In Your Community

Building Workforce Opportunities and Advancing Latinx Health Equity

Our community of leaders, advocates and stakeholders is always eager to share ideas, learn from each other and connect in person and last fall we brought together our familia, to do just that, at the UnidosUS Workforce Development and Health Equity Summits.

In November, we were proud to hold our 2022 Workforce Development Summit in Puerto Rico, in light of the economic challenges facing the island – especially after Hurricane Fiona landed there in September – and to underscore the importance of increasing opportunities for local workers. The Summit’s theme “Crea, Conecta, Cambia” offered attendees the chance to engage in thoughtful discussions that explored three tracks:

• Crea: Create Pipelines – Building Opportunity and Equity in the Latinx Workforce
• Conecta: Connect People – Closing the Digital Divide in the Latinx Community
• Cambia: Change Practices – Building Capacity, From Conversation to Action

We welcomed over 330 attendees representing organizations from across the non-profit, government, and private sectors, among which were 54 Affiliates from 29 states. Participants learned best practices to enhance their job performance via professional development seminars; forged connections with leaders from across the country through the summit’s networking event; and gained insight on current trends impacting the Latinx workforce.

The Summit included a local vendor marketplace La Placita, which brought in 37 vendors from the San Juan area to sell their unique products. On average, vendors earned about 30% of their monthly income by participating in the market.

In early December, Phoenix welcomed UnidosUS with open arms for our 2022 Latinx Health Equity Summit, where we brought together Affiliates, colleagues, partners and a diverse network of stakeholders from the local, state and national levels, including health leaders, experts, practitioners and community messengers. The Summit’s theme “Advancing our Community’s Health” focused on community-based efforts to close health disparities and advance equity for Latinos across five issue areas: social and emotional well-being, food insecurity, healthcare access, research engagement and COVID-19 response and recovery.

Over 200 advocates representing 58 Affiliates, as well as corporate partners and other collaborative institutions from 24 states, attended the Summit. They heard from health equity champions across sectors on innovative approaches to reimagining a better pathway to health equity, including U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, Carmen Heredia with Valle del Sol – an UnidosUS Affiliate in Phoenix – and HHS Director of Intergovernmental and External Affairs Marvin Figueroa, among other notable speakers.

Visit our Affiliate Page for more information on our Affiliate Network and events in your community!