hello. welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo. the latest from the cast members here from the latest production called "valley of the heart." plus, the latino startups alliance on "comunidad del valle." ♪ >> we begin with a man honored by the california wellness foundation for his work in pushing health. kevin williams is my guest. he's with the berkeley youth alternatives. welcome to the show. congratulations. >> well, thank you for having me. >> this is quite an honor. $25,000 grant by the california wellness foundation. >> yeah. >> like vegas -- >> my wife thought we hit the

lottery. it's really great recognition of the work we're doing at berkeley youth alternatives. but i've been doing a lot of work with the school of public health as well as the california black health network, california black -- excuse me, to push diversity in health care. meaning trying to get more people of color. whether they be latino, african-american, asian-american, into the health professions. that's what the award was about. >> why does it matter to have latinos and african-americans? >> research is showing us that those who are in our communities that look like us, who have our similar experiences, are able to deliver better care. and it's really important for those folks who do not speak ing lish as their first language. someone first told me if you can't understand your doctor, it's like having veterinary care. it's not as comprehensive. and it's not as effective. and so we need more people of color going into the health fields. so my wife for the last 20 years

has been about trying to get youth and young adults, and also adults to either go into the -- to becoming doctors, nurses or allied health field. >> you mentioned something that really caught my ear, and that is you made the word "can't" illegal. tell us about that. >> well, one of the best things about our organization is we're positive. a lot of times young people that we work with who are entangled in the juvenile justice system, who are not doing well in school, have been told for so long that they can't do things. and we're a place that's about hope. a lot of times our organization is the only place of hope for many of our families. so one of the things we tell kids is, you come in our facility, we're going to help you. we're going to help you design a plan that's for you. but there's no way that you're going to stop yourself. we won't allow you to stop yourself. and we don't allow you to have any excuses.

and so the executive director, who's also my mother, she raised me that way. you know, we set out a goal, you're going to do it. so we've sort of done the same thing with our youth and young people at our center. >> i think that lights the fire of belief, and belief in themselves i would imagine. >> yeah. when you realize that many of our youth are faced with the fact that maybe they don't have a father at home, maybe their parents are working multiple jobs, they don't have teachers that are really inspiring them, giving them hope, when you realize that you might be the last resort for some of these folks, what it does for me, it gives me more inspiration to do more, to give back and to hopefully set up a pathway for many of our young people to go on to college. and maybe into the helper fields. we say helper fields. but one of the things is, we get more people graduating from colleges, maybe starting businesses, doing something

productive, that not only helps them and their families but it helps the entire community. >> that's great. aside from the huge -- some of the money that they gave you, what does it mean to put that on your resume, to be the recipient of this prestigious award. >> the california wellness foundation has been a tremendous supporter of organizations like berkeley youth alternatives, that are working to ensure that people have adequate resources, and the ability to access positive health care. and so the fact that it's been around more than 20 years, and there have only been 31 people recognized for this award, and i'm one of them, very humbling experience, damian, to know that the work that i'm doing in berkeley, in a small organization, is really having some rippling effects. i don't know about the resume thing, but i do know that it has encouraged me more to be, more

hard working, to be more dedicated, and also to reach out to different communities that we may not have worked with. >> well, if mom is your boss, she's got to be impressed when she sees that at the top of your resume. the california wellness foundation does make these awards throughout the year. logon and find out more about the recipients of this prestigious award. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> up next on "comunidad del valle," the latino startups. stay with us. mom... yes honey? dad told me that cheerios is good for your heart, is that true? says here that cheerios has whole grain oats that can help remove some cholesterol, and that's heart healthy.

[ dad ] jan? ♪ a group of latinos and latinas putting their fingerprints on it. both of these organizations doing fine work. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> who can tell me about the alliance itself, first, so that we can let the viewers what it is and what the goal is? >> thank you for having us. latino startup alliance has been around since november of 2011. and we're a group of latino

entrepreneurs, and people who are generally interested in the world of startups. so our goal is to help latinos build their dreams in the form of a startup. >> give us some examples. that's fascinating. >> sure. one of the things we've done is we've had monthly meet-ups where we bring in industry experts. we've had steve blank, janice frazier, a lot of the names in the world of -- in the silicon valley world of startups, come in and share their experiences with our members. so we have a lot of really good discussion afterwards, where we give our members an opportunity to see what it's like to be involved in startups. >> and you're also with latinas in tech. how many latinas in tech? are there enough, not enough? >> as far as i'm concerned, there's never enough. but it's been amazing, because the thing is that a lot of times we don't stand out, and a lot of people don't like to wave their

flag and say, this is who i am. but i think when you build a group like this, it's really dynamic and interesting the conversations we would have, that are both about our love for technology and also our cultural needs and cultural wants. so it's a very fine line sometimes to have the conversations. we're having our first breakfast tomorrow at the san francisco hub. if you go to our website, you can rsvp for that. i would love to see young women, older women, who doesn't matter, if you have a love for tech, we just can't be passive consumers. we actually have to be the makers of our own technology. >> i'll ask the same question that i asked kevin in the previous segment, where does it matter that there are latinos or latinas in tech. why does that matter? >> i think it's spot-on, our demographics have changed in the state of california and in the world in general. if we don't address the fact that we're here and we're making actual products for ourselves and our communities and needs,

we're just passive consumers. it just leaves us behind. our ability to build wealth, to keep wealth, and to continue to grow as a part of our american citizenship i think is really dependent upon us having better skill-sets, whether you are a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. i think all of those things are key. and we're one component of that. >> what was the previous employment, would you say, of some of these folks who said, you know what, i want to join the startup industry? what were they doing before that they're not doing now? >> sure. a lot of them come from corporate backgrounds. you know, going to a 9-to-5 job. a lot of them come from that space. and one thing i want to point out is a lot of our members are not necessarily technical. some of them are in the world of marketing, and user experience, on the business side of things. so we really do have a wide range of membership members. >> do you think the startup

industry has taken notice of your organization? >> i think it's a very subtle balance. there's obviously a need, when you look at every index that's out there in terms of startups in general, we are sometimes nonexistent, to a very small percentage. but i think when neilsen comes out and starts saying, hey, latinos/hispanics are the number one consumers for phones, for new technology, i think things will start changing. and organizations like ours are saying, hey, we're here, we're available. if you're going to build something, keep us in mind as not only a consumer, but as a maker. you should invest in what we have. we are the future of the country in many ways. >> this is the perfect time. the latest ratings showed that

this is the number one watched show. the market is there. now is the time for these startups to take advantage of it. >> right. exactly. and i think you can also see if you meet some of our members, you also see that we have a lot of ties to a lot of the other -- a lot of the incubators and aek sell raters in the bay area. we're making our presence -- we're trying to help latino startups in any way we can. part of it is to help them realize and find other ways to connect in the bay area. >> there's risk involved. >> yes. >> i would imagine that the fear -- i saw a t-shirt that said, failure is not an option. but it's got to be in the back of your mind. >> no, no, i -- >> how to you overcome that? >> you just have to. i fail every day. and i say that not because i'm trying to humble myself, but because i make mistakes all the time. but it's not the mistakes you make, or the fail urgency, it's how you recover from it.

we come from risk-averse cultures. when my family immigrated here, they were just happy to have a roof. my mother sometimes, she's proud of me, but she's wondering, why don't i just get a job. and there is a certain amount of stability, we don't tend to have the incomes that most people do. when we earn money, we don't earn on the par of some of our contemporaries. we don't necessarily have the wealth bases that we come from. so it is a big risk. it is a huge risk. but there's also a big reward if you stick with it. and you also have to be prepared psychologically and culturally for that. i think that's what's so great about our groups is we're able to have those conversations. how do you have the conversations with your partner, with your husband, with your wife, with your family. how do you explain to your kids, i'm not going to be here tonight because i have to do x, y, z. it's not 9-to-5.

we sometimes send e-mails, and we go, i guess you're working, too. we're constantly working. >> we appreciate the work you're doing. i'll give you the final thought here, ed. >> one of the things we're doing is having our first innovator summit this december. what you'll -- what you can do is yo gone line and go to our website latino startup alliance.org. preregister there. what we'll have in december is a collection of speakers, networking of them over the course of two days, to help introduce people to the world of startups, latinos to the world of startup. and gain from our experiences, and of course, all the other members in our group. >> very good. good luck to you. >> thank you. >> thank you for coming. >> thank you. coming up on "comunidad del valle." ♪

♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing really good around ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of living off the taste of the air ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ try new fiber one peanut butter protein bars. it's a new production called "the valley of the heart." in honor of the valley of hearts, the old silicon valley.

with me are a couple of the cast members for this great presentation. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> let's talk about your professions first. because you've been doing it for -- professionally for a long time. and your characters have changed. what has it been like? we talked about how she's worried about the microphone for us. when you're on the stage you're not wearing a microphone. >> not necessarily. we also talked about how our hair colors have changed over the years that we've been doing this. but i have been working with the company now more than 40 years. and i'm very pleased that luis asked me to be part of this. i would like to please send his regards on his behalf. and also on our producer's regards. thank you for having us here. >> thank you. >> and we're very happy about this production, because this is luis' first new written piece in

over 13 years. and it was sponsored by the national endowment for the arts. he was allowed time to be able to do it, and so this is very special. this is very near and dear to his heart, because he worked and lived in this area. and considers this part of his home. also, the fact that his family participated and were sharecroppers and did exactly what our characters do in the play, in that we are obviously not the japanese family. we are the mexican family. but we're -- they're trying to support the people who were sent to the interment camps. that was very close to luis. this is supposed to be a true story. >> it is, yeah. >> i want to talk about the specifics of the play, because it is fascinating. but i guess when -- this is a

small playhouse, but they're huge when it comes to theater. when they call, when you call, is it kind of a no-brainer, you want to get one of those roles? >> yes. i came from the midwest about three years ago. and i've always -- well, i had heard about the playhouse maybe 20 years before i got here. i was lucky to be introduced to them. i started working with them right away. and it's like -- such an honor to be involved in luis' work. this one especially. what i like about his works, almost all of them are based in truth. and so you're not only entertained, but you're also educated at the same time. so i'm very honored to be taking part in this production. >> very well said.

you talked about the honor of working for luis. when you take on that role, is it because it's his work? there's extra care in making sure that you and luis have the same vision as far as what your character is? >> one of the beautiful things about this show is all of the research that he did, which has also been imparted with us. and a lot of us are reading a lot of the same books -- he's made them available to us. some of our asian actors, they're all very young. some of them tend to be much younger than us. so this is opening up an area also for them that they were not aware of within their families necessarily. and so, yes, this is -- he calls it a memory play. ben, who is the young man who

plays our son in the play, this is his memory of all of these years. he goes from being 25 to being 85 in the show. and so the time, and all of the situations are something that we had to look into indefinitely. and yes, when luis calls, most of us usually pay attention. >> real quickly, i'm facebook friends with montoya, and he posted he just got back from recording the music. that's got to be fascinating. >> we're very pleased. >> the people from the tyco are coming in and working with us. because we do sing at the end, spanish and japanese. >> oh, wow. >> so it's very exciting. >> well, again, it's going to be running for an entire month at the play house. there are the dates and more

information. we'll keep our guests here, and come back and talk about the specifics of the play. and the roles of each character when we continue. good morning! wow. want to start the day with something heart healthy and delicious? you're a talking bee... honey nut cheerios has whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol. and it tastes good? sure does! right... ♪ wow. delicious, right? yeah. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... ♪ well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

jmplts it's called the valley of the heart, the latest production by luis valdez. tell us the theme if you will. what is the theme of the play? >> we play the mexican sharecroppers on the yamaguchi ranch. and they live up in cupper tin oh, which is out in neverland at this point. and we'll eventually be swallowed up by silicon valley. but this is way before that. where it's the little farms. and the family is taken to be interned in heart mountain up in wyoming. and we take over the farm. >> yeah, this was when japan

invaded pearl harbor. >> and we interred a lot of japanese americans. >> and our family was working, we were sharecroppers with the yamaguchis. so when they were taken away, with etook over their farm, their home. at the same time our oldest children fell in love, and so it's a story of enduring love. because she was at the camp and he was going back and forth. to running the ranch. because yamaguchi made him a foreman before he left. and so he has a lot on his plate. and then they have a child who was born in the camp. >> in the interment camp. >> in the interment camp. it's a wonderful character, done very well by our actor.

>> your son? >> mm-hmm. >> our son. he's from l.a. so it's very exciting production. good cast. >> what a way to tell a story of the valley of hearts. he could have taken the canneries, but this is a part of the valley's history that i don't think many people are aware of. >> as luis says, this is a story that, i guess when all of this happened, it stayed in his mind and it has been there, and he has wanted to do this. and our asian actors, who we are performing with, i would give you their names -- but, you know, they're absolutely incredible. it has been a delight in being able to work with cross-culturally. it has just been -- i think we're learning an awful lot from each other. i'm hoping that we are. and we hope to be able to share that with our audiences. we're going to be looking forward to having all sorts of

audiences. >> that's great. and we mentioned the hirabatchi family as well. >> they are part of our music. and we're attempting to sing japanese. >> we will. >> we will sing japanese. and they've also learned how to sing in spanish. so we're collaborating in all of that. >> given the 40 years in the company, are you surprised that after this long, that the quality has remained that it has? >> no, i'm not. i think the effort and the desire and the hope and -- i think those all -- all those things have always been there. there's always been, thank god, it is now another generation. the younger generation. the younger generation has taken on the leadership. and i'm very proud of them. i was their teacher.

and luis was my teacher. and so it is beautiful to be able to do that. i also wanted to mention that we're very proud that we're being sponsored by the gustiano family. and evergreen college is also one of our partners on this. and the hewlett-packard. and so we wanted to say thank you again to also our individual donors, because we're looking forward -- >> the national endowment for the arts. >> yes, i mentioned that. but we would like to invite people to come and see us at our packing shed in san juan. but with the hopes of expanding, and i know luis would love to bring it up to san jose. so that is the dream. and looking at the timing and all of that, well, that's in the future, and we're hoping that will happen. >> it takes place in this area. >> right. anything that luis sets his mind to, you know it's going to be done -- >> it usually does get done.

>> there's a challenge to the local agencies to open their doors and kucurtains to this fabulous production. "valley of the heart." there is the web address, more information. it does run through september 22nd in san juan bautista. but again, maybe we can bring it to where it belongs in the silicon valley. thank you all so much for sharing those talents with us. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i appreciate it. now here's what's happening in your am "comunidad del valle."

here's our e-mail address for next week. follow me on twitter. pick up a copy of the newspaper. and support your bilingual weeklies across the bay area, whether in hard paper or online. thank you for sharing your part of sunday with us. once again, we'll see you back here on "comunidad del valle" next week. mui bien. ♪

♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good for me around ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of craving something that i can't have ♪ ♪ turn around barbara ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ 90-calorie fiber one lemon bar.

in for the touchdown. >> the derby. >> the black hawks are stanley cup champions. >> double gold. boy does he deliver. >> al: we're live in hartford, connecticu today on nbc it's the men's gymnastics national championships. you're looking at one of the best america has, it's danell leyva. born in cuba, raised in florida. he represented the united states at the london olympics last summer and he and everyone who watched knows that what he is about to do is one of the reasons the united states did not come away as a team with an olympic medal. it's called the pommel horse, and it's tough. this is al trautwig along wit