ATLANTA - The Third Annual Georgia Latino Forum Meeting & Conference is scheduled Saturday at Gainesville State College. <br />
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It will include workshops on plans for next year's Census, an analysis of the Latino vote in last year's elections, and recent immigration enforcement activity, including policy and detention issues. <br />
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The hours are 9-5.<br />
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The complete workshop schedule is as follows:<br />
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*Georgia Latino Vote 2008: Analysis of the 2008 Election Cycle: Jerry Gonzalez, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. Presentation of the latest analysis of the Latino vote for 2008. In partnership with NALEO and the University of Georgia's Department of Political Science, Gonzalez will provide the latest update and analysis of the Latino vote and its implications for future elections.<br />
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*Small Business Panel. Paola Diaz-Torres, Impacto Consulting; Luis Izaguirre, Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Gabriella Jairala, Women's Economic Development Agency; Jorge Valentin Stone, US Small Business Administration. Learn the Small Business Administration's strategies to help start, build, and grow businesses through counseling and mentoring programs, guaranteed loans and procurement assistance for minority owned businesses. Information will also be provided on special services available to women, veterans, and service-connected disabled veterans. Learn about the Women's Economic Development Agency's programs that give business and franchise start-up information step by step, training to manage businesses, and loan application information. The presentation will also discuss the Hispanic American Center for Economic Development's programs on education, business incubation, statewide and international network for your business development and the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's wide array of benefits for their members.<br />
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*Health Updates, Emergency Preparedness, & Pandemic Flu. Donna Cochrane, Onsite Health Services; Patricia Chastain & Lindsey Oliver, WellCare. Along with health updates within the Latino community, this workshop will address disaster preparedness and educating people on preparing in the event that a crisis or emergency should occur. It will include pandemic flu education and talk about herbal treatments to help combat it.<br />
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*Recent Immigration Enforcement (ICE) Activity, Policy, and Detention Issues in Georgia. Duran Dodson, American Immigration Lawyers Association; Maria Odom, Esq., Odom Immigration Law Group, LLC; Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia. With the lack of comprehensive immigration reform, the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE have cracked down harder on illegal immigration in places of employment. Ms. Odom will share highlights of her recent experience with US immigration law enforcement activity, culture, and policy. Ms Shahshahani will discuss the Georgia Detention Watch, a collective of attorneys, advocates, and activists concerned about immigration detention and local enforcement issues.<br />
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*Lunch Plenary Session: Immigration Update and This World Now. Duran Dodson, American Immigration Lawyers Association; Jerry Gonzalez, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials; Elise Shore, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.<br />
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*Across Imagined Boundaries: Mexican Immigrant Communities in Georgia Since 1970. Michael Bess, Master of History, Georgia Southern University.<br />
This presentation examines the role of transnational social networks within Georgia's Mexican immigrant communities, particularly how they have influenced migration trends, responded to economic opportunity and crisis across North America, and challenged government attempts to restrict and regulate immigrants' movements.<br />
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*Georgia Survey of Latino-Serving Nonprofit Organizations. Dr. Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez, Ph.D, MSW, MPA, University Of North Carolina. Considerable debate has shrouded serving native and immigrant Latinos. However, limited research using nonprofit sector organizations as the unit of analysis has sought to understand the empirical impact of Latino-serving nonprofit organizations and their effectiveness. This presentation will report the principal findings of the Georgia Survey of Latino-serving Nonprofit Organizations, engage participants in a discussion of these findings, and future actions.<br />
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*Are Our Latino Students Really Failing? Louis Negrón, Georgia Gwinnett College; Eileen Toledo, Gainesville City School District. Presentation provides up-to-date facts on our Latino students: retention and graduation rates the importance of parental involvement in the school system, and the influence teacher bias. Learn about these important topics that can "make or break" students. <br />
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*Finances and Housing Panel. Paola Diaz-Torres, Impacto Consulting; Patricia Jimenez, Consumer Credit Counseling; Beatriz Juliao-Mauersberg, Consumer Credit Counseling. Learn about Consumer Credit Counseling's programs of crisis counseling, money management education, debt management programs, bankruptcy counseling and education, and comprehensive housing counseling.<br />
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*Elections & Resolutions<br />
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*Public Safety Updates: Hall County Sheriff-Steve Cronic & Gainesville Police Department-Captain Sherman<br />
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On the Net. Georgia Latino Forum. http://www.georgialatinoforum.org
