If you tuned in to the NAHREP Housing Policy Summit or saw the social media posts, you heard that the LA South Bay Chapter won Advocacy Chapter of the Year. One of the main reasons? The board collectively attended and spoke at over 40 city council meetings in 2020! They showed up and dropped the mic.!
Last year, our CEO Gary Acosta and the NAHREP National Board of Directors set a number of audacious goals for our organization that pertain to the broader Latino community: Guide the Latino community to be among the wealthiest and most philanthropic in the nation; Build NAHREP to be the largest and most effective economic mobility organization in America; Incubate 1,000 new Hispanic millionaires and five new Hispanic billionaires; Help Latinos dominate the Fortune 500 boardrooms and C-Suites; Help elect the first Latino President of the United States of America. At the National Advocacy Committee, our work is directly tied to helping build NAHREP into the largest and most effective economic mobility organization in America. For that, we have to build strong relationships with elected officials.
First of all, to all of our familia in Texas going through the freezing weather and power outages, in a state with an infrastructure not built to withstand those temperatures, I hope everyone is safe and warm. I hope all of you are putting your “San Marcos cobijas” to good use, you know you have them. To all of our NAHREP Tejanos, you’ve been in my thoughts and prayers. Speaking of Texas, last week I met with all of the NAHREP government affairs directors in Texas. Coming from California with outrageous housing prices, I tend to see Texas as the state where all the Californian’s are moving to. However, based on that conversation, it is clear that housing inventory shortages are being felt universally across the nation, even in Texas.
Aside from my work in the policy and advocacy space, I run the Hispanic Wealth Project along with HWP Chairman Jerry Ascencio. One of my favorite things about the NAHREP 10 is that no matter where we are in our financial journey, whether we just got our real estate license and are working on paying off our credit cards or we’re extremely successful business owners, there is always a place to improve. For me, I’ve been focusing on tackling NAHREP 10 Discipline #5: Invest at least 20% of your income in real estate and stocks, because they are the best and safest way to build wealth.
Today we wake up to a new President. Yesterday we saw the first Latina Supreme Court Justice swear in the first woman of color to the office of Vice President, and J-Lo reclaimed our place in this country by singing “This Land is Our Land.” So much to unpack there. However, between last week and this week a whole lotta POLICY that applies to our mission happened so let’s get right to it.
It’s time to build things! Celebrating NAHREP familia, cultura, politics, and grassroots action Que onda mi gente?! Infrastructure and efforts to revitalize the economy go together like arroz con frijoles. Sorry, arroz con habichuelas/candules/porotos… Did I miss any? You know what I mean. Major Infrastructure projects have long been tied to efforts from the federal…
To say we are living in a historic time is an understatement. I urge you to take some time before you go to sleep or when you wake up to journal. We are living in what is perhaps one of the most pivotal moments of our lifetime. There will be the world before COVID-19, and the world after COVID-19.
I’m still buzzing from this weekend’s Super Bowl performance by our Latina powerhouses J-Lo and Shakira. Sidenote, Shakira is my favorite artist/celebrity of all time.
I almost spilled my drink a few weeks ago while I was watching the presidential debate. They actually talked about housing. And no, it wasn’t just, “let’s address homelessness” or “expand Section 8 housing,” they actually talked about HOMEOWNERSHIP and HOUSING SUPPLY.