Where it was and its kind of become even better now. Ron it has been, you know. Its hard to believe this, but ive been there now 8 years. Damian wow. Ron and its been a slow, steady progress as weve created new programs, implemented those programs to serve more latino students and their families, all with the mission of trying to get more latino students properly prepared to be successful in high school, and then in college, and out the door of college with a degree, and hopefully a stemrelated degree so we can get them into some of the local high tech jobs where theyre desperately needed to help diversify the workforce. But its been a tremendous 8 years of success and i think it has a lot to do with the fact that we spent a lot of time listening to our community, understanding our needsthe needs of our community, looking for solutions, and then finding partners that can help, you know, bring programs and services to those problem areas. Damian because you know most, if not all, of the high tech ceos in this valley, and im sure theyre knocking on your door saying, where is the local talent . But thats your challenge, right . And youre out there hustling, trying to get them that local talent. Ron we are, you know, it would surprise, i think, many of your viewers that in a region like Silicon Valley where latinos make up almost 30 of the general population, we represent less than 3 of the high tech workforce, and thats the entire high tech workforce. We estimateour foundation estimates that the actual technical part of that high tech workforce, the engineers, the computer scientists, the it personnel, is probably less than 1 . So, when you compare that to 30 of the general community, there is obviously a gap there. And our foundation doesnt spend any time blaming folks, we look at solutions. Weve come up with several and were starting to impact that number and hopefully see it start to rise up to a number thats closer to the percentage we represent in the general population. Damian youcorrect me if im wrong, but you have to be impatient in correcting it, but you have to be patient in watching that correction, right . cause that correction is not gonna happen overnight. Ron yeah, i mean, you know, part of the challenge in a job like mine is how you carefully poke people in the ribs . Because lets face it, you know, unless youre making em scratch or youre making em uncomfortable, theyre less likely to move in your direction. So, one of the things that i do is i talk about the importance of our community to their future workforce. They need to understand that our foundation, and there are others, educational institutions in the Silicon Valley, that are helping train their future workforce. And like we like to say at the foundation, were building the future engineers, the future computer scientists, the future it specialists, right in our own backyards, right down the street from their corporate headquarters. So, they dont have to recruit internationally. They can do that, but we want to provide a local resource, a local funnel, so to speak, of qualified people who are anxious to get some of those goodpaying jobs with great benefits. Damian and its classroom to classroom, school to school, right . I mean, its an allout effort, and its gonna take more than your foundation to do it. Its gonna take all of us to really make that change. Ron its gonna take a communitywide effort. And our longterm goal, you know, if someone were to walk in and hand us a very large pot of money, and say, here you go, you know, set up an endowment and, you know, expand your programs, we have a a longterm goal of having our foundation involved, as we like to say, in a latino students life from cradle to career. And that means that, you know, everything from making quality preschool affordable and accessible to our families, making sure that our students, when they reach the 3rd grade, have good reading skills and theyre above kind of the proficiency levels in reading, making sure they are challenged with math and algebra and middle school, and they have all of the coursework done in high school that will allow them to apply, and be eligible, and be accepted at either the university of california system or the California State University system. Damian all right, well, thats all the work of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. They are having their annual Hispanic Foundation ball where they will honor la familia, the family of the year, at the san Jose Fairmont hotel. Theres the web address for more information. Well talk more about these efforts in getting our School Children into stem careers when we continue. Stay with us. Now the president and ceo of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. And so, one thing is talking about it, the other thing is doing something about it, and we do have video from maybe this past year of what were talking about. Tell usdescribe what this is and where these young men and women have gone since. Ron so, this video shows the recipients, some of the recipients, of our latinos in Technology Scholarship program, which we started about 2 1 2 years ago. Were very delighted that we are now supporting about 100 students as they finish up their college degree. Theyre Rising College juniors and seniors, so we help them in that last 2 years to get their stemrelated degree. The delightful news about this is that about 90 of our 2 groups of students so far are 1st generation Latino College attendees, so the first in their family to attend college. And the second great news is that 42 of our Scholarship Recipients are latina, and of course thats far beyond anything you see in the private sector workforce. So, we have worked very hard to design this program to raise the funding with people and corporations like intel, reed hastings, the ceo of netflix, and many others. But the reality is still, even with these programs, weve gotta get the news out there. Weve gotta get the students to apply and run through the application process, make sure that theyre, you know, enrolled in an accepted university and in an accepted degree program. The other delightful thing about this program is were working to make sure as many of these students as possible have summer internships, and thats extremely important. I remember back in my days at hewlettpackard, we had a very extensive summer internship program, which allows a student to kinda take what theyre learning in the classroom, in terms of theory, and put it into practice in the workplace. Most importantly, doing that with a hiring manager, and i know from personal experience in those programs at hp and the other high tech companies, oftentimes those interns turn into fulltime workers. And in fact, weve already seen one of those instances take place in our program. A young man graduated from uc santa cruz, an it major, and was offered a job and has accepted it at intel, and hes been working at intel. And these students, many of them, were going to actually feature at the ball. Youll get a chance to meet many of them, about 30, who are attending schools in local area. And were gonna have 2 of them, representing the group of 100, talk about their experience. Damian and i mean, this is an effort that you started, the foundation started, a couple of years ago, and is there the effortwhat do you have in place to make sure that theres a link here, that it keeps going . Ron well, its always about the money. Its always about the funding. And delightfully, you know, when we got the major investors to say yes, we got multiyear commitments from them for the 5year period of time. Were always trying to raise more money because our original goal was to try to support 100 students per year. Based on the money weve been able to raise, its been more like 50 a year so far. Were in towe just started the application period for the 3rd year of student applications, and if someone whos watching this program would like to know more about that program, they can go to our website or they can contact our foundation and wed be glad to share that information with them. And so, i think, just like all the other programs that we try to offer, if we show the results, if we show the impact, we believe strongly that our initial funders, and many others, will come to the table as we renew the program. Damian very good, its to the point now where School Children kind of dont have a choice, right . Now they have to be into steam or stem, otherwise, i mean, this is Silicon Valley, everything is electronic now. Youre gonna be left behind if youre not at least intrigued by steam or stem. Ron well, and you know, it is the reality, you know . I like to say i went to college in the last century, and you know, i was a humanities major. I got nothing against humanities, but im not graduating from, you know, college in, you know, 20172018 and trying to compete in todays workforce. Its a very different world, and i think records and studies show that those students who try to get a stemrelated degree often have more fulfilling careers with higher wages, and salaries, and benefits, which they can use to provide for the needs of their families. And you know, ultimately, thats what were trying to do with all our Education Programs is to change the trajectory of these students and their lives, their families lives, and in many cases, their entire communitys lives. Now, you know, cause youve been covering the news around our community for a long time, that studies have shown when we get that first generation latino to attend college, they often drag along their siblings or some cousins. You know, people who say, oh, wait a second, you know, if ron or damian can do it, im smarter than they are and i can do it now, you know . And so, it does act as a role model kind of experience, and were very hopeful that, you know, these 100 students that were supporting now will be able to drag some of their siblings or their family members into college also. Damian and thats so true. I mean, i have nieces and nephews who now have masters degrees and are phd candidates, and so thats a very valid point. Let me ask you this on a personal level. You were former county supervisor, mayor for 2 terms, 8 years. How fulfilling has it been being the president ceo of this foundation . Ron well, you know, this is the first job ive ever had in philanthropy. Ive done high tech, ive done government, ive even done education way back in the day, but this is a very different kind of challenge. You know, it has a little bit of everything, your marketing, your sales. You know, youve gotta havein my opinion, the best philanthropist and the best kind of nonprofit leader is that type of person who has a soft heart, but a strong head, a strong mind, and youve gotta have that balance. And it does go back to that fundraising. You know, i probably spend 80 of my time raising money, so its no different than, like, a political campaign, asking people to donate. So, i always joke with my wife, guiselle, i said, you know, i feel like im, you know, still back in politics, begging for money, always having my hand out. But you know, the hand out now is for an important cause and i was first attracted to this opportunity because it allowed me to reengage in my dedication to Community Work, but not 24 7 like the mayors job. Damian right, all right, well, more with the mayor here when we continue, but again, they are hosting the Hispanic Foundation ball there on october 21 at the san Jose Fairmont. There is that web address. Well be back and talk about la familia, the family of the year. Stay with us. Ron gonzales and the current president ceo of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. Well, now lets talk about the charity ball, the Hispanic Foundation ball. This is such aits an annual event and its the highlight of everything that we do as a community, i think, in this valley. Ron well, you know, a lot of people say about Silicon Valley is that we dont often take enough time to celebrate, and you know, one of the main Priority Areas for the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley is this idea of convening and engaging our community. And the hispanic, you know, Foundation Ball is one way to do that. We get anywhere from 750 to 850 people attendees. Its a great night. Many people have been to the event, enjoyed it tremendously, and soand we know that because many of them return. And we certainly get a high degree of sponsor support, you know, somewhere between 50 to 60 corporate sponsors, other nonprofits, and the like. But it really is a time to reflect on kinda what is the status of our community, what are still the challenges. This year, of course, has been a very interesting year for us, both nationally and statewide, and i think its important to come together as a community to remember the good things about our community, to remember that we are stronger together and that we still have a lot of work to do. Damian well, lets talk about the escamez family. We do have some video of mom and one of the sons. They live in redwood city and they have a foundation, nonprofit, called circulo cultural, where they teach basically everything. I was there a couple of weeks ago within their studio, and they teach taekwondo, and they teach music, they teach radio, they teach theatre, they teach everything. Ron yeah, i think theyre the modern day version of the latino boys and girls club. Damian haha, exactly. Ron you know, and that need in our community has been there for a long time, a safe, clean place to go for our young people and for our adults to, you know, again, celebrate community, celebrate our culture, one, for many of our young people to learn about our culture because, you know, the changes in school, you know, the school day, have had tremendous impacts on the arts, the music programs. Many of them have disappeared due to budget cuts. You know, theyre the kinds of requirements that are placed on traditional Public Schools. So, having the escamez family doing the kinds of things they do in a Community Like redwood city and in, you know, that little neighborhood called little michoacan, as they call it, is very, very important, because it does bind a community. And in these smaller neighborhoodsand you know, redwood citys kind of an interesting community, and our foundation does provide services to san mateo county. Because oftentimes, we learned in the past in talking with Community Leaders there, political leaders there, they often feel like the south bay and the north bay kind of take the peninsula for granted, particularly the latino community. You know, we drive up and down 101 or 280, and very seldom do we take an off ramp, you know, to go to redwood city or to go to one of the other, you know, communities that have a large hispanic population. They have just anothertheyre just another example of the 27 previous families that we have recognized at the event. A long tradition of recognizing those families that you may not have heard of, but theyre out there. Hundreds of them are out there, you know, doing these kinds of services. This familys unique in the sense that this is only the second time that la familia comes from san mateo county, and were delighted with that. And the thing we wanna emphasize is that we hear of these families because, you know, people in the general public nominate them. Nominations come from the general public. We put out a call for nominations. We have a committee that reviews those. Its a tougher job every year. And i was smart enough as mayor to never sit on a selection committee, and i do that with this one, and i stay away from it. I dont even know who has been nominated until the Committee Makes their decision. So, were delighted that the entire family, many of their relatives are gonna be joining us. They have, like, 30 people coming and their entire delegation, and well be able to have a great party with them. Damian ive sat on a Committee Twice i believe, and its a point system. So, you dont know whos going to get it. Its notyoure not, pick this family or that family. Its on a point system, so its very rigorous and it is a tough decision. But this family is like all of the other families who youve recognized, is they were shocked that they were nominated, they were even more shocked that they were selected as la familia, and they have all told me, we dont do it for the recognition. We do it because my Community Needs it. Ron well, you know, thats the typical profile for families and individuals like this, you know . They do it because they see a need. And you know, whether its responding to natural disasters that youve been reporting on more recently, or helping communities, you know, plan for the raising of their quality of life for their families, they do it because its needed, not because they wanna be recognized. And you know, youve served as our mc for many, many years now. You get a chance to meet all these families. Damian it really is an honor and they remind you of your family. And ive said it before during the ceremony, that you see allyou think youre doing a lot of Community Work yourself, then you see the work that theyre doing, and youre thinking, boy, im really not doing enough. The Hispanic Foundation ball, once again, its coming back tohow many years, mayor, again . Twentyseven . Ron this is our 28th hispanic ball. Damian all right, and its on october 21 at the san Jose Fairmont. There is the web address for more information. You can also find out more about the great endeavors of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley,