ALPFA-DC represented at Latino Economic Summit

Mr. Michael Muñoz is a member of ALPFA-DC's Law & Advocacy Committee and summarized the event as follows:

March 31, 2009 marked an historic day for Latino leadership as Hispanic leaders from across the country were invited to participate in The Latino Economic Summit; an event spearheaded by a collaboration of Wal-Mart, Impacto, and Latino Magazine. With over 175 attendees, the event featured representation from corporate America as well as media, business and former and current government leaders. Featured speakers included former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Augustine Martinez- CEO USHCC, Ms. Aida Alvarez – Former Administrator of the US SBA, and Gene Sperling – Counselor to Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner, to name a few. In addition, a host of Latino entrepreneurs successfully navigating through the recession introduced their companies and discussed their strategies for success.

The prevailing themes from the conference included:

• Stimulating the flow of credit for small businesses representing the largest employers in the US and in particular in the Latino community.


• Being innovative and willing to collaborate in today’s challenging environment. Former Sec. Gutierrez described the state of the economy as “fragile” but also noted that out of adversity has always spawned opportunity for new relationships and partnerships.


• Maria Cardona of Latinovations noted the need for Latinos to be united in reference to much of the partisan politics taking place on Capitol Hill.


• Continue to promote the education initiative for Latino children