Damian and we begin today with the monthly visit by the consulate of mexico in san francisco. With me is a consul adscrito for the consulado, senor Vincente Sanchez back on the show. Mr. Consul, welcome back to comunidad del valle. Vincente sanchez thank you, damian. Its a great honor to be here with you. With you audience. Thank you. Damian yeah. No. Thank you for being here. Lets talk first about semana binacional de la educacion, education week. Vincente oh, yes. Its an important event here in the consulate. Is one of the topics that weare very important for the consulate is, of course, the regular documentation for our nationals. But another topics are Community Programs like the education. Between the 14 and the 20, were going to celebrate the sixth by National Education week, it means that we can provide information about options of universities, what we needthey need our young to be ready tofor education. And we have a list of events, the first one will be in 19 and 20, for example, in Mission Cultural center for latino arts. Were going to be there with the workshops and information about how we can be successful in education. I think its a great invitation for all the communities, especially the young people because all Everybody Needs education. And why not the Latino Community in general and the mexicans in particular . Well, we are ready to provide information and this is the sixth event in a row for the last six years. I think its very important. The information, the people who are interested, they can see our website with more information, contacts, websites, et cetera. Damian all right. Well, thats important because thats gonna be one of our topics with the latino report card education. Theres also semana binacional de la salud, which is always important. Health education. Vincente yes. Now its education. Yes. The by National Health week will be in october. This is another topic that we can talk about it in next month. Yes. Damian oh yeah. Were talking about labor derecho laboral. Vincente we have another, its for the last 15 years we celebrate the labor week day. Its very important another topic because theall the workers need to have in the hands wealth at the rise for them. Well, forwe are ready to start with workshops, information in general here in the consulate for the public regularly we receive them and we provide information. Meanwhile, they are waiting for ourthe consulate documents. But especially between the 28th, august, the 28th and september 1, well be here with Virtual Events and workshops here in the consulate. Its about the women rights, for example, about the farmers rights and the people who needs information about, in general, what are the rights for them. We have a specialist that they can respond virtually some questions. And here we are going to have some tables with information. Damian oh, thats important as we approach labor day. So thats always an important topic here on the show. Lets ask you also about the programa, the heroes paisanos. Vincente well, this isthis program is during every year for the vacational weeks. Our, for example, summer and the end of the year, we have this program. Itsin the beginning was a certain pamphlet, like this one, yes. With more information. Now its reduced for less information, but they have contacts that they can see in website. But in general, its the people who wants to go to mexico in vacation with the family vacation. What they need for the pets, for example, or to introduce a car or what the documents that they need. Well, this information, its very important. And this itswe start the program between july the 25 until august the 25th. But all the information you can see in the website, i think is very important when theysomeone want to travel andinto mexico, and they have many questions. Well, this information is important. And every year, probably many people knows about programa paisano. Now its called heroes paisanos, but its the same information. Damian perfect. Well, thank you so much. A lot of great ition. The consul adscrito, the vice consul general of mexi in san francisco. Thank you for being back on the show. Damian thank you so much, damian. Damian all right. And again, the consulate of mexico is on folsom street, 532 folsom street. Were gonna show their website. Theres where you can grab all the information that we discussed today. Up next the Presidio Trust and tunnel tops, stay with us. warehouse ambience inintroducing g togos new frfrench dip s sandwiches feataturing frfresh artisasan b piled highgh with tendnder roast bebeef, smothehered with m melty provovolone cheeeese and seserved with h hot au ju fofor dipping. G. Try y the roast t beef or papasi frenench dips totoday only at togos damian and were back here on comunidad del valle. This time talking about the Presidio Trust and tunnel tops. With me is Faviana Rodriguez who is a presidio activator. Welcome to the show. Faviana rodriguez hello. Thank you for having me. Damian tell us what a presidio activator is. Faviana the presidio activator is somebody who is engaging in making the presidio tunnel tops park a more welcoming and engaging place for everyone. Damian i dont think you can do that cause its alreadyweyou see the images. Its already so engaging and welcoming. Tell us about whats different now with the tunnel tops. Faviana well, whats different is that we are bringing art and cultura and musica, cumbias, baile. Were bringing many Different Things to the presidio to invite families, all kinds of families to come enjoy and have a Beautiful Day with us. And so ithis weekend on sunday, we will be inaugurating a new mural by an artist, felicia gabaldon, and were gonna be celebrating this new mural together with music and food and fun. Damian talk about what your job did when you first saw the images, the paisajes from the presidio itself. Faviana yeah. Well, you know, i grew up in a family. My parents were immigrants from peru, and we didnt really go camping. We didnt go a lot of times to have fun in nature. And so as an adult, i think its very, very important that as latinos, that we connect with nature, that we spend time in the park away from the tvs and the phones. And so when i go to the park, i just absolutely amtheres the view of the Golden Gate Bridge is breathtaking. And its just a beautiful park to be in. And you literally can see the entire city of san francisco. Damian and how smart is it to bring in the latino flavor that you were mentioning into the presidio . Faviana well, you know, latinos, we make this economy run. We are very, very hard workers in this region called the bay area and in the state of california. And so we have to also prioritize our joy and our relaxation. And so my invitation is that, you know, i have designed this day for it to be especially welcoming for latinos. Thats why were gonna have a band, rene y familia, that is going to play cumbias. Its an allfamily band. Were gonna have dancing, were gonna have food, activities where kids could actually play with critters and connect with nature. So my goal has always been to create a very inviting environment so that latinos and other communities of color can come and have a good time. Damian and look at all these images we find out now, why we call it tunnel tops. Its right over top of the tunnel. But i get a feeling that this wont be the one and only latinothemed event. It seems like youre on to something here. Faviana thats correct. Every sundayevery second sunday, the presidio has different events. In september, theres going to be a big dancing event. Well, therell be dancers of all kinds of forms, and so we invite everyone to come to the park on second sundays, especially this sunday, august 13th, because its going to be a day that ive especially curated to show love just to all our immigrant families. You know, i grew up in an immigrant family, and i wanted to create a day that was about connecting to mother earth and also celebrating our culture. Damian and we saw what fiesta en el parque back in july. The crowds that you had there didany recommendations on transportation . Faviana yes. So i would recommend that if possible families come together or that you take ride share to the park. If you get to the park, theres always parking at sports basement, but very important dress in layers, because sometimes there can be fog, sometimes there can be sun. Theres going to be food trucks. So its just, you know, come prepared to have a good time. And i can tell you that for the kids, there is an amazing place space called the outpost plaza. So make sure your kids are ready to come play, and theyre dressed to come play. Damian thats good advice. Any final thoughts faviana before we let you go . Faviana yes. I think, you know, its the summertime. Lets take the time to enjoy and connect with mother nature. We are in a climate crisis, the planet is literally getting hotter. So its important that we teach our children how to appreciate nature so that they can protect nature in the future. Damian all right. Thank you so much. Faviana rodriguez, the presidio activator on the show, talking about some great events happening at the presidio. Faviana, thank you so much. Faviana thank you so much. Damian oh, thank you. Well, you know, you can go to any park, i guess, but nothing like the presidio with the fantastic images and sites that you can see there. Theres a website for more information. Its on lincoln boulevard. Theres a website, presidio. Gov. Up next here on comunidad del valle, were talking about the results of the Silicon Valley latino report card. It doesnt look good. Stay with us. Damian the grades are in the Silicon Valley report card is out, and the grades dont look good. With me is a former mayor of san jose, the honorable ron gonzales, ceo and president of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. Mayor, welcome back to the show. Ron gonzales hey. How you doing, damian . Great to be with you again. Damian were doing good. Well, here are the grades and were gonna show them what they are in a bit, but theyou have a line that i love all the time when these report cards comes out, but because they donok good, give us that line, if you dont mind. Ron well, you know, dating all the way back to 2011, which was our first report card, followed up by our second report card in 2018, and now our third report card just in june of this year. Unfortunately, you know, we look at the quality of life for latino families and children in both santa clara and san mateo counties. And unfortunately, the grades have never been good. And iand theyand unfortunately, particularly this report, because its the first one after the covid19 pandemic, weve actually slipped further back. So like i have said, on every occasion weve released a report card that if this was my report card, id hide it from my parents. And unfortunately, thats the reality. And we have a hard time with these report cards because it, you know, really shows the Biggest Challenges that our community continues to face in order to maintain a high quality of life in Silicon Valley. And we just keep struggling and the pandemic certainly did not help. I think this report card clearly shows how devastating the pandemic was on our community, and particularly our children. Damian well, here we saw the grades just now were talking about two ds, two cs, and a b. It looks an awful lot like mine when i was in high school. Not good. Ron mine was slightly better than this, but, you know, iti think the most discouraging part particularly for our foundation, cause we work so much with latinx students and parents around education excellence, is the fact that for the first time in the first report card, the education grade has slipped to d, and that is definitely shows the impact of the covid19 pandemic on our students. And the reality is that unfortunately, most of our students go to underresource schools and School Districts that were slow in terms of responding to Distance Learning when the schools were closed down at the start of the pandemic. And, you know, what ive had to share with a lot of business leaders, particularly in the last couple years during the pandemic, was, you know, because their reality is, well, lets just get these kids some chromebooks and, you know, the problem will be solved. Well, they have to understand that our children, most of them in this report card points it out, live in overcrowded Housing Conditions because of the how high housing cost. And so, you know, their study area is the family Kitchen Table where theyll share that table with a couple other siblings, maybe even some cousins, maybe other family members who happen to be residing in that apartment. And, you know, the reality was that our children werent having success connecting with that school computer, having, you know, success, getting information in a speedy way. And consequently, they got frustrated and gave up. Studies have shown already that our children are as manyas much as 12 to 18 months behind nonhispanic children in our school systems. Damian thats incredible. And then theyre having to share a hotspot as well. And we all know how hotspots work in the house owners. Seven people trying to log onto that. Talk about the research, who does the research for you and then presents it in the way that you can present it to us. Ron well, ever since our first report card in 2011, weve used a Company Called applied survey research. Theyre well recognized in the kind of social services area. They do a lot of research for counties and cities particularly here on the peninsula and down in the south bay. So we found that their work is excellent. Its indisputable in terms of the data that they put together for the report card. Our report card primarily is made up of what they call secondary data or secondary research, things like the us census, other surveys that are done by various Government Agencies. And then we supplement that secondary information and data with firsthand research that we do through a survey where we survey both latino and nonlatino residents in both counties. So we think this is a very good, unfortunately, very bad picture of the state of affairs in our community. But, you know, our foundation weve always believed in transparency and the importance of putting the facts out there so that our community is aware of what kinds of issues we have and what kinds of problems we need to work on. Damian are you able at all to grade on a curve and give us a break next time . Ron well, i tell you, i certainly feel that this has gotta be the bottom line. We, you know, we cannot go below this level. You know, its clear that our latino families are having more and more difficulty just residing in Silicon Valley. We can see this by the population drop that has taken place in the last 12 to 13 years. And so we know that our Latino Workforce is more employed than ever before. Theres no doubt that we are engaged in the work, in the economy of Silicon Valley. The only problem is, is that many of our families are now traveling greater distances to get to work, you know, all the way from salinas in los bono. So youre taking two hours to get to work, youre working all day, and youre getting two hours to go back home. You know, that is not good for the Mental Health of our families. So that concerns us deeply, and were hoping that Government Agencies will start to get a quicker desire to get that Affordable Housing issue resolved. Damian all right. Well, a lot of important topics here in our next segment, mayor, i do wanna talk about maybe where we go from here because you discussed that at this gathering that you had not long ago. But the folks at Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley is, in fact, in Silicon Valley covering santa clara and san mateo counties. There is a web address for more information. You can find some info on the Silicon Valley latino report card. Well be back with the former mayor of san jose, ron gonzales. visit yr lolocal volvo retail, to explore mild hybrid suvs during the summer safely savings event. Damian were back here on comunidad del valle with ron gonzales, the former mayor of san jose, and the current president and ceo of the Hispanic Foundation to explore mild hybrid suvs of Silicon Valley. And were talking today about the latino report card, how weve been doing in Silicon Valley over the last three years or so. Two ds, two cs and a b. And at your convening, mayor, when you release the report card, its a somber first part of the morning because were getting the grades. But the second part is so different,s so energetic because i dont know if were filled with anger, fration, or were rolling up our sleeves. Youwell, tell us what happens in the second part. Ron yeah. Well, this was a community committing. We always had them after every report card to publicly display the report card, the grades for each of the five quality of life areas we look at. And usually, we draw anywhere from 200 to 250 leaders from our community and elsewhere and other different communities in the south bay in the Silicon Valley area. And so the first part of the program, as you mentioned, we display the data, we talk about the grades. And the second part is we then distribute these attendees in various Conference Rooms based on their interest of the subject area, whether its education, health, financial stability, housing, or the environment. And we ask those people in each of those rooms, each of those Conference Rooms to talk about the data, to talk about the report card, share their feelings, share their desires to see something happen that improves these grades for the next report card and start to identify where this community, our community, should be working to resolve these issues and to have a better report card the next time around. So thats a very helpful process for us. We take those comments as well as the data from the report card, and we implement all of that information into our longterm strategic business plan. And in fact, were gonna do that this coming year, this coming 12 months. Were gonna update our strategic plan. And so that this foundation is really guided by the data about the needs of our community and the feelings from those people who attended that important event in early june in mountain view. Damian and youre leading the charge. The foundation is leading the charge on how we can improve things, but youre not alone, right . I mean, when you have all these stakeholders in that room, theyre all going into, whether theyre nurses or teachers or principals or whatwhoever they are, housing directors, theyre going back in to make hopefully, into their communities and see what can be done. Ron i think the important thing about the report card is it gives you data and that, you know, when youre dealing in nonprofits or youre dealing with social issues you just cant, you know, you cant make things up. And this is really important aspect of the report card as we know that other nonprofit organizations have used the data from the report card to document the various needs that they may be addressing with an application for funding from a Government Agency or from a corporate sponsor. So the report card is used by, you know, many people, Many Organizations other than just us. And of course, we use it. We use the very first report card to really focus on the fact that we have to improve the academic achievement levels for our youth because we all know those of us that have had the privilege and honor and opportunity to attend college and to get a Fouryear College degree, know that that changes the trajectory of a students life, and not just their lives, their familys lives, and their extended family. Cousins and so forth that usually get dragged along in the process, because as im sure, my cousin said when i first graduated from college, if ron can graduate from college, im smarter than him. I better go. Sou know, thats the term implions offor us have to continu stay focused oncation, because that ialhe fouion, partarly here in Silicon Valley, to raise our economic level, to raise our selfsufficiency, to provide the income opportunities, to afford a home, or at least to be competitive in trying to find a home in Silicon Valley. And to have a Good Health Plan and benefits from your employer. Education is gonna be the foundation for sure. Damian its the great equalizer. You know, and itwhat it means, what the grades mean is that as a reporter on two different stations, as a host of this show, i have to do better. Folks in their communities have to do better because itsthe report card is just not acceptable. Ron absolutely. I mean, i really feel that we all, you know, have to double down. Im very concerned with the data in this report card, particularly on our youth and ourand this youth generation. I dont like to dramatize things, but i think the data clearly says that if we dont, as a society, as a local community, get our act together and start doing things very specifically that result in thea result in the impact and outcomes that are positive, we may lose an entire generation because of that pandemic. Its thethe implications are that broad, unfortunately. Damian that is very scary, very scary words, mayor. Any final thoughts, mayor, before we let you go in presenting this latino report card . Ron well, i just want to emphasize the importance of taking individual action. You know, all of us, you know, you dont have to be part of a nonprofit. You dont have to be part of an action group. Each one of us could be a solution to one of these issues in the report card. And as my father used to say, we all have a responsibility to improve the lives of others. And thats how ive dedicated my life, and i hope that others who are watching this program take some part of their lives to improve the quality of life for others. Damian well, you know, theres no hiding from it, mayor. Its right here in black and blue and red and everything. And so we thank you for putting this together and for holding our feet to the fire. And its time to mobilize. Thank you, mayor. Ron thank you. Damian thank you very much, ron gonzales, the president and ceo of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley with giving us two ds, two cs, and a b on the Silicon Valley latino report card. The Silicon Valley foundationthe Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. Theres a website on the screen. You can log on and find out more about the latino report card. If you wanna get ahold of us on comunidad del valle, you can follow me on instagram and on threads. The address is the same newsdamiantrujillo. We thank you once again for sharing a part of your sunday on comunidad del valle. Were gonna see you back here again next week on another great show. Pase usted muy buenas. Tell us that George Oliphant voiceover transformations and reveals. No wow George Oliphant voiceover when families and communities come together, anything is possible. This is george to the rescue. Hi, im emmeline. Hi, im john