Author: bloggersofhealth

Asylum Quarterly Engagement

 The USCIS Asylum Division will host their quarterly stakeholder meeting. The purpose of this engagement is for individual participants to ask questions and raise issues regarding asylum operations. Please see the attached invitation for more information. To participate in this session, please contact the Office of Public Office of Public Engagement at public.engagement@dhs.gov by COB Wednesday, January 25, 2012. Please include your full name and the organization you represent, if any, in the body of the email and reference “Asylum Quarterly” in the subject line.

What: Asylum Division Quarterly Stakeholder Meeting
When: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Start Time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Where: White Oak Conference Room: 20 Massachusetts Ave, NW; Washington, DC  20529

    
“Dear Friends,

Today, January 10th, the White House announced that current Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz will now serve as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Ms. Munoz will coordinate the policy-making process and supervise the execution of domestic policy in the White House.

 “Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” said President Obama. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

Cecilia Muñoz currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs where she oversees the Obama Administration’s relationships with state and local governments. As Director of Intergovernmental Affairs under Valerie Jarrett, Ms. Muñoz leads a partnership between federal, state, local, and tribal governments that Governing magazine described as “more prominent and responsive than it ever was,” citing praise from local and state elected officials from across the political spectrum. Under Muñoz’s leadership, this partnership has brought the voices of local elected officials and the people they represent into the White House in the development and execution of policies to address local challenges in the economy, health care, disaster relief, and transportation infrastructure among others.

Ms. Muñoz also leads the Administration’s efforts to fix the broken immigration system so that it meets America’s 21st century economic and security needs. In addition, she serves as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, which has worked to not only continue to address the question of the island’s political status, but also partnered with local officials to address immediate concerns over jobs and the economy, health care, education, the environment, energy, and infrastructure.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Muñoz served as Senior Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization.  She supervised NCLR’s policy staff covering a variety of issues of importance to Latinos, including civil rights, employment, poverty, farmworker issues, education, health, housing, and immigration. Her particular area of expertise is immigration policy, which she covered at NCLR for twenty years

Ms. Muñoz is the former Chair of the Board of Center for Community Change, and served on the U.S. Programs Board of the Open Society Institute and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Philanthropies and the National Immigration Forum. In June 2000, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in recognition of her work on immigration and civil rights.”

Julie Rodriguez
Associate Director
White House | Office of Public Engagement

Buenas Tardes!

Happy New Year! We hope your new year is off to great start. During the last few weeks of 2011 the White House met with local elected officials to discuss the importance of the American Jobs Act in their respective communities. As the year came to a close, several agencies including the Department of Health, Interior, and Justice, announced some important updates that will directly impact the Latino community across the nation in the areas of health care, housing, transportation, and on Latino heritage. Here’s the recap:

On December 19th and 20th local elected officials from across the nation visited the White House to discuss the importance of the American Jobs Act for the Latino Community. New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz discussed the impact the American Jobs Act will have on creating construction jobs to help renovate schools in Brooklyn, NY.

Arizona State Legislature Representative Ann Tovar discussed the impact of the American Jobs Act on the 25 million Hispanics and their families in America. Finally, Arizona State Legislator Ruben Gallego highlighted the importance of the American Jobs Act for Latino veterans.

Agency Updates

Department of Health outlined ways the Health Care Law has helped millions
December 27, 2011
The Department of Health outlined ways the Health Care Law has helped millions of people throughout the country. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services outlined eight important ways that you or your family might have benefited from the health law in 2011. Para leer en Español.

Department of Housing and Urban Development launches the HUD Language Line
December 22, 2011
HUD launched the HUD Language Line, a telephone language service pilot that will offer live, one-on-one interpretation services in more than 175 languages. These efforts are taking place in order to better communicate with Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals and families about HUD housing programs, services, and activities.

Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar highlights Latino Heritage Sites
December 22, 2011
Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the release of a report, view here, that identifies a number of important Latino historic and cultural sites in the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. On the same day, Secretary Salazar also dedicated Trujillo Homesteads Latino Heritage site in San Luis Valley, Colorado.

Department of Justice reaches a $335 million settlement
December 21, 2011
The Department of Justice reached a $335 million settlement to resolve allegations of lending discrimination by countrywide financial corporations. This settlement will help compensate more than 200,000 African American and Hispanic borrowers.

Department of Transportation announced that 46 transportation projects
December 15, 2011
As part of President Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative the Department of Transportation announced that 46 transportation projects, to view the projects click here, in 33 states and Puerto Rico will receive a total of $511 million from the third round of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s popular TIGER program.

Blog Highlights

Champions for Change: A Latina in STEM
January 5, 2012
In this blog post Judit Camacho recounts her experience after being honored as a White House Champions for Change in December, 2011.

President Obama discusses Richard Cordray’s nomination to Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
January 4, 2012
President Barack Obama delivered remarks on the economy at Shaker Heights High School,Shaker Heights, Ohio alongside Richard Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General and nominee as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shares the stage with the President.

Building Welcoming Communities for All
December 21, 2011
Achieving full economic recovery and maintaining America’s competitive edge globally now and into the future will require communities to fully embrace their strongest resource-their people. This is why communities around the country are taking a new approach to integrating newly arrived immigrants, refugees, and other newcomers into their community and creating more welcoming environments for all community members.

A Conversation with the South Florida Latino Community
December 16, 2011
On December 2, 2011, I participated in a White House Latino Community Summit in Miami. The community summit connected senior government officials from diverse policy areas with local Hispanic leaders, business owners, and community advocates to discuss issues critical to the South Florida Latino community.

Get Involved

The application for the Summer 2012 White House Internship Program is now open. The application deadline is January 22, 2012. The programs and opportunities of the White House Internship Program make for days filled with unique learning experiences, thought-provoking conversation, and unforgettable events. Visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/internships to learn more about the White House Internship Program and to apply.

The White House Fellows program is the nation’s most prestigious program for leadership and public service.  Founded by President Johnson in 1964 to engage emerging leaders in public service, the Fellows Program provides exceptional young men and women with first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government.

To learn more, we invite you to view the White House Fellows video chat in which the Program Director Cindy Moelis and former Fellows Anish Mahajan and Erica Jeffries recently answered questions about the application and the Fellowship experience. Applications for the White House Fellowship can currently be found online at www.whitehouse.gov/fellows.  The deadline for completed applications is January 13, 2012.

According this Morning’s E-mail, “early this morning the last of the troops left Iraq.” -Barack Obama

I am very excited to hear this, as I have a lot of friends who has siblings, friends, cousins fighting for our safety. I want to say with ALL my heart that I am VERY THANKFUL for all your hard work, all you have survived…may you have peace that you are home and you can literally protect your loved ones now and they can feel that they can protect you too.

It is always a good feeling when you are near the ones you love, there is no feeling like it. To be able to talk, communicate and tell your stories even if fresh. A remainder to the families that have people coming back, you may not ever fully grasp all that your loved one went through in the war, but being there, being supportive and loving them is important. They May not want to talk about it yet, but being there when they do and listening will do good. The act of just BEING is Bigger and Stronger than you can think.

Having to re-adjust may not always be easy, but it can defiantly happen when you make it happen. I am Thankful that the troops are back! Now let us serve them as they served their country to keep us safe. They are defiantly heroes.

This is “A reminder that we all have a stake in our country’s Future, and a saying in the direction we choose.” -Barack Obama

Props! Thumbs up! High Fives! I wish i could give all Vets a hug right now!

Happy Holidays!!

Smile (If you want)

Jes Sofia