David the contest came to us several months ago. We started looking at this contest, cooking up change. The idea with this is to have students use schooluse foods that are available at most high schools, but turn it into a healthy meal. They actually tried Different Things and we went through lots of different tests to see what works and what doesnt, and at the same time, one of the most difficult parts was keeping it nutritious and tasty, and make it so that other students would want to win this contest. Damian those dont always go handinhand, nutritious and tasty. David true. Damian talk about the challenges there, jaye, in making something that is tasty but its also nutritious at the samewe do have some pictures and some images that yall provided for us. Jaye some of the challenges that i faced was keeping the sodium, the salt levels, and the calories down, while trying to make it not as greasy as some schools. Damian so, you have to be a little bit scientific as well when youre talking about cooking these kinds of items. Jaye yes. Damian and so, what is the trick . Have you found out what the trick is to keeping it tasty at that point . Jaye the trick is green. Damian ah ha leafy green or just green green . Jaye both. Damian so, what do you wannawhy did you decide that this is a competition that i wanna be involved in . Jaye i decided that this is a competition i wanna be in. I like competing, sports and nonsports, but food is just likeits a worldwide thing. Everybody needs to have some fun when cooking. Damian yeah, now the big question is, the winner, does that menu item get instilled into the menu item at the school . David yes it does. If we win, the team that will win in oakland will go to washington d. C. And compete against other schools all over the country. At that time, the Winning School district will put that item on their menu and serve it to all the students in all of their schools. So, hopefully we can bring it back to oakland, and we would be serving hopefully jayes and not her competitions meal. Damian so, are you still trying to create one dish that you think might win you the contest here . Jaye i feel like i mastered my dish that i made so far. Damian and is that a secret . Is that what the competition is for . Jaye shh. Damian whats the message you think overall for the entire campus, not just those competing . David well, i think it is to look at healthy alternatives that taste good so that we can start at the High School Level and even younger teaching nutrition, teaching Good Nutrition that tastes good and is healthy for you. Lots of research has shown that when students eat a healthy meal that that translates into better study habits. And i know i couldve used that when i was going to school. Damian right . Because, i mean, its easy to slap a couple of buns over a burger and throw some tater tots on there. I mean, i guess thats what a lot of schools do. But in essence, what are we doing to our students or our children, do you think, when we do, you know, slap em with a hamburger, and some tater tots, and dough dogs, and what not . Jaye i feel like were increasing child obesity, like diabetes and really, really traumatic life changes. Damian and why is that important to you, addressing those types of issues . Jaye its important to me because health is, like, the number one thing thats killing off human population, and healthy food is everywhere, just people dont know how to use it. Damian all right, is there a category you guys have everything set up for the competition . David we do. The students, we all Work Together as a team and try to figure out what would be the best dish for each team to do. Jayes team is doing a thai chicken roll up with a dipping sauce. Damian it was a secret. No it wasnt, was it . Ha ha ha. Jaye he split the beans. David i spilled the beans. So, her dish is doing that with a dipping sauce. And you shouldwhats your vegetable and damian you dont have to. I mean, if its a secret, its a secret. You wanna win this competition. Jaye you can know the secret, just dont tell nobody. Damian all right, you got it. Jaye so, its a thai chicken wrap with a dipping sauce, and steamed pepper broccoli with spiced apple sauce. Damian i can see students eating that, i mean, during lunch time. David yeah, its really a tasty dish. I like her dish a lot. Shes got a little lime in there that really makes it pop and taste nice. Its a good job. They did a really good job. They came up with a dipping sauce that makes it very moist and real appetizing. Damian i tell you, citrus. Citrus does the trick. If youd like more information, this is a great competition. Its called cooking up change in the Oakland School district. There is the web address for more information. Up next here on comunidad del valle, thank you so much and good luck to you. David thanks, thanks for having us on. Damian all right, thank you. Up next on comunidad del valle, the Silicon Valley latino Leadership Conference. Stay with us. Is back in Silicon Valley. Frank carbajal is back to tell us all about it on comunidad del valle. Welcome back to the show. Frank carbajal good afternoon, damian. Damian thank you. Well, i mean, youre doing something right, because this is the what annual summit that youre having here . Frank this is the 8th annual leadership summit at stanford university. The first one was on sand hill road at the quadrus conference center. But this being the 8th annual, its very important, especially this year with things that are happening in the united states, in celebrating this 8th annual leadership summit, its also very pivotal because it falls on Cinco De Mayo weekend. So, lets celebrate leadership. Damian what kind of ground are we breaking do you think when you put your summits together, what weve accomplished so far . Frank well, theres a couple of things, and this years summit is executive and entrepreneurial leadership. So, the ground that were breaking in the two areas, for example, in executive leadership, we still have a long way to go. For example, less than 3 of men, latino men, sit on corporate boards, and less than 2 of women sit on these corporate boards. However, what i have paved are folks that attend the summit and the speakers at the summit to provide leadership and mentoring for these individuals that are attending the summit. So, its breaking ground in terms of executive leadership and entrepreneurial leadership. Were starting to see more latino venture capitalists that are investing in small, innovative startups. Damian latino venture capitalists. Frank yes. Damian wow, i mean, were looking at video of one of your past conferences here. I mean, but if youre not asking those kinds of questions and organizing these types of summits, who is, right . You have tosomebody has to take the lead, and youve been doing that. Frank yeah, you know, one of the things that i feel very fortunate, and it was 9 years ago, i had my book, building the latino future, published by wiley sons, and it created a platform for latinos to not only have access to these stories, but to understand that es tiempo, its time that things get done. So, i felt that it was my duty to create a Leadership Conference that folks can not only come together, but be challenged in terms of their ideas, and making sure that theyre not feeling alone and feeling isolated, that they feel connected to leaders that attend the summit. So, in answering your question in terms of who attends, folks throughout the country come to the Silicon Valley to attend this conference. Folks from new york, folks from los angeles, chicago, washington d. C. Damian youre not joking around. Theres some heavy hitters who show up to the conference. Frank yes, yes. In fact, the lifetime awardees this conference will be solomon trujillo, angelica perez, and rick najera. Solomon trujillo is one of the first mexicanamerican billionaires, and he damian god, i hope hes related. Frank yeah. Oh, thats right [both laughing] frank he sat on targets board of directors and he sits on western unions board of directors. He sits on board of directors in saudi arabia, china, and hes very approachable, very humble, and hes a giant leader, and hes a lifetime awardee. Mickey ibarra is closing it out and Mickey Ibarra worked for president clinton. And its very important for me to bring these folks that are not only great leaders but have humility. Humility is such an important ingredient in terms of pushing up. Damian absolutely. And is it kind of a round table . Whatdescribe the day for us. Is it a round table thing or is it a Conference Room type of setting . What happens . Frank no, so, the opening keynote is guillermo diaz. Guillermo diaz is the Senior Vice President and cio of cisco, just right around the corner. And the Opening Panel plenary is executive and entrepreneurial leadership. The moderator is jacqueline, who is the ceo at the Latino Community foundation, so shell open it up with folks that are in executive leadership and folks that are entrepreneurial leaders. And the theme there is to really built coalitions, both in executive areas as well as entrepreneurial areas. And the lunch is going to be a fireside chat, led by jesse martinez, and the panelists will be lance rios, who is the founder of being latino, he has 17 million followers on facebook, and also javier sade, who worked under maria contrerassweet, under the sba under president obama. And the lifetime awardee is sol trujillo, and then angelica litwinperez is the pioneer awardee, and visionary awardee is rick najera. And closing it out will be Mickey Ibarra. But one of the things that were also doing for this 8th annual leadership summit is having an inaugural gala, where im partnering with all stars helping kids, which is ronnie lotts organization, and his executive director is mario vargas. And what weve created is an esteam concept, rolling out esteam. Entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts, maintaining arts, and mathematics. In terms of working with these programs and this initiative, it really is to work with young adults, not only in east san jose, oakland, in overlooked communities that have been struck with poverty. And so, what all started as helping kids has done is provided nonprofit funding for these innovative startups. And so, well be having a gala that evening. Damian all right, well, itsi mean, like i said, it takes someone to trailblaze and to break down walls and barriers, and i think you and your summit are doing just that. The summit actually is taking place, again, Cinco De Mayo. Its stanford university. There is a couple of ways to get ahold of the folks for more information. Thank you so much, frank, for what youre doing, and good luck with your venture. Frank thank you, damian. Appreciate it. Damian and up next here on comunidad del valle, diversity in Santa Clara County and vta, a strong partnership. Stay with us. Thats our topic here on comunidad del valle. Cindy chavez is with the board of supervisors of Santa Clara County and alberto lara is on the board of the Valley Transportation Authority. Welcome to the show. What are we talking aboutwell, describe this venture that now the county, the board of supervisors, has established with vta. Cindy chavez so, its actually very exciting. So, the county of santa clara spends about 2 billion a year in contracts, and the Valley Transportation Authority spends a little over 200 million a year in contracts. And what that means is that when we spend our common wealth, theres an opportunity to spend it locally with Small Businesses, with minorityowned businesses, with lgbtq businesses, with veteranowned businesses. And so, vta, under the leadership of that board, did a great job of putting together a program to certify businesses and help Small Businesses be ready to apply for these big contracts. Damian so, those businesses are there, right . Theyre ready to do business, but are they just being overlooked, do you know . Or why is it that not many are being contracted to these types of jobs, if they arent . Alberto lara well, unfortunately that is the case, that smaller businesses tend to be overlooked because they dont have the Big Department for marketing, the big capacity. So, thats exactly what our program is targeting is helping them get a piece of that pie and partner with prime contractors that are working on exciting projects, such as the bart extension project into Santa Clara County. That project alone, weve awarded 141 million to Small Businesses and disadvantaged businesses as well. So, its pretty exciting. And now, as supervisor chavez just mentioned, with the expansion of the program and the partnership, we believe were gonna be able to reach out to a lot more local communities, local businesses that wanna take part in our procurement process. Damian now, i know everybody wants to stay local. Is it difficult finding those qualified . cause you have to be qualified if youre gonna give them this contract. How difficult is it to find these qualified, local companies that exemplify diversity . Alberto well, weve added about 79 firms, local firms to our program, so it is difficult, but thats exactly why, and we appreciate the opportunity to come on shows like yours, to say to the community, come if you have a business. Meet with us. Go through the website. Get educated as to what it takes to become one of our contractors, and were there to help you. Damian and cindy, were not just dishing out these contracts free willy, right . I mean, they have to be qualified. Cindy you bet they have to be qualified. Were spending public dollars. But whats really exciting about this partnership is that vta will certify the companies and these Small Businesses, and that way they can apply either to vta or the county of santa clara. And combined, we have a lot of local resources. So, were looking for the best, were looking for the brightest, and really what we think is that if we make it easier and explain how to have access that were gonna get better local, quality companies, and we recognize it. A core component of our economy here really rests on Small Businesses. We celebrate the Large Companies here, but the Small Businesses employ thousands and thousands of people, and we wanna make sure we can help them grow. Damian do you think that a lot of these businesses think, well, im not going to bid on this project because i cant compete against the big cindy i think thats part of it, and i also think they think the certification process is gonna be cumbersome. But the partnership that we have with vta really does make it easy for businesses to do that and to be able to work with government. I think some of it is just what peoplewhat their beliefs are that maybe dont bear out anymore, and i think the point that alberto raised, about 79 Small Businesses in our area now have the ability to apply, not just to vta, but also to the county of santa clara, is the beginning of a great opportunity for our local companies. Damian basically, you want to spread the wealth, right . You wanna make sure that everybody has at least the opportunity or the access to get a piece of what youre offering. Alberto exactly, and that is the vision of our director, general manager nuria fernandez, is lets level the Playing Field for these Small Businesses to compete for a lot of the contracts that we have available. In fact, one of our Networking Opportunities is coming up, may 11. Were gonna be partnering with the county at the auditorium on berger street, i believe it is. Damian were gonna have the information in just a bit. I mean, youre not lowering the expectations, youre just leveling, as you mentioned, the Playing Field. Alberto exactly. Cindy thats exactly right. And just one last thing i would like to say about that is that i think the Small Businesses in our community can do so much. You know, printing, preemployment screening, data entry, information systems, construction. I mean, the countyjust between the county and vta, were like small cities. So, we have one of the largest hospitals in the area. Theres so many things that we contract and bid for that this is just a great opportunity for people to really reinvest in our local businesses, using, again, our common wealth, and doing it in a way that really encourages the best and the brightest to apply. Damian all right, we do have some information for you. Again, theyre having this grand opening, if you will, or this great presentation to kick off this event. Its on may 11. There is the address. Its at berger drive where the registrar of voters is located. And there is the web address for more information. Well be back and talk more about this project to diversify the local contractors. Stay with us. [music] someday, gus will invent this thing and change the world. This is the thing that could change gus world. And this is the doctor that could cure that thing so he can grow up to invent this thing. Sutter health. Proudly caring for northern california, birthplace of pioneers. Proudly caring for northern california, alberto is actually a staff member at vta, youre not a board member. Alberto correct. Damian all right, well, now also included in your program is the disabled veterans and the lgbt community. So, tell us about your pitch and your effort with that. Alberto so, thank you again. Last year, the board of directors of the vta expanded the program to include the lgbt community, as well as disabled vets. So, all these Business Enterprises that want to be part of our program, were inviting them to come and talk to us at these events, like the one that you just mentioned before the commercial break, so that they really understand what the process is. So, that would bei lost it. Cindy ha ha, well, what i was just gonnalet me just follow up and say that i think whats really critical to know is we didnt know at the time that we were doing this that we were the first in the country. And whats important about that is, of course, the first comes from Silicon Valley, so were really proud of that, but we also recognize by blazing trails at a local level, were really making it possible for other agencies across the country to adopt these same sorts of policies, which i think is very exciting. And i think thats particularly important, both as it relates to the lgbt community, but really if you think about it, one of the Biggest Challenges in our country has been making sure that we are doing what we can for veterans, not just in housing, but also in terms of entrepreneurship. So, were creating opportunities for businesses that may not have had opportunities otherwise. Damian i mean, its great that were reaching out to minorityowned, lgbt, and disabled veterans, so thats great, but isnt it at the same time unfortunate that we have to reach out, because theyre just not at the table yet . Cindy no, thats right. And iheres the great thing about this program. I think vtas learned something that we at the county get to follow and were gonna hook into that program so were not reinventing the wheel. Were making it much easier for businesses to have a onestop shop, which is tremendous. And i think your point is well taken that i think once we learn this, its something were gonna be able to share across the country, because it shouldnt be difficult. It should be easy, transparent, and accessible, irrespective of what size your businesses are. And i think frankly, the more Small Businesses that we engage, the more demand theyre gonna make on us to change procedures and protocols, and i think thats all to the good for the public. Damian and youre notyoure not just coming here, alberto, to talk about it. Youre actually right now with the bart project. Youre handson with the minorityowned contractors. Alberto we are, and weve awarded to some local firms, latino firms, several contracts for landscaping, trucking, asphalt work. So, that is happening right now. Damian then talk about the importance of the outreach that youre doing . I mean, this is part of the outreach, of course, but you know, there are maybe those Small Companies that arent aware, or again, they feel like maybe they dont have a chance. But there is an outreach effort to make sure that they understand that they do. Alberto several times a year we actually connect the Small Businesses with the prime contractors, those big firms. We bring them together, we have a coffee hour, we get them to talk to each other, so that the Small Business cindy its speed dating. Alberto Something Like that, exactly, yeah, and its been very successful. So, we hold those about two or three times a year. Damian oh, all right. How much stronger, cindy, do you think we are making this community by reaching out this way and making sure that everybody is at the table . Cindy well, you know, it makes complete sense to invest in our local community with our tax dollars. Not only do we wanna build bart and bring bart to san jose or have one of the strongest hospitals, not just in the region, but in the country, but we wanna be able to spend that dollar multiple times. So, by spending it with a local business, were strengthening our local economy and were making it more and more possible for those people to reinvest in jobs in our local community. And i think one challenge that these Small Businesses have, really, is that sometimes they are two or three person shops. So, doing the research to determine what you can apply for can be overwhelming. Were trying to make it easy because we want that 3person shop to become a 10person shop to become a 20person shop, and have that success in our community. Damian are these mostlyones youre contracting with or subcontracting with, are they national, small, minorityowned businesses or are they all local, the ones that you alberto the majority are local, yes. Damian what message does that send, i guess, to those who want a piece of the pie here locally . Alberto that theyre all welcome and that they should all make their presence known because we wanna do business with them. Damian thats awesome. Well, its a great message. If youd like more information, again, the kickoff is happening may 11 there on berger drive in san jose. Theres the web address for more information. Any final thoughts, cindy . Cindy you know, i would just say the welcome mat is open, and we are open for business, and were open for business in the public sector, and we want you to come. Damian theres a lot of money in it. Cindy there is, dont pass it up. Damian alberto, any final thoughts . Alberto check us out on the website, and you know, call us. Well be there to help you. Damian all right, well, thank you so much for coming on the show. Cindy thank you for having us. Damian and now, heres whats happening in your comunidad on que pasa. [music] [music] [music] [music] damian and our saludos for those celebrating a special day. Felicidades. [music] [music] damian and here is our contact information. You can follow me on twitter. My handle is newsdamian. You can also pick up a copy of El Observador newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. You can also watch us in espanol in 1 hour on Telemundo Canal 48. Your comunidad del valle in spanish every sunday at 11 a. M. On Telemundo Canal 48. We thank you once again for sharing a part of your sunday with us here on comunidad del valle. We will have another great show for you next week. Pase usted. [music] announcer nbc sports, home of the olympic games. The nhl, premier league. The nascar playoffs and primetimes number one show. Sunday night football. Only on nbc. Announcer welcome to the u. S. Bank nbc sports report. Hello, everybody. Our nbc sports studio. Well get you to the fei jumping and dressage finals. Lets begin in augusta, where