Hispanic Women's Conference

In October I took 11 young ladies from the ACE Program to the 2010 Hispanic Women's Conference Youth Symposium.  The purpose of the conference is to create a forum where Latina's (and others of course) can come together, network, share ideas, exchange best practices, and in general get to know other successful and aspiring Latina's in education and business.  For many of the young ladies it was the first time they got to see a heavy concentration of successful Latino's and Latina's in one area gathered and sharing their background as well as their accomplishments.  The schedule was packed this year, the ladies arrived at the conference at 8:00, they signed in, received a goody bag then went into the main hall where approximately 400 other young ladies from around the valley were awaiting the opening remarks.  Followed were three break-out sessions where the ladies learned how to finance a college education, plan career paths, and apply for financial aid.  Lunch followed immediately where they sat and watched a fashion show on how to dress for success.  For the last session the young ladies participated in speed networking, where they were given ten minutes to ask the diverse pool of mentors present anything from past experiences, tips on how to be successful, the importance of a college education, and how to keep a positive attitude despite adversity.  The ladies left there feeling inspired after seeing that being success comes through hard work and perseverance.  One young lady said "I realized that many of these people came from the exact same places that I came from and all they did was go to school, work hard, and now they have great careers.  I want to be like that."  Programs like these are essential to our social capital, they strengthen communities, and above all they great a common ground for all people who want something more for society.