Forum on Latino children draws a crowd

Today’s NC Policy Watch Crucial Conversation luncheon on Latino children (co-sponsored by Action for Children NC and the Adelante Education Coalition) drew a large, engaged, and mostly optimistic audience to downtown Raleigh today. More than 125 people filled the main auditorium at the Campbell University School of Law to hear from a thoughtful and informative panel of speakers that included:

• Dr. Dina Castro (pictured on the right) of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill, who talked about early childhood issues,
• Marco Zarate (center), President and Co-Founder of the North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals who addressed access to K-12 and higher education, and
• Norma Marti (left), a Public Health Consultant who works at the NC Division of Public Health in the Children & Youth branch who discussed access to health care.

The three were preceded to the microphone by Action for Children President and CEO, Barb Bradley, who shared a new “data report” on the subject that her organization released this morning.

Though the speakers covered an array of topics and questions and addressed some enormous challenges, the overall tenor of the event would have to be described as “hopeful.” Each of the speakers voiced optimism about the rapid change afoot in North Carolina as the state has adapted to the huge growth in its Latino population and spoke with passion about the absolute necessity of continued hard work in all quarters to make the state a better and more competitive melting pot – or, as the speakers referred to it, a “gumbo.”

We’ll try to get some of the PowerPoint presentations up on the blog in the near future. Thanks to all were in attendance.