The 11th annual Upstate Latino Summit was held in Rochester Tuesday.
Organizers say the event is for people who want to learn about the challenges and issues facing Latinos in Upstate New York.
Stephanie Paredes works at RIT’s Division for Diversity and Inclusion and says she loves attending every year. For her, important issues facing the Latino community include economic development and family, and education.
"The pipeline. What do we need to be doing in our high schools. First of all what are we doing in our homes first of all to ensure that our families are understanding the benefits of education and also on top of that helping them understand what some of the challenges maybe coming their way."
Paredes says she wants more people to think about college as something that’s attainable.
Hilda Rosario Escher, President and CEO of Ibero says it’s also a great place to touch base with other Latino communities.
"Look at us as a community, you know that we in upstate have the same issues in all the cities, and we all have different ways that we tackle those."
Since it’s her last year with the organization Rosario Escher says she was happy the event was in Rochester.
Commissioner of the Rochester City School Board Beatriz Lebron also networking is important for the community.
"Kind of getting perspective from other Latinos in different regions and what they’re facing, is it similar to the issues that we face with Latinos in Rochester?"
She says it’s vital for the summit to travel, especially for younger attendees.
"I would say even 10 years ago if this summit was even in Buffalo I would not have been able to afford to travel to Buffalo. And I know that that is not something unique to me. Especially when you’re a college student right, you have to budget and money is really tight."
Lebron says she hopes there will one day be a high school component to the summit as well.
