Background and Need

As the country’s largest and youngest minority, Latinos have the capacity and potential to take a leadership role in shaping the 21st Century. Latinos come from a hard-working, collaborative, generous, and people-centered culture and have a great contribution to make to America. To actualize this potential, however, they must be prepared for leadership and be able to work together to address the myriad issues in their community. It is generally acknowledged both in the Latino and mainstream community that people’s engagement and abilities are strengthened by leadership training. Increasing the number and quality of leadership programs, therefore, is vital to prepare a critical mass of Latino leaders. Leadership development is a process that takes years, experience, mentoring, and practice. This underscores the urgency to start NOW to prepare Latinos for effective leadership. It is equally important that leadership programs are culturally-centered and strengthen people’s identity while at the same time provide skills and perspectives to be successful in the mainstream culture.