hello, welcome to "comunidad del valle." hope you're enjoying your cinco de mayo. today we talk minimum wage, cindy chavez in the studio, and the farm worker movement at the girl scouts. this is "comunidad del valle." we begin today with the hispanic leadership summit, the latino leadership summit of silicon valley. with me, frank harbaugh, putting this on for some time, and

michael lopez, president of hispanic net. what a pleasure. >> thank you. >> you had this a few years now. >> yes. >> tell us what you have gotten out of it so far, what folks can get from it. >> first of all, i hope the young ladies from the girl scouts attend the summit. >> they're here, yeah. >> secondly, it is going on the third annual leadership summit. we chose stanford because i chose to partner with hispanic men because stanford is one of the top institutions, not only in the country but globally, and what's unique about this year's summit is that we're honoring dr. jerry pore ez. >> tell us about the hispanic net. >> it is an organization based in silicon valley, but we are a national organization. we work on entrepreneurship and

leadership for hispanic entrepreneurs as well as work in areas where we want to have a seat at the tables of power, and we work closely with california state government and the white house. >> and how is the program that frank sponsors every year, how does that help in the training of the future leaders that you're talking about? >> we bring people in who are very interested in improving their lives, improving their connections, their scope, and looking for role models. what we have found is by co-sponsoring the event, it serves our mission as well. we are able to provide a positive image for successful latinos for our constituents and for the whole constituency. >> all right. are we expecting kind of the same formula from other years? i saw some of the planner showing some powerful people you're bringing again to the session. >> thank you, damian.

yes. we learned that in terms of leadership, sustainable leadership is the formula that we really have put in place. and every year we challenge ourselves, because in order to mentor future leaders, it is important to choose top caliber speakers from new york, washington, d.c., and places such as los angeles, and michael lopez could give you specific names in terms of the folks that are going to be joining 2012. >> i was going to ask you about that. how rich is that crop of future leaders app those who are training those future leaders, if you will? >> first, the crop of attendees is always first class. we have quite a few in graduate school and college and high school students showed up. in short, it is not just who shows up, but also how the media

disseminates information to everyone interested, and we use social media. we use it as a sort of content and information to spread through all kinds of media. this is one of the strengths we have of being silicon valley centric. >> who are some of the movers and shakers you're bringing in? >> one of them is key note antonio ka nino, ceo of heritage organization. very rich background, has excellent stories app case studies to show that exemplify hispanic success. in the business and finance area, have a wide variety of people. mo vella is moderating that panel. he was in the clinton administration, and he is a consume at mover and shaker.

we have someone from morgan stanley, tony contetto, elevated to the board of the u.s. chamber of commerce. he is very successful entrepreneur in his own right, and received the latino leadership magazine award last year. variety of other people. we have another panel for la tinas breaking the glass ceiling. have a strong range of people. the publisher of new la tina magazine. >> i will have folks go to the website. we didn't have this when grad school, when you were going to college. the fact we have access to these leaders and this type of knowledge? >> we didn't. that's an excellent question. what we did have, damian, when you and i were in college, when michael was in college, had

local chambers, and what they had were mixers, and in terms of collaboration, we want to replicate like the thought leadership of a jim collins, for example. jim collins will be honoring dr. jerry perez as well. we want to have not only the caliber, but i believe leadership is about credibility. in bringing this top cream of the crop if you will is very important that we not opennly h the third annual but continue to the 25th annual. >> any final thoughts while we roll the information on screen? >> the fact they highlighted jerry's career is important. he was the first latino professor at stanford school of business.

jim collins is very famous in the business area, honoring him as well, is punk waiting that he matters to the community. >> that's awesome. thank you for what you're doing, helping train future leaders that make up silicon valley. >> i want to thank you for being a role model to the community. >> thank you very much. up next on "comunidad del valle," girl scouts of northern california are going through the farm worker movement. stay with us. cheeseburger macaroni? [ female announcer ] cheeserburger macaroni hamburger helper. now even cheesier and tastier. helpers. forty dishes, all delicious.

those five food groups sound a whole lot better when you put them in a taco shell instead of a pyramid. valle," girl scouts of northern the girl scouts of northern california have a special farm worker component with me on "comunidad del valle." marissa, with the girl scouts of northern california and marty morales, also with the organization. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> who would have thought girl scouts of northern california if you will concentrating part of their efforts on the farm worker movement.

you're part of the hispanic initiative. tell us about that. >> girl scouts of northern california is a volunteer organization. serve 47,000 girls from gilroy to the oregon border. a lot of people think we're about cookies and camping, but we have the hispanic initiative. we do have cookies here, but we have the hispanic initiative and i am the director for. we provide programs to any la teen oh wanting to be a girl scout. we have daughters of farm workers program which is part of the outreach. we have two really big outreach programs in santa clara county. one is also at the detention center. daughters of farm workers. >> tell us about that. who would have thought. >> the daughters of farm workers program has been in operation the past 30 years. we serve 100 girls in the gilroy

community, and we have been there for many years. we focus on developing girl leadership and providing environmental awareness programs, science and technology, family literacy. we also have family night, we do shared activities, games, and. >> they are daughters of farm workers. >> yes. i myself was a daughter. >> why was it important for girls club to branch out in this direction? >> well, i think part of our mission is to serve girls everywhere, so that is definitely an area that's underserved, underrepresented. so we go out there, just like all our outreach programs.

we reach out to the communities. they have a special place in my heart. been doing it awhile. >> inspiration, a former girl scout for ten years -- >> do you think those girls, not only do they learn from what y'all teach them, but maybe they teach you a thing or two? >> absolutely. >> how old is that initiative, and the focus is to get more latinos into the organization? >> we had it several years. we are doing strategic focus to have the materials, books, resources, training, all translated into spanish. plus we have spanish speaking staff at all offices that can answer questions, if anybody calls in, doesn't speak the language, interested in leading a troop or interested in helping daughters of farm workers program, call us and we are there to help. >> how do you convince parents. we come from the same

background. my parents when it came to doing something that wasn't familiar to them, it was always no. i don't know if you should get involved. how are you able to convince, especially something like girl scouts, which isn't traditional within the community? >> right. we go in there and we speak to the parents about the program, and the importance of developing leadership and why this program is important for their daughters, and the children, once they see us in there doi doing zumba and yoga with the children, the parents are on board, welcomed us with open arms. we would love to continue that program there. we also have a program in half moon bay where we serve migrant families there. >> they're everywhere. they participated in the

ceremonies at the commemorative breakfast, caesar chavez commemorative breakfast in san jose. they did the farm worker prayer or song, to see the girl scouts doing something like this, it blew everybody away, but it shows a talent that the girls have to give back. >> uh-huh. >> how much of that is -- how much of the teaching is giving back? once you teach the girls, they have to go back into the communities. >> we have a service component to all curriculum. we have service projects the girls do and give back to the community themselves. also have a component of the program that has peer mentoring. it comes naturally for older kids to care for the little ones, but they train them, earn badges and all of that stuff. it is really important. >> it is girls club of northern california. they have that daughter of farm workers component.

there's the address and phone number for information. >> thanks for letting us speak about the daughters of farm workers. it is a program i am very passionate about. we want this program to continue for our young latinas. they need the resources and activities for the girls. >> good luck. thank you for the cookies! >> thank you. up next on "comunidad del valle," the incomparable cindy chavez in studio talking about minimum wage. stay with us. [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry

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we are back on "comunidad del valle," see if it will be on the ballot, it is a minimum wage increase for those that work in san jose going up from $8 to $10 april hour. with me on "comunidad del valle," cindy chavez, the head of the south bay labor council, south bay aflcio. and cynthia warren trying to

earn a living. i would assume the increase would help you significantly. >> definitely. >> tell us about that. >> i am a minimum wage worker, full-time student at san jose state and i am a mother. so you know, it is really hard to juggle and make balance of my checkbook when i have no money, living on minimum wage, with the exceeding cost of gas, it is hard to provide for my son. i shouldn't be struggling to make a wage. i should be able to live adequately in silicon valley. >> work hard for your money. now, i know there's some conflict over whether this increase is going to go through. you gather signatures, students at san jose state went out and gathered thousands of signatures to get it on the ballot. what's going to happen to this initiative? >> 35,000 signatures were gathered. the registrar certified we had

19,161 is what we needed to get on the ballot, but we collected 35,000. so well beyond what we needed. and i think the reason is that people in san jose understand how hard it is to live in silicon valley. and you know, people were anxious to sign the petition. between these students and i think a lot of families having compelling stories, think how many families we know kids are moving back in after they have gone to school or go to college, can't afford to live on or near campus, they're spending their home, they have gone to get a job, and what they can get are minimum wage jobs. >> $8 an hour, who can live off that. do you get a lot of stories like elisha saying we have to move up? >> yes. also i would say as a community we need every type of worker to be able to live here. if we want clean air, we can't

have people make such a low wage that they have to live somewhere else to drive back in, pay for the gas, contribute to the poor pollution. this is an opportunity for people that live, work, play, learn, worship to stay in the community that they were raised in and to be able to work here. >> you have to care for your child, elisha. how big a part of your thought process every day is the fact am i going to be able to pay the pg&e bill or the rent and mortgage this month? how worry some is that, how much do you think about it during the week? >> it definitely does effect me as a single mother. i'm definitely choosing what i'm going to pay for. so, for example, i choose to take the bus instead of taking my car. that means i have to take my son all the way across san jose to get him to school, then get me back to work. you know, it is very hard to actually provide for my son. i have to choose what bills i'm going to pay.

i don't have time to put him in a sport because i have to work more hours so i can actually pay the bills, so it is extremely hard. i am not asking to invest in anything or invest in a 401(k). i am just trying to make a living wage for me and my son so i can get him an ice cream or go out to eat with him, spend time with him. that's essentially all it is, me being able to have a living wage to provide for me and my son. >> i'll play devil's advocate next segment. how difficult to get to this point to get this in through the initiative process? >> well, first of all, these young people did an incredible job and gathered thousands of signatures. we reached out to the labor movement app you know, these young people came to us, said we have an idea, we want to increase minimum wage for people in san jose. i have to say most of the labor movement, most of the workers make well above minimum wage. but they were so moved by this story, and i think people understand that people in this

community should be able to live here and not, you know -- and thrive, our families should be able to thrive. the labor movement quickly decided to support this. so we contributed to have paid signature gatherers as well. i have to say this was a really easy topic to get people to say yes, it should be on the ballot, yes, people should make a decent wage. >> is that the website to learn more about your work at the labor council? >> no. >> you know what, there's a website for minimum wage and i don't know what it is. >> raisetheminimumwagesanjose. i hate getting less. but i love getting more. i'd trade a lot less for a little more. or a little less for a lot more. either way, when it comes to having more, i want a lot more of more and a little less of less. ♪ and that's exactly what you'll get at embassy suites.

more free breakfast, more for my money, more deliciousness, more hearty guffaws... [ guffaws ] because more than enough more is never enough more. more coffee? what do you think? [ female announcer ] free breakfast. more room. complimentary drinks. embassy suites. get more. we are talking about minimum wage increase from $8 to $10 an hour in san jose. it should be on the ballot

upcoming here. let me play devil's advocate. a colleague of mine said that's great, this initiative was put forth by the social sciences students. what about the economics students, see what they think? economically, are you going to have business saying this is going to cripple expansion of business? >> so the highest minimum wage in the country is in oregon. and they haven't seen diminishment of business. as a matter of fact, they have seen more money put back into the local economy. and elisha is a great example. here is the reason. she is not putting the money in a savings account or 401(k), she's using it to pay for bus, gas, restaurants, groceries, new clothes, things that her child needs. that money gets spent immediately and spent in the community. so the debate about who gets more harmed, let's think about this. that we would be having this debate about $8 an hour, when in this valley we have some of the

richest people in the world. for most people, that's just not logical, right? increasing people's wage, if they can spend more at the grocery store, more at the clothing store, more at the coffee shop, let's be clear the small businesses that we're all concerned stay healthy and vital and need customers to come in, and who are those customers. as our economy becomes more oriented to the service sector, who do we think is buying computers and cars and other things unless we start to increase what the average person makes in this country. i think the country needs a raise, but we'll start with san jose. >> i knew you would have a great counter. in essence, what will happen to you, you'll be spending more, want to provide more for your child i guess. >> think about it, we're recycling the money we're given to put back into the community. that's essentially what it is all about, being able to spend.

if you don't have customers that are not coming in to buy your product, it is because they're not making adequate wage and can't afford it. they have to choose what to spend their money on. and typically it has to be the bills or they won't have a home. if we were to increase the cost from 8 to $10, we would be able to go out and spend our money. >> when the chamber or businesses say listen, you're putting joe smith out of business because of this initiative, they're wrong? >> they are. and let me just say one thing about this kind of idea around the economy. and let me say this as a labor leader. i need businesses in this community to thrive. i want people to have good jobs. i want them to have health insurance. all of us want that. what we argue about is how to get there. some people believe if you have enough people at the top, money trickles down, everybody will be taken care of. let's be clear, since 1970, that hasn't worked. either we have to figure a way to raise the floor, make sure

people in the community have access to, you know, decent wages and help with other things, absent that happening, we go back to this idea that money will kind of trickle down and that doesn't happen. the wealthiest people save it, keep it, sometimes reinvest it, but that's not even happening in this economy. so either we're going to pay through tax dollars or people to go get healthcare at valley medical center, or we're going to pay people a decent wage and they can contribute. >> there's more information with the south bay aflcio. you can google it as well and find the pro and con on raising minimum wage from $8 to $10. any final thoughts, elisha? >> i would like to address the city council, when they, too, choose what they're going to do,

i want them when they do the economic report, they look at the demographics of the people working minimum wage. as a single mother and as a student, i believe that every person should equally be looked at. and essentially everyone should make above minimum wage. >> somebody hire this lady! thank you all so much for your efforts and for what you're doing. >> thank you for hosting us. here is what's happening in your "comunidad del valle."

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[ female announcer ] cheeserburger macaroni hamburger helper. now even cheesier and tastier. helpers. forty dishes, all delicious.