White House Hosts First-Ever Hispanic Business Leaders Forum - East Idaho News
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White House Hosts First-Ever Hispanic Business Leaders Forum

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P 090111 WhiteHouse?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1369864898152Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) — The White House, in conjunction with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, hosted the country’s top Hispanic business leaders on Wednesday for the first-ever “Hispanic Business Leaders Forum” to discuss jobs and economic topics, specifically the role Latino communities play in the economy.

The event was attended by high level administration officials including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew; Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Todd Park, U.S. chief technology officer; and Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president.
 
Following the forum, several participants spoke with reporters about how the decision to assemble the nation’s top Hispanic business leaders demonstrates the administration’s commitment to hearing input from the Latino community on the state of the economy.
 
“It goes beyond being a Latino and gets into the issues of the American way of life,” Javier Palomarez, president & CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said at a press briefing following the meeting. “The idea behind today’s forum is to ensure that the administration recognizes contributions that Hispanic entrepreneurs make every day.”
 
“In the aftermath of the presidential election, one thing was clear, Latinos have earned a permanent seat at the table,” Andres W. Lopez, who works at the Law Offices of Andres W. Lopez, said. “This is what today is all about, we see this as a first step, this groundbreaking event signals a new partnership with the administration.”

“Every month 50,000 Latinos will turn 18, so with that you know the future of Latinos is the future of America,” Lopez  said.  “It goes beyond lip service to actual ideas we can make reality.”

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