Latinos & the Progressive Movement

October 12, 2006, 9:00am – 10:30am

About This Event

As this year’s immigration debate has unfolded in Washington, D.C. and across the country, many have become aware of the increasing civic engagement of our burgeoning Latino communities. That civic engagement, however, transcends the immigration issue and presents opportunities as well as challenges not only for Latinos and the progressive movement, but also for the advancement of a progressive policy agenda. What animates Latino civic engagement and how does that compare to other elements of the progressive movement? What are the points of convergence or dissonance between the Latino communities and the broader progressive movement? What does the diversity of the Latino communities mean for their ability to influence the progressive policy agenda? What are the policy agenda implications of the demographic differences between the Latino communities and the broader population? To address these and other timely questions, The Americas Project at the Center for American Project will convene a distinguished group of experts and practitioners to discuss the dynamics of the Latino communities’ civic engagement in the context of the broader progressive movement.

Featured Panelists:
Paul Glastris, Editor in Chief, The Washington Monthly
Wade Henderson, Executive Director, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Cristina Lopez, Deputy Executive Director, Center for Community Change
Lori Montenegro, National Correspondent, Telemundo
Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President, National Council of La Raza

Moderated by:
Dan Restrepo, Director of The Americas Project, Center for American Progress

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Paul Glastris is the editor in chief of The Washington Monthly. From September 1998 to January, 2001, he was a special assistant and senior speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. Before joining the White House, Glastris spent 10 years as a correspondent and editor at U.S. News & World Report. There he conceived of and edited two end-of-the-year issues consisting of "solution-oriented" journalism in 1997 and 1998. From 1985 to 1986, Glastris was an editor of The Washington Monthly. He holds a bachelor's degree in history and a master’s degree in radio, TV, and film from Northwestern University.

Wade Henderson is Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR). Mr. Henderson is well known for his expertise on a wide range of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights issues. Currently he works on issues involving nationwide election reform; federal judicial appointments; public education reform; hate crimes; criminal justice reform; issues of immigration and refugee policy; and human rights. Under his leadership, the LCCR has become one of the nation's most effective defenders of civil and human rights. He is also working on civil liberties and civil rights concerns emanating from the "war against terrorism" and the search for homeland security. Mr. Henderson successfully spearheaded the coalition's defeat of numerous anti-affirmative action bills in the late 1990's, such as efforts to eliminate affirmative action in higher education and government contracting. Prior to his role with the Leadership Conference, Mr. Henderson was the Washington Bureau Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was also previously the Associate Director of the Washington national office of the American Civil Liberties Union, where he began his career as a legislative counsel. Mr. Henderson serves as the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Professor of Public Interest Law at the David A. Clarke School of Law, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. He is a recent recipient of the prestigious 2003 Congressional Black Caucus Chair's Award; the District of Columbia Bar's William J. Brennan Award for 2002; the 2002 Everett C. Parker Award from the Office of Communication, Inc. of the United Church of Christ; as well as many other awards. Mr. Henderson is a graduate of Howard University and the Rutgers University School of Law (Newark).

Cristina López is Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Community Change (CCC), where she oversees general operations as well as the Communications and External Affairs Departments, and is a member of the Center’s immigration strategy team. Ms López has broad experience in nonprofit management and in design and implementation of health, education, and leadership development programs, as well as policy analysis, with special emphasis on Latinos. Prior to coming to CCC, Cristina was Vice President of MOSAICA, a nonprofit multicultural organization that provides organizational development assistance to nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and internationally, and Vice President for Institutional Development at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest constituency-based national Hispanic organization.  Ms. López holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Florida in Tampa, and a master’s degree in Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia.

Lori Montenegro has been a Washington correspondent for the past 15 years.  An accomplished journalist, Lori has successfully covered the White House, Capitol Hill, State Department, the Pentagon, Justice Department, and the Organization of American States for the two major Spanish-language national TV networks. Lori joined the Noticiero Telemundo family in December of 1996. Besides her main responsibility to the Nightly Newscast, her duties include contributions to the Morning Show Cada Dia, Al Rojo Vivo, and the Weekend Newscast. Lori has interviewed prominent U.S. government officials, personalities, and foreign dignitaries. From 1993 to 1996 Lori gained national recognition as a Washington correspondent for 25 Univision affiliate stations. In 2001 and 2002 was named one of the top One Hundred Hispanic Journalists in the nation. During her first three years in the nation's capital, Lori was a Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the U.S. Information Agency. During the past few years her main assignment has been covering U.S. politics, and on occasion has been asked to appear on MSNBC to share her unique insight into the concerns and interests of Hispanic voters. Lori was born in Santiago de Cuba.     

Cecilia Muñoz is Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, National Council of La Raza (NCLR). She supervises all legislative and advocacy activities conducted by NCLR policy staff covering a variety of issues of importance to Latinos, including civil rights, employment, poverty, farmworker issues, education, housing, and immigration. Her particular area of expertise is immigration policy; she started at NCLR as a Senior Immigration Policy Analyst in 1988. Ms. Muñoz serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington Office on Latin America, the Appleseed Foundation, and the Center for Community Change.  She also serves on the U.S. Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Executive Committee of the National Immigration Forum. Ms. Muñoz is the daughter of immigrants from Bolivia and was born in Detroit, Michigan. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. In June 2000, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in recognition of her work on immigration and civil rights. 

Dan Restrepo is Director of The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress. In that capacity, Dan is responsible for the Center's work related to the United States and its place in and relationship with the rest of the Americas.