Cultivating Tomorrow’s Leaders to Secure the American Dream Requires Investment

In an opinion piece for VOZ, CHLI President and CEO Mary Ann Gomez Orta argues that investing in Latino leadership is essential to keeping the American Dream within reach. She points to a Wall Street Journal poll finding that roughly 70 percent of Americans believe the American Dream either no longer exists or never did — the highest share in more than fourteen years. Drawing on her own path from a farmworker’s daughter in California’s Central Valley to a national leader, she credits her parents’ perseverance and faith with shaping her trajectory. She makes the case for diversity of thought in leadership, contending that innovation and more representative policymaking follow when Latino voices hold positions of influence. Through CHLI’s programs, mentorship, and internships, she writes, young Latinos are building the confidence and networks to lead — and the country cannot afford to leave that talent untapped.

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