, let's say.
And what happened was that an enormous number
of people from the Chinatown community,
and much farther beyond, came together
in a very multigenerational outpouring,
including businesses, elders, young people;
we engaged with multiracial communities to talk about the
vibrancy of neighborhoods, we talked about the difference
between economic development and progress,
about things which are entertainment,
not to say that it's not progress, but that there is also
other forms of progress, not only defined
by entertainment, sports, and other venues,
but that there can be locally driven progress
that's led by and, you know, driven by immigrant communities.
We were successful in pushing off the stadium,
made a big statement about a billion dollars
of public money going into private enterprises,
and five years later, built a school
on that footprint of that stadium.
It serves many immigrant families in Philadelphia,
it celebrates the arts, and really made
me feel like so much of our communities are,
especially within the, I feel like,
Asian-American and immigrant communities, are rendered
invisible; that there's a lot of stereotypes
and things that come up.
Even for Cesar Chavez Day, you know,
the fact that Asian-Americans, and Filipinos in particular,
were a huge part of building strong alliances
and communities within
the United Farmworker Movement, that that's
a very powerful thing.
And so, bringing voice to that, I feel like
the same thing is with our Philadelphia public
schools today; that parents and ordinary
people, students, staff members, teachers,
workers in the school district have really tried
to come together to talk about what it means to have
a vibrant public education system in a district
where a billion dollars has been dropped out.
We've closed down 30 schools,
we've lost 4,000 staff.
We don't have counselors, nurses,
and for the most part, librarians in our school.
And this is a really powerful moment when
ordinary people are standing
up and saying that we have a collective responsibility
to really stand by and fight for these public spaces
and public goods that matter to us.
And that's actually not something that
will just be given.
You actually have to stand up, raise your voice,
and fight for that.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great.
Thank you.
Helen Gym: Thank you.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Nahla Kayali.
Nahla, you work with the Arab-American
and Muslim American communities in Orange County
in California.
Can you tell us a little bit about what brought
you to serve that community, what was your
moment of change?
Nahla Kayali: I was born as a servant,
and I've been helping the community even when I was young,
but it came to me on a -- in 1998, in a personal story,
and which -- I had to go to a community clinic
to get an immunization for my daughter.
And it was the first time in my life getting
into a community clinic, and -- to receive services.
I was kind of shy, and I thought,
everybody's looking at me.
And my daughter is here, actually, taking pictures.
(laughter)
Nahla Kayali: And it did start with her when
I got the CHIP program, enrolled in the CHIP program
when -- for health family in California.
And when I saw the program was amazing,
I felt my community are in need, and my community
are underserved to receive programs
from the community.
At the beginning, when I decided to start
an organization, many people did not believe
in my vision, and the stereotype that we have, we felt it's
going to be a barrier to help our community,
but it did not.
Really, I -- when I opened the door, the community
starts coming, and we felt --
and they started opening up to me.
It was a small office with a folding table
and a chair, and they start coming
and asking for more services.
And the expansion and the dedications we put where
people are -- when I start talking to them
in my community, they start joining me.
And it was always a team effort,
where we built our organizations.
From board members, staff, volunteers, family
members, they helped build this organization.
It was a vision of mine, but now it's the vision
of the whole community where they're coming,
and we are proud to say that we are having collaborations
with federal government programs.
We do have the AmeriCorps program in our agency.
We have contract for the Affordable Health Care.
We have the USCIS.
We have foundations.
We have the county contracts.
We have -- to be honest with you, we did not feel
any barriers where when we start asking for support,
the community are supporting,
whether from the government side or foundations
or businesses or individuals.
So, even my family, my family members
are participating in every event.
When they were young and now they're graduate
and they work in the organizations.
It's -- when you see the fruit of your work.
And when you see immigrants, refugees
receiving services, and they're smiling,
that is a payback.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: And you do this
in 15 languages, correct?
Nahla Kayali: Yes.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Thi was extraordinary.
They offer services in 15 languages.
You have 30 staff people.
Nahla Kayali: Right.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: So, I'd like to think it's
the AmeriCorps volunteers that each speak 15 languages.
Nahla Kayali: Either AmeriCorps,
who they are from different
ethnic background, different language.
And we have everybody in our office.
People, they walk into our office and they feel
"Oh, this is like a mall.
We're going to the mall."
Everybody.
We see everybody here.
(laughter)
Nahla Kayali: So they feel they are connected with
the community and we help the individuals
whatever way they like to receive services.
And we really concentrate on the culture.
We serve the community and their own culture
and the way they like to be served.
We don't give dignity to people.
They were born with dignity.
We help them maintain it.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: that's great.
And how long have you been doing --
Nahla Kayali: It's been 15 years.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Fifteen years.
Nahla Kayali: We just celebrated 15 years.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great.
Great.
Nahla Kayali: The joy when we see them, you know,
praying for us.
Even they bring food, they bring gifts to the
organization, and we always tell them
"We don't get personal gift," but they always bring
something for the staff and volunteers.
And the joy of it.
I'm an immigrant.
Uneducated.
A mother -- raised my kids as a single mom.
It was hard.
But when I see now the young generations
who are graduating from big schools, coming back
to us and they want to join the organization, I say,
I always say "We are doing good work."
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Yes.
That's wonderful.
Nahla Kayali: And I thank my family members.
My daughter's here.
My sister.
My board chair.
My board member who started with
me from the beginning.
Thank you for coming all the way
from Orange County.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Oh, that's great.
Well, we should recognize them.
I didn't recognize them earlier.
Nahla Kayali: Yes.
They're here.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: They're here
in the audience.
That's great.
(applause)
Nahla Kayali: They're here.
My daughter's -- And I thank the staff and
volunteers who are right now in California,
6 o'clock in the morning, they're
all teaming up in the room watching --
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Watching -- that's great.
Nahla Kayali: -- watching today.
And all our volunteers are there.
They're having fun.
Hello to everyone and thank you for putting
me in this position.
This award is for my community.
I dedicate it for my community.
I dedicate it for God who really gave
me this inspiration.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Thank you so much.
Thank you.
So, Xavier, last but not least.
This is an extraordinary story also.
You're a biology graduate
from Stanford University and you graduated recently.
You're in AmeriCorps currently and you've
been working with the Literacy Council
of Northern Virginia.
I know you have friends and colleagues
that are here today also in the audience.
But tell us a little bit about what brought
you to AmeriCorps and what's been the transformational
moment for you to decide to do this
with your life right now?
Xavier A. Muñoz: Yes, thank you.
And of course it's an honor to be a Cesar Chavez
Champion of Change.
I'm also going to share a little bit
of my personal story.
I did graduate from Stanford University,
but in the final years of my education there,
I found it very difficult academically.
I struggled with anxiety and had to actually
extend because I wasn't succeeding in academics.
And after that, for the next year and a half,
I was dragged forward with the questions
of "What should I do?"
, "What ought I to be doing?"
You know, both of my parents are immigrants.
They worked incredibly hard to support
me and my brother, to give us the opportunities
and choices to make a better lives for ourselves.
And I was given this great education,
and yet I was struggling to find what to do.
In Tampa, Florida,
the I Can Community Education Coalition, I started
as an adult basic literacy tutor.
I was helping a man from Jamaica learn to read.
After every session, which was twice a week,
I came home with questions of not "What should I be doing?"
but instead "How can I help him?"
"This is what we did in today's tutoring session.
How can I make it better for next time?"
Realizing that I had so much more to learn
in adult education to become a better teacher
to help him, it kind of pushed me forward and then I joined
AmeriCorps service with the Literacy Council
of Northern Virginia.
They've been around for 50-plus years.
They serve more than 1,500 learners every year.
I thought this is an amazing opportunity.
Intensive experience with AmeriCorps to pursue this
budding interest that I was having
with the Literacy Counseling.
You know, I teach family literacy and
beginning-level English classes.
The majority of our learners are immigrants
and over 40 percent of them don't have
a high school education.
Some of them were high-skilled workers
in their countries.
Doctors and engineers, but are here unemployed
or maybe work as custodians.
Many of them have only been here for a few years,
decades, or they've been only here for a week
before they come register for our classes.
But when I look at them, in class, their drive?
It's energizing.
It's motivating.
When I see how the English language can empower them
to improve their lives to be more better
participants in their communities,
in their families.
I mean, what's better than that?
You know, for me it's -- before I never considered
community service as something to do.
I recognized the value but, especially in
college, I thought I need to focus on academics.
I'm struggling in this; how can
I spend time helping others?
And yet, it's because of AmeriCorps service that
now I can move forward with a direction
for my future, and move forward with a purpose
for those that I serve.
So.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great.
Thank you so much, Xavier.
Appreciate that.
I want to ask a question.
Just listening to all of you, each of you
in every way talked about the importance of cultural
competence and the connection
to community and really understanding community
and helping to effect change.
Can -- Helen, I want to go to you
for a second because the example you gave is an extraordinary
example of that.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
About how you had the unique opportunity
to work within the Asian community to really effect
substantial change and maybe what
the secret sauce, so to speak, was in that work?
Helen Gym: No secret sauce.
A lot of hard work, grit, and other things.
You know, I think we try to think a lot
about what culture means.
And I think that there are some strange things
about how people tend to view culture,
especially when we talk about education.
Tends to take a very heroes
and holidays kind of approach.
But to me, culture really means a lot about inviting
kids' lives into your school,
into your community to hear from them what is meaningful.
And so a lot of our work is about building
up the cultural strength and ethnic pride within
our communities and at the school that we founded,
we make space for ritual practice.
We make space to invite our elders in.
We make space to talk about history and
meaningful cultural exchanges.
And a young girl whose mother was
in a step crew who's now taking a step ensemble at our school.
And students who were trying to find their
way around how to feel good about
their Chinese culture.
Taking kung fu and martial arts classes
at the school.
And that we see culture as a place of strength,
but we also think about it as a place of controversy.
And I don't know that if you don't know about
what's happening or what has happened in Tucson,
Arizona about the Mexican American
Studies program there.
And the kind of crushing down of diversity
and cultural practice.
It is threatening.
And I think it's also very powerful.
And I think that one of the reasons for that
is that we want to build up the strength
of our communities to understand that there will
be struggle in this.
We need to pass down traditions of struggle
to our young people so that they understand
how to work together within broad communities for this.
We need to make space for language minorities
and we also have to realize that we won't always
make friends in this.
And that sometimes this comes with
a little bit of opposition around it.
And that the fight for making and creating
space, whether it's within our communities
for culture and knowledge, whether it's within our public
schools to bring in authentic voices
of young people to help talk to them about
how you do meaningful community building.
We actually grow our academic skills
and we raise up young people who are proud of who they
are and what they have to give and that they
can go out there and change the world.
Those are difficult and challenging things
to have and we need to fight for those at all times.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: That's great.
Thank you.
Helen Gym: Thank you.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Herb, you also work with
the community in Hawaii with the native Hawaiian
community and have started a number
of culture-based programs for youth and for families.
Can you talk a little bit about
the importance of that?
Herb Lee, Jr.: Yes.
In Hawaii, we live on an island, obviously,
with finite resources.
And what we found is that the children
were using the connection to place and understanding
the relevance of what they were learning
in the four core areas of math, science,
language arts, social studies.
So, for us, it was a matter of trying
to help reconnect them to place.
It was a matter of extending opportunities
to build relationships among students, place,
to family, and the context of communities.
So, in looking at trying to reimagine education
in the 21st century, in the context
of Hawaiian culture as sort of the host culture
and foundation for learning, in Hawaii.
Relationships, relevance, and the combination
with that with rigor was very, very important.
And relationship came first.
To be able to understand that the teacher
in the classroom cared about the student and cared about
making the relevancy, meaning the culture,
helping to make the culture connection
to the student so that they could really understand
how they could apply that to their everyday living.
There is a very wise saying we call
it in Hawaiian an (speaks Hawaiian) and it goes
something like this: (speaks Hawaiian) -
Not all knowledge is learned in one school.
And that was a --
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Lov that.
That's great.
Herb Lee, Jr.: -- really a profound thing
for us and that has helped us to guide where
we wanted to go.
And that we have to be humble always.
That we can play a dual role to being --
dual role of being both a teacher as well as a learner.
So, in the midst of teaching,
one is a learner; in the midst of learning,
one is a teacher, to always have that humble heart.
To know that not all knowledge does come from
one place, and so to the extent that
we can help make those connections again, we can foster
and instill and inspire in our students that light,
that energy to be able to be the best that they can be.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: I love that quote.
I hope somebody is tweeting it.
(laughter)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Germain, before I open
it up for questions, I just -- I couldn't help but
hear your story and think of the President's
new initiative on My Brother's Keeper.
And the work that they're going to be doing over
the next few weeks, actually.
I think Jonathan is here in the audience
and I don't want to misspeak on this, but really focused
on young men and how to engage them
and to do something about the terrible drop-out rate
and some of the great challenges
that young men are facing today.
So, if you could offer the President
and that Commission some advice.
You've got the mic right now.
So, I thought before we open it up to questions,
it's just such a great story.
You probably have some terrific
insights about that.
Germain Castellanos: Well, the community that
I currently serve is Waukegan, Illinois.
The high school demographics is
70 percent Latino, 20 percent African American,
and I see the first-hand.
I work with seniors and recent
high school graduates.
And I see the students.
You know the Latinas and African American women
are going to college way more than the Latinos
and African American males.
And what the students are saying
is that they want opportunities.
They want more opportunities and if that
means President Obama getting
some more money on the ground for grassroots
programming that provides a service-based training
opportunity, like Youth Build USA, AmeriCorps are
programs that I've seen that are successful that
I've taken notes from and have applied in my program.
Workforce development pays back.
It's an investment in our country.
It's not a handout.
It's not a program that's -- you're not just
giving money away.
It's an investment that goes back to our country.
That gets reinvested and it gives people
training, it gives people jobs, it gives people
dignity that have lost it.
And strengthens the dignity that people
already do have.
And helping people get jobs and serve their
community is what I believe the United States
of America is all about.
And when my parents came in the late 70s
to the United States, they had the gleam of the American
Dream in their eye and I try to use that spirit
to help me continue on in serving my community
and my country.
So, if there's any message to the President
and the Council, that's it.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Great.
Thank you.
Germain Castellanos: Thank you.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: So, I thought I would open
it up to questions from the audience and then I'll
close with one last question for -- yes.
Female Speaker: Hi --
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Oh, we need a mic,
because we're live streaming so --
Mary Bruce: Hi, thank you so much.
What a wonderful morning.
I'm Mary Bruce, the co-Director of AmeriCorps
Alums and I'm joined by Lizzy Martinez
on our D.C. chapter.
And so excited to have such an AmeriCorps
presence on the board.
Wondering for Lisa, Nahla, and Germain and Xavier,
the AmeriCorp family.
How do we support more Germains?
How do we help continue that life of service
and support the whole alumni, the network
to help grow more Champions of Change like you build that
lifetime of service?
Germain Castellanos: Well, I think creating --
just creating opportunities for people
to continue to serve.
There's service at different levels.
If we can create more levels
that people can aspire to.
I think that that's -- I mean, developing
an alumni network and helping them.
Just creating more opportunities.
So --
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Yeah, actually, I'd like,
Nahla, for you to address that, too.
Because you actually have a number
of AmeriCorps volunteers.
You mentioned that earlier.
Can you tell us a little bit about engaging them?
The kind of work that they do and?
Nahla Kayali: Well, to the immigrant community
and to the refugee community, you're really not aware
of the AmeriCorps program.
We did bring this program
to give them the opportunity.
And 90 percent of our AmeriCorps members
are now employees at Access.
Clients when they come to receive services,
they love the environment.
They love the way we provide services
and they always ask us if there's any opportunity.
And with our programs, the refugee program,
we always engage the community of giving
back to the community.
And that's one of the highlights in our program.
Every month we do have a project that
we give back to the community.
So, we do engage immigrants and refugees
in different projects.
And then they ask us if there's any opportunity
at our office and we always tell them about
the AmeriCorps members and we always have
a list of clients who want to join the AmeriCorps program
because it is an opportunity.
They give them a chance to see what America
is and we always tell them "If you don't do it in this
country, you don't do it anywhere in the world."
So, this is the great land.
This is the land of opportunity and this
is how we give back.
So, they are really engaged in giving back
to the community.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: All right.
I think I've been told I have time
for one more question.
So, there's a young woman over here.
If someone can get her the mic?
Female Speaker: Buenos días.
Panel: Buenos días.
Female Speaker: Thank you so much for your service,
for everything that you're doing in the community.
Helen, thank you for the collaborative, collective
work which is so critical and Germain, when you
reference the young people, you were answering
the question about President Obama.
What we could do as it relates to young men.
I just wanted to share that I went
to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
And the demographics of the university population
have changed significantly since I graduated.
And so it is within that call of action that we
turn back to our community partners and we let them
know "What are you doing to support
our young people?"
because that's kind of where the issue is.
It has to come from the universities,
it has to come from the schools, and we need to hold each other
accountable to -- are we truly supporting
the young people we say we're supposed to be supporting?
So, I just wanted to honor everyone for your service
and I guess my question is what are we doing
for the young girls?
Because everyone is talking about boys
and I Am My Brother's Keeper, but the reality is young
girls of color, Latinas and African Americans,
are the number one rising population of young girls
in prison right now.
So, if anyone wants to speak to that.
Xavier A. Muñoz: If I could be the first
to respond to that one.
I think when we think about helping the youth in
our country, one of the important things to
consider is who they come home to.
That there's parents involved in this.
There's a family education,
family learning that goes on.
In Fairfax County in Virginia, for example,
more than 30 percent of the county
is foreign-born.
And in this past year, 50 percent of the
kindergarteners go home to a family where
they don't speak English or English
as an additional language.
The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia serves
adult immigrants, but in our family learning
programs and through our regular English classes,
by assisting immigrants to improve their English
education so as to be on the pathway
to citizenship and jobs and career advancement,
we're really helping families as well.
And I think that's an important thing
to remember is that it's a family effort
in addition to a community one.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Great.
Helen Gym: You know, in Philadelphia we have
of our young people we have 39 percent
of our children are in poverty.
That is a massive situation for us and it's
a widening inequity that's happening and
it impacts young girls especially.
Many of whom have to carry a lot of weight.
They have to manage a lot of household duties.
They have to manage their families.
They have to manage schoolwork.
They have to manage jobs and all sorts
of other things.
And so when we see a complete bottoming
out of public education funding, that
is a very serious issue.
And that that is happening in cities
all across the country, it's impacting Latina,
African American, immigrant families in particular,
including many Asian immigrants and refugees.
And that is a very, very serious issue.
And there aren't enough voices that are really
talking about what's happening
with our schools.
In Philadelphia in particular,
we closed 30 public schools.
Many of them hit African
American, Latino neighborhoods.
Forced 7,000 children to cross
into neighborhoods and they don't go there on a shiny bus.
They walk as far as 1.4 miles.
And that movement and transfer and instability
already going on in lives that
we are trying to stabilize.
It has got to be something that we need
to think about.
And then the other thing is it's really about --
you know, we have to think about what
is happening with testing and the high-stakes testing
that is really undoing a lot of the power
of curriculum to reach out.
To bring meaning into young people's classroom,
to bring in culture and language.
We're down to five.
We used to be a leader in Philadelphia
around multicultural bilingual Ed.
We're down to five bilingual Spanish programs
in the entire school district
of Philadelphia with over 200 schools.
And a huge percentage of students who are --
we used to have Mung, Vietnamese,
Mandarin, and plenty more.
And we had whole Spanish high schools.
So, the cost that we're exchanging between
what's happening with curriculum
and certain identified types of rigor.
Versus how we are impacting young
communities of color, young girls especially,
boys as well, but our children, overall,
really needs to be rethought.
We need to hold -- the communities
are actually calling out to hold our districts
and our leaders accountable for that.
And we need to see some change.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Thank you.
I just wanted to thank each and every one of you.
It is so inspiring to spend the morning
with you today.
And I can't thank you enough.
And Herb coming all the way from Hawaii,
who I think came the furthest from anyone here
and came to the cold, but --
(laughter)
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: -- Nahla from California;
Germain from Illinois; Herb from Hawaii; Helen,
thank you for coming from Philadelphia; and Xavier,
we're very excited about your future
and all that you're going to do.
Xavier A. Muñoz: Thank you very much.
Lisa Garcia Quiroz: Thank you.
Helen Gym: Thank you.
(applause)