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Latinas
Champions for Change
Whether they are striving to reduce our carbon
footprint, educating the community about health issues or working
to ensure all workers are represented, these over-achieving women
are redefining the future for us all.
By Millie Acebal Rousseau
HILDA L. SOLIS
FIGHTS FOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS
Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate
to serve as Secretary of Labor, Solis is a staunch defender of workers’
rights, pushing for labor groups while also advocating for environmentalists.
The former Congresswoman—she served four terms—was born
to immigrant parents who met in a citizenship class. Her Nicaraguan
mother labored on an assembly line and her father worked for the
Teamsters labor union. “He always reminded us that it was
important to stand up for your rights and, regardless of who you
are and where you come from, to hold your head up high with dignity
and respect,” she told the California Journal in 2001 about
what she learned from her father.
The third of seven children, Solis was the first in her family to
attend college. She was also the first Hispanic woman elected to
the California State Senate (1994). In that role, she succeeded
in getting the minimum wage raised from $4.25 to $5.75 per hour,
and also authored more than a dozen laws to fight domestic violence.
Her other interests range from protecting the environment to making
healthcare affordable for everyone.
Why Watch: She’s got the power to influence
laws that impact our country’s workers and businesses.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: If she gets her way when it comes
to unions, she’ll transform the American workforce.
Soundbite: “She’s been as strong a voice for justice
for SEIU workers like our janitors and homecare workers as we’ve
ever had.”—Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees
International Union, to Bloomberg, (December 18, 2008) upon learning
of Solis’ nomination.
 JANE
L. DELGADO,
PH.D., M.S. HEALTH HERO
As president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health—the
country’s largest organization of health and human service
providers to Hispanics—Delgado is a watchdog for Latino health.
Delgado manages the Alliance’s field operations in the U.S.,
Puerto Rico and District of Columbia. A clinical psychologist and
author, she also has worked in the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services and served on the EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory
Committee. Late last year, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
appointed Delgado to the board of directors of the Mickey Leland
National Urban Air Toxics Research Center, a congressionally mandated
non-profit research organization. “The Leland Center has helped
uncover human health effects caused by exposure to air toxics and
has moved the nation forward in securing the promise of clean and
healthy air to breathe,” she said. Delgado was the first Hispanic,
and Latina, to be appointed to the board.
Why Watch: She’s got an eye on Hispanic health.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: She has the power to influence
healthcare policy.
 MARISOL
BECERRA
CLIMATE CRUSADER
At only 20 years old, Becerra is making a difference by taking on
industrial polluters in her hometown of Little Village in Chicago,
home to a large Mexican-American population. Her efforts began in
2003, when as a volunteer for the Little Village Environmental Justice
Organization, she uncovered that more than 60,000 youth in her town
were breathing air that violates EPA standards. She launched Youth
Activists Organizing as Today’s Leaders and created OurMap
of Environmental Justice, an interactive online map with videos
and descriptions of toxic sites. “OurMap of Environmental
Justice is raising awareness locally and nationally about the extent
of the environmental injustice and health problems that my community
suffers each and every day, where we live, work and play,”
she said in 2008.
Becerra is a recipient of the 2008 Brower Youth Award, a highly-prestigious
award for bold young environmental leaders.
Why Watch: She uses her youth and enthusiasm to inspire
change in her generation.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: She’s positioned to be an
influential activist in the country’s “green”
movement.
 SONIA
SOTOMAYOR
HISPANIC JUSTICE NOMINEE
President Barack Obama recently nominated Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor
to the U.S. Supreme Court. If she gets the job following confirmation
hearings that begin in July, she’ll become the first Hispanic
justice and only the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, New York to Puerto Rican parents.
Her father died when she was 9 years old, and her mom worked as
a nurse to support the family, which called a public housing project
home. Sotomayor went on to study at Princeton University on scholarship,
later earning her law degree from Yale Law School. Back then, she
lobbied for the universities to hire Latinos as faculty. Sotomayor
worked in private practice and as prosecutor in New York for five
years. She served on the U.S. District Court in New York for six
years before moving up to the U.S. District Court of Appeals where
she has served since 1998. Sotomayor does come with some controversy,
most notably for this comment she made in 1994: “I would hope
that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would
more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male
who hasn’t lived that life,” she said. “What is
better? I ... hope that better will mean a more compassionate, caring
conclusion.” The past statement has drawn criticism from the
GOP, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich even calling her a
racist.
Why Watch: If confirmed, she’ll make history
as the first Hispanic judge to serve on the nation’s highest
court.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: She could potentially shift court
balance on issues such as abortion, affirmative action, and civil
rights, among others.
Soundbite: “So despite all of her success at Princeton—and
then she went on to Yale Law School where she was at the top of
her class, in both schools—and despite all of her professional
accomplishments, Judge Sotomayor says she still looks over her shoulder
and wonders if she measures up.” —First Lady Michelle
Obama on June 4, 2009 at a commencement address she delivered at
a Washington, D.C., high school.
 MARIA
LUISA (LULU) FLORES
CHAMPION FOR WOMEN
As president of the National Women’s Political Caucus—a
bipartisan grassroots organization dedicated to increasing women’s
participation in the political field—Flores inspires women
of all races to run for public office. She believes that as elected
officials, women have the power to mold their communities. Her professionalism
and leadership skills are something the Austin, Texas attorney and
political activist probably picked up from her father, Francisco
J. Flores, a lawyer who was a founding member of the League of United
Latin American Citizens. (LULAC). “Helping people achieve
justice in their lives is a major source of fulfillment for me,”
she once said. “The pursuit of this principle guides my life.”
Flores, who is the youngest of nine children, is also a champion
for women’s rights, lending her voice to causes such as the
Women’s Advocacy Project and Battered Women’s Centers,
and supporting mentoring programs for young and underprivileged
women. While in law school, she worked for the first Hispanic woman
to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In that role,
she helped draft, and pass, Texas’ first domestic violence
legislation.
Why Watch: She’ll be influential in identifying,
and mentoring, the next generation of women leaders.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: Women are making history taking
on senior political positions, among them Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
Flores understands the role gender plays in politics. Under her
guidance, she can use that expertise to mobilize, and empower, future
female activists and political leaders, especially minority women.
 NYDIA
M. VELÁZQUEZ
ADVOCATE FOR THE WORKING CLASS
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) is currently serving her ninth
term. She is well-known and respected around New York for advocating
for equal rights and economic opportunity for the working class
and poor. Her district—comprised of parts of Brooklyn, Queens
and Manhattan’s Lower East Side—is predominantly Hispanic.
Among her causes: combating worker abuses and crime, while promoting
quality education and affordable housing.
Velázquez, who serves as chairwoman of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, has broken many barriers for Latinas. In February
1998, she was named ranking democratic member of the House Small
Business Committee, making her the first Hispanic woman to serve
as Ranking Member of a full House committee. Most recently, in 2006,
she was named chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee,
making her the first Latina to chair a full Congressional committee.
Born in a town of sugarcane fields, she was one of nine children,
and the first in her family to graduate college. She later earned
her master’s degree from New York University on a scholarship.
Velázquez is considered a friend to small businesses, and
has established various legislative priorities for that sector in
the areas of tax regulations, access to capital, healthcare and
pension reform, among others.
Why Watch: She’s a supporter of minority enterprise, and has
major influence on the U.S. business sector.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: If she’s successful, she’ll
help small business entrepreneurs, especially Hispanic ones.
 FRANCES
GARCIA
WATCHES OUT FOR TAXPAYERS’ MONEY
Garcia, who was the first woman, and Latina, to work for accounting
firm Arthur Andersen in Dallas, has been inspector general of the
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) since 1996. The GAO
oversees how Congress spends taxpayers’ money, and it’s
up to Garcia —a first generation Mexican American—to
keep an eye on them. She’s been referred to as the “watchdog
of the watchdog.”
Garcia oversees the GAO’s assets, policies and procedures,
including audits and investigations. She once said that her job
requires “plenty of integrity and accountability.” She
acquired this genuine work ethic from her parents while growing
up in Wichita Falls, Texas. Her father was a cook and mom a dishwasher.
Garcia started working at age 14 to help her family and waited tables
after school, among other jobs. The first in her family to earn
a high school diploma, Garcia credits her mom for instilling in
her the belief that her daughter could succeed in the business world.
Why Watch: She keeps tabs on your money.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: She’s got the power to make
the GAO more organized and productive, and will ensure accountability
for how taxpayers’ dollars are being spent, all of which is
exceptionally timely given the federal government’s recent
takeover of General Motors and the bank bailouts.
 NANCY
SUTLEY
ENFORCER OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Sutley heads the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Born
to an Argentine mother, Sutley is the first gay person to serve
in a senior position for President Barack Obama.
Previously, she served as the Los Angeles’ Deputy Mayor for
Energy and Environment, where she was on the board of directors
for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In that
position, she chaired the Water Planning and Stewardship Committee,
and was a member of various other committees. She’s also got
strong political contacts in California state government, having
worked as energy advisor for Gov. Gray Davis, and deputy secretary
for policy and intergovernmental relations in the California EPA.
Under the Clinton administration, she worked for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency as a senior policy advisor to the regional administrator
in San Francisco, and special assistant to the administrator in
Washington, D.C.
Sutley, who earned her bachelor’s from Cornell University
and her master’s from Harvard University, brings to the position
extensive experience in environmental issues, and is well-versed
on water and air pollution policies.
Why Watch: She’s a key figure in directing policy
impacting the environment, and in turn, your health.
How She’ll Change the U.S.: As chairman of the CEQ, she’ll
be instrumental in supporting Obama’s “green”
initiatives.
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