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Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos (center) met with City University of New York (CUNY) students during a youth roundtable discussion that discussed the career challenges and opportunities in public service.
Salsa and Skelos.
The Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos cutting a rug to El Gran Combo?
Créetelo [Believe it].
Such was the scene this past Sat., Oct. 22nd at the Sheraton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, where the New York State Senate and the Hispanic Federation, whose network of Latino non-profit organizations serves over 2 million residents, together hosted the “Unidad Latina” summit, a two-day economic conference to endeavor and foster greater communication between key legislators and business, commerce and community leaders of the growing Hispanic market.
The conference featured policy workshops, networking opportunities and presentations by speakers of local and national prominence, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Citigroup Chair Richard Parsons, New York State Senator Jeff Klein, and New York State Assemblymember Guillermo Linares, and Lillian Rodríguez López, President of the Hispanic Federation.
“As a nonprofit membership organization, the mission of the Hispanic Federation is to advance and empower the Hispanic community,” said Rodríguez López, who pointed to the various workshop sessions held directly with legislative leaders on issues as varied as job growth, Latino small businesses, and Latino college success.
During his address at the Lideres Luncheon, Assemblymember Linares, first Dominican elected to public office, urged his colleagues to join him in fighting for the passage of a state version of the DREAM (the acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, which stalled nationally in the U.S. Senate this past May but was recently passed in California .
“The time for us to act is now,” said Assemblymember Linares, “to ensure for a vibrant and diverse workforce for the future of our city, our state, and our country.”
Among the various individuals honored during the conference was Bronx native Juan Figueroa, whose firm The Milestone Group, specializes in mechanical, electrical and plumbing contraction and service, in collaboration with its team of licensed architects and engineers, general contractors and construction managers.
Figueroa was visibly moved, and called it a “privilege and honor” to be awarded the recognition, the first “Business Excellence Award”.
“As a Hispanic, minority-owned company,” explained Figueroa, who hails from Cataño, Puerto Rico, “we work hard, and are very happy to be recognized.”
As Majority Leader Skelos noted during his remarks, “According to the census, almost half of the entrepreneurs in New York were born in other countries. In New York City alone there are about 70,000 foreign-born business owners, many of them Latinos,” Senator Skelos said. “It is critically important that state government recognizes their contributions to our economy and helps them prosper and grow.”
As for the music to which Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his wife Gail danced?
Salsa, pura salsa, as the two missed not a beat to the live band’s renditions of the classics.
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