Category Archives: General

Board, Featured, General

Join our Board of Directors!

Photo of people standing in front of colorful decorations
Join the Hispanic Roundtable Board of Directors

The Hispanic Roundtable is passionate about strengthening Hispanic and Latinx communities across Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties. We currently seek individuals who are equally enthusiastic to join our Board of Directors. We firmly believe that diversity is our strength. We value your unique skills, perspectives, and lived experiences, and we believe they are invaluable in helping shape our organization’s bright future. If you or a friend/colleague embody these beliefs, we want to hear from you!

Our History
The Hispanic Roundtable was founded in December 2002 by 15 passionate individuals from organizations serving Spanish-speaking communities in Thurston and Mason counties. The initial aim was to create a space for agencies to formally share resources and learn from each other. The group quickly met this goal and expanded its purpose to uncover and promote programs and services for the local Spanish-speaking community. This collaborative effort led to a united network of professionals dedicated to enhancing services for these Spanish-speaking communities, whose work continues today.

Our Mission
The Hispanic Roundtable’s mission is to strengthen the Hispanic Community through partnerships, education, community building, and cultural representation. Our values of partnership/collaboration, education, community, and cultural representation guide our board meetings and annual community engagement activities, including Community Summits and our long tradition of hosting a Latinx Youth Summit in partnership with local colleges and universities. We invite you to learn more about our work by visiting www.hispanicroundtable.org.

Our Recruitment Priorities

  • Individuals who consider themselves collaborative, compassionate, and empathetic.
  • Motivated individuals willing to take the lead/fully engage with activities for an average of 8-10 hours per month. (Actual time commitment varies from minimum to maximum in the months leading to our annual Latinx Youth Summit in late November).
  • Candidates who can commit to two years of active engagement as a board member.
  • Applicants with a desire to positively impact and support the Hispanic/Latinx community.
  • People with strong communication skills in either English or Spanish (this is less about possessing college-level language proficiency and more about basic comprehension and carrying a conversation).
  • Community members working in the education or business communities.
  • Candidates residing and/or working in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, and Pacific counties.

How to Join Us
The Hispanic Roundtable conducts board recruitment on an ongoing basis. Please take the opportunity to nominate yourself or someone else.

All nominations will be considered continuously, and all applicants can expect to hear from us within 30 days of receipt of your online submittal. Candidates will be invited to meet with up to three board members for a conversation. Once a decision is made, successful candidates will receive a welcome call followed by a welcome email.

For questions about board membership or recruitment, please contact our President, Bill Fishburn (he/him/el), at hispanicroundtable+boardrecruiting@gmail.com.

Board of Directors Nomination Form – English | https://forms.gle/vopDeZCJST2gjsVx8

HRT Reclutamiento Para la Junta (español) 

La Mesa Redonda Hispana trabaja para fortalecer las comunidades hispanas y latinas en los condados de Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific y Thurston. Actualmente, buscamos personas entusiasmadas para unirse a nuestra Junta Directiva. Creemos firmemente que la diversidad es nuestra fuerza. Valoramos tus habilidades, perspectivas y experiencias vividas, y creemos que son invaluables para ayudar a dar forma al brillante futuro de nuestra organización. Si usted o un amigo/colega representan estas creencias, ¡queremos escuchar de ti!

Nuestra Historia

La Mesa Redonda Hispana fue fundada en diciembre de 2002 por 15 personas representando organizaciones con servicios para las comunidades hispanas y latinas en los condados de Thurston y Mason. El objetivo inicial era crear un espacio para que las agencias compartieran formalmente recursos y aprendieran unas de otras. El grupo rápidamente cumplió con este objetivo y amplió su propósito de descubrir y promover programas y servicios para la comunidad locales hispanas y latinas. Este esfuerzo de colaboración dio lugar a una red unida de profesionales dedicados a mejorar los servicios y este trabajo continúa hoy en día.

Nuestra Misión

La misión de la Mesa Redonda Hispana se enfoca en fortalecer la comunidad latina e hispana a través de asociaciones, educación, trabajo comunitario y representación cultural. Nuestros valores de unión y colaboración, educación, comunidad y representación cultural respaldan nuestras reuniones como junta directiva y nuestras actividades anuales de participación comunitaria, tales como las cumbres comunitarias y nuestra larga tradición de organizar una cumbre para jóvenes en asociación con colegios y universidades locales. Te invitamos a conocer más sobre nuestro trabajo visitando www.hispanicroundtable.org. 

Actualmente, nuestras prioridades para miembros para la junta incluyen:

  • Personas que se consideran colaboradoras, compasivas y empáticas.
  • Personas motivadas y dispuestas a tomar la iniciativa y participar en las actividades de la organización por aproximadamente 8 a 10 horas por mes. (El compromiso de tiempo varía de mínimo a máximo en los meses previos a nuestra Cumbre Anual para Jóvenes que ocurre al fin de cada noviembre).
  • Candidatos que puedan comprometerse a dos años de participación activa como miembro de la junta.
  •  Solicitantes con el deseo de impactar y apoyar positivamente a la comunidad hispana y latina.
  • Personas con fuertes habilidades de comunicación en inglés o español (esto se trata menos de poseer un dominio del idioma a nivel universitario y más de comprensión básica y poder mantener una conversación).
  • Miembros de la comunidad que trabajan en las comunidades educativas o empresariales.
  • Candidatos que residen y/o trabajan en los condados de Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason y Pacific.

Cómo unirse a nosotros

La Mesa Redonda Hispana lleva a cabo el reclutamiento de la junta directiva de manera continua. Aproveche la oportunidad para nominarse a sí mismo o a otra persona. Todas las nominaciones se considerarán continuamente y todos los candidatos interesados pueden esperar a escuchar de nosotros dentro de los 30 días. Los candidatos serios serán invitados a reunirse con hasta tres miembros de la junta para conversar. Una vez que se toma una decisión, los candidatos seleccionados recibirán una llamada de bienvenida seguido por un correo electrónico de bienvenida.

Para preguntas sobre la junta directiva o el proceso de reclutamiento, comuníquese con nuestro presidente, Bill Fishburn por correo electrónico a president@hispanicroundtable.org.  

Formulario de Nominación para la Junta – https://forms.gle/nffbRYndD2vwqy826

Featured, General, Immigration

Resources for Immigrants and Refugees | Recursos para Inmigrantes y Refugiados

As all of us continue to navigate emerging policies and activities targeting our most vulnerable neighbors, friends, and family members; we will post resources that we find. | Mientras todos seguimos explorando políticas y actividades emergentes dirigidas a nuestros vecinos, amigos y familiares más vulnerables, publicaremos los recursos que encontremos. 

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) released guidance on state and federal protections for immigrant students in Washington’s K–12 public schools. | La Oficina del Superintendente de Instrucción Pública (OSPI) publicó una guía sobre las protecciones estatales y federales para los estudiantes inmigrantes en las escuelas públicas K-12 de Washington. 

Rapid Response Hub, resources posted by the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs. | Rapid Response Hub, recursos publicados por la Comisión Estatal de Asuntos Hispanos de Washington.  

Know Your Rights, resources from the Northwest Immigration Rights Project. | Conoce Tus Derechos, recursos del Northwest Immigration Rights Project. 

Know Your Rights, informational flyer posted by the South Sound YMCA. | Conoce Tus Derechos, folleto informativo publicado por South Sound YMCA. 

We Have Rights, collection of short videos . | Tenemos Derechos, colección de videos cortos.

General, Media

Article: “It’s Time For The Hispanic Roundtable’s 20th Anniversary Latinx Youth Summit”

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The Hispanic Roundtable is excited to celebrate the Latinx Youth Summit in person with high school students, parents, and educators across Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Grays Harbor Counties.

“We Are Seeds,” the theme of the Latinx Youth Summit, comes from a Mexican proverb: “They wanted to bury us, but they forgot that we are seeds.”

It’s an apt approach to this year’s event, says Diana Torres Angulo, president of Hispanic Roundtable, which founded and runs the event. She notes that students are experiencing high levels of stress and uncertainty due to the pandemic, which has severely affected communities of color, including the local Latinx community.

“Regardless of the feeling of overwhelm,” she says, the organization wants students to know that “they have the ability to overcome these barriers and that there are resources and tools and…this network of teachers, mentors, advisors, and community members that is willing to help them” move into their futures with information and with confidence.

The college and career event, which will take place on November 22, has drawn as many as 500 Latinx high school students across five counties and rotates among higher learning institutions in the region. This year, it’s at The Evergreen State College. This is the first time the summit has been held in person since 2019.

Students, who sign up through their high schools and attend for free, enjoy workshops that can boost confidence in their dual language abilities, for instance, or teach them how to apply and pay for college. Much of the content is designed to equip aspiring first-generation college students.

The Community Foundation has supported the Latinx Youth Summit for several years. 

“The foundation is proud to continue supporting the Latinx Youth Summit,” says Mary Lam, the foundation’s philanthropy and communication officer. “We believe in our local young people, and that an investment in this event is an investment in the bright futures of Latinx students and our community’s future. We also recognize that historic and system inequities have previously undermined the social and economic well-being of Latinx families. As a Latina, having the opportunity to support this work is also personally exciting!” 

Why is the Latinx youth summit important?

Torres Angulo says the youth summit is important because Latinx students earn higher education degrees at a lower rate than other populations. According to a 2021 USA Today report, “only 22% of Hispanics over the age of 25 have an associate’s degree or higher compared to 40% of the general population.” 

Though the percentage of Latinx students attending college was on the rise, the numbers fell when the pandemic hit. Excelencia in Education data shows that “Hispanic student college enrollment had been growing at an accelerated pace for more than 20 years, but in 2020 dropped significantly despite previous projections of continued growth.” 

In response to these figures, Torres Angulo asks, “How do we build this bridge between high school and college?” The summit’s answer is to help Latinx high schoolers envision themselves as college students and as future community members with bright, exciting careers. Holding the event at local colleges helps students do just that, opening their eyes to new possibilities. 

Thinking about Latinx youth and their current experiences prompts Torres Angulo to reflect on her own. As a child of Spanish-speaking farmworkers, she acted as the family interpreter of legal documents, medical advice, and more. 

She describes this role as that of “a ‘dual cultural interpreter.’ You learn at a very young age how to communicate across cultures in order for people to understand each other. It wasn’t just about the language. It was about cultures as well.”

Summit workshops address information barriers and debunk persistent myths, such as the mistaken belief that a student must be documented to go to college. But they also celebrate the unique skills and experiences of Latinx youth and help boost students’ self-perception by encouraging them to view their language and cultural skills in a positive light. 

Rooted in community support

Pictured is Olivia Salazar de Breaux at the 2016 Latino Youth Summit.

Encouraging and equipping local youth have been central goals of the summit since the beginning. And they’re particularly—and personally—important to a former Hispanic Roundtable board member, Olivia Salazar de Breaux. 

As a high school student, de Breaux attended a one-day leadership workshop for Hispanic youth presented by the Hispanic Women’s Network. The workshop changed her life trajectory, introducing her to important mentors and to exciting career possibilities, even though she was growing up in poverty and felt invisible at school. 

“It introduced me to so many important Latina mentors that were all leaders,” she says. “There were state workers, there were doctors, there were lawyers, professors—these incredible women that totally changed the direction of my life.”

The Latinx Youth Summit, she says, is built on the same idea as the workshop she attended all those years ago: “This is a space made for you with culturally relevant resources and stories and mentors. And opportunities that maybe you didn’t think were for you, like school. I didn’t think college was ever going to be for me. But then I met these women and [heard] their stories…and I heard how they were fighting their way to where they are today—and they’re very successful.”

De Breaux is, too. She currently serves as the equity, inclusion, and belonging specialist for the City of Olympia’s Parks, Arts, and Recreation department. She is also an entrepreneur, the co-founder of a local nonprofit, and an author. 

Through the youth summit, she wants Latinx kids today (including her son, who’s now a participant) to know they can achieve their dreams and make a difference in their communities.

Improving the local Latinx experience

The summit is a natural extension of the Hispanic Roundtable’s work. The nonprofit, which was founded in 2002, works to improve access to community resources, services, economic development, education, and employment for Latinx people in the South Sound community. 

In addition to the youth summit, the group is a resource where community members can find programs in the region that provide services in Spanish. They have also explored barriers connected to interpretation services for Spanish-speaking people in our area, especially as they relate to accessing essential services. 

Their work spans five counties: Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Pacific, and Grays Harbor. The group is expanding its work and is always looking to connect with interested community members.   

Source: https://www.thecommunityfoundation.com/stories/its-time-for-the-hispanic-roundtables-20th-anniversary-latinx-youth-summit

Featured, General, Media

Help children and parents separated at the border.

Please join us in our effort to raise funds for organizations that are doing effective work to defend the rights of immigrant families, refugees, and the children being held in cages by our government.

Stand up for human rights.  Reach out to people in your community who want to make a difference.  Lend a hand and a heart.

The Immigrant Families Assistance Project 

Congress has refused to pass effective and humane immigration legislation.  Their refusal to act responsibly has set the stage for the current president to attack immigrants with dehumanizing words and inhumane policies, which have resulted in the deaths of immigrants; arrests of refugees legally seeking asylum; traumatizing separations of children from parents that may prove impossible to undo; and unconstitutional mass judicial proceedings, including processes in which infants are not provided representation and are expected to represent themselves!

Now the president has withdrawn money previously made available to assist indigent defendants and is demanding that immigrants and asylum seekers be rejected without due process.

We will not stand silent and idle while our government terrorizes children and undermines the constitution and values that define humanity.  We will not be complicit.

Please join us in our effort to raise funds for organizations that are doing effective work to defend the rights of immigrant families, refugees, and the children being held in cages by our government.

  • Buy a shirt and wear it to express your compassion and support for immigrant families and refugees.
  • Buy additional shirts for your loved ones and best friends.
  • Make an additional tax deductible donation today, through the link below, to support the work of these worthy organizations.
  • Share this announcement on your Facebook and Twitter pages. Help us make this go viral and let’s raise enough money to make a difference together.

Click here to learn more about the Hispanic Roundtable’s Immigrant Families Assistance Project.