LULAC - The Creation of the LULAC Adelante PAC - Part 1

 

LNO Board Meeting

Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas

June 29, 2024

Members Present:

National President	Roman Palomares		SD for Texas	Gabriel Rosales
Treasurer	Summer Gonzales		SD for California	Jacob Sandoval
VP for Northeast	Ramery DeLuna		SD for Florida	Asia Clermont
VP for Northwest	Euler Torres		SD for Illinois	Cecilia Garcia
VP for Southeast	Mari Corguedo		SD for Nevada	Malu Elizondo
VP for the Southwest	Ray Mancera		SD for New York	Sylvia Mata Gonzales
VP for Elderly	Ana Valenzuela		SD for Puerto Rico	Carlos Farjardo
VP for Women	Lupe Torres		Past Nat'l President	Hector Flores
VP for Young Adults	Elida Martinez		Past Nat'l President	Margaret Moron
VP for Youth	Ana Coca		Past Nat'l President	Oscar Moron
CEO	Juan Proano		Chief of Staff	Leonard Gonzales

 

Minutes

 The meeting was called to order at 2:51 PM by President Roman Palomares.

LULAC Prayer was presented by Hilde Duarte, Chaplain.

Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Palomares.

Roll was conducted by National Secretary Gloria Suarez-Sasser, and a quorum was established.

Chairman’s Report: President Palomares welcomed the LNO board.  He stated that we needed to work together and move forward with our work and that there is too much on the table for us not to work together.  President Palomares stated that we need to understand our roles on the board.  If you are a State Director, your job is to make sure your District Directors and Council Presidents understand their responsibilities and are doing their job as best as possible.  Council Presidents or Council members need to be attending school board, City Council and Commissioners Court meetings to understand what is going on in their respective communities. He also stated that LULAC need to set up a training program to help all our councils. We don’t have lawyers that can take on cases in these communities so we need to make sure that Board members, State Directors and Council Presidents become more educated to answer questions about the resources we have or possibly acquire. We want to share best practices that may be working in certain communities so others can learn from them. As you come to these National Board meetings let’s make sure that we share all information with our Councils. We need to set up a system to get information to our members.  

We need to make sure that we have everyone’s email and cell numbers. I have developed some goals for the Board and want to share them with you as soon as possible.

V P for Women, Lupe Torres, stated that they had received from Domingo Garcia or Juan Proano five issues that National would address.   I bet that none of you remember we got them. President Palomares stated that that was the information we need to take to our members.

President Palomares stated that the National President for Youth was needing to leave to catch a plane, so he would like for her to give her report. 

Idalyd Granados, National Youth President, reported on the Youth Convention held in Denton at the Texas Women’s University. It was a three-day convention with speakers, community service and workshops.  

Ana Coca reported on the Youth convention and stated that one of the main projects they worked on was the Youth constitution.

VP for Young Adults, Elida Martinez stated Gen Z students need support. We want them to feel supported. We did intentional outreach.  This is a very different generation.  We brought fifty Young Adults from Texas to the convention.   We need to explain the steps and why they need to do it.  We need to show them that they are needed and ask them what kind of sessions they would like to see.

VP for the Southeast, Mari Corguedo stated that many State Directors don’t have a.

any information about what is happening at the LNESC.

 

CEO Report: Mr. Proano welcomed the new board and presented a slide show. He stated that LULAC went from 526 to 497 councils.  He has looked at the bylaws about membership regarding dues paying members, and e-members and that LULAC needs a better model. We run LNO with two staff members and we are a grassroots organization.  We plan to have voting information on our website home page.

We have been working on restoring the international direct flights to Mexico from Texas with Delta, Department of Transportation and JPA.   It has been a success. 

Hector Flores, Past National President, asked if we will continue to work with the Mexican government. Mr. Proano answered that we should and that we had many companies at convention seeking workers for their businesses. We do need to raise money and increase our membership, also work with small businesses.

Summer Gonzales, Treasurer, stated that while this is great, but this is LNI.  Lisa Smith stated no, it is not LNI, but rather LNO.

VP for the Southwest, Ray Mancera stated that he applauds what happened with Delta, he just wants to make sure we take full advantage of the situation.

Mr. Proano responded that this only happened because we have a good reputation and please remember that we will not always be in alignment with the government. 

VP for the Far West, Jose Barrera stated that we need to do an advocacy program, we have tried this in California, and this is a great pilot program.

VP Corguedo asked if we could use the summer interns to develop a fundraising toolkit with guide to give to District Directors to use to fundraise.

President Palomares stated that we just need to start working on fundraising.

President Palomares introduced Summer Gonzales, Treasurer, who in turn introduced Mr. Pena, our financial auditor.  Mr. Pena directed the board to the audit report and slide presentation.  He stated that while we have been through some rough times, we have started to turn the ship around.  He commended the finance team on the recordkeeping.

Treasurer Gonzales reminded the board that we all need to help raise funds.

Action: Summer Gonzales, Treasurer, moved to accept the audit report. VP Barrera seconded the Motion and the motion carried unanimously.

VP Barrera asked how do we get money?

Ms. Gonzales replied we need to do fundraising, and we must be intentional.   Anyone interested in fundraising, see me after the meeting and we will form a committee to raise funds.

Malu Elizando, Neveda State Director, stated that she needs support on branding LULAC in her state.

Asia Clermont, Florida State Director, asked if we could conduct a nation-wide membership campaign.

VP Corguedo asked if the next meeting could be done on Zoom? President Palomares stated that all Executive Meetings would be Zoom, that will save us $10,000 to $ 20,000.

Euler Torres stated that Voto Latino raised a million and has done nothing.

President Palomares introduced the legal team, Gloria Leal, General Counsel and Eric Cedillo, Legal Advisor.

Gloria Leal, General Counsel, spoke on ligation on the state and national level and reported that decisions pending in the courts in San Antonio, South New Mexico, and possibly in Arizona, these are issues concerning the Latino community.   My job is to advise and make recommendations.

 

Juan Proano stated that NCIA has a program and are looking for Latinos who do not have high speed internet. We have done 15 training centers; we have created toolkits for councils: and we have been engaged.  There are plenty of fundraising opportunities out there.  We need to be more focused.

VP Torres stated that there are a lot of opportunities in your own districts such as the Google Program.  

Mr. Proano stated that if they receive funding from BEAD, we have never gone after government funding, LULAC would share with councils. Mr. Proano stated you saw HHS here at convention for a reason.  They are planning to put $500 million dollars into getting DACA recipients on healthcare insurance.

President Palomares introduced Leonard Gonzales as the new Chief of staff and stated that officers would be receiving emails from him concerning a variety of topics.

President Palomares stated that we are looking at information on forming a Political Action Committee (PAC). He further stated that in order to be at the table we needed to be competitive, and we need a PAC for that reason.

VP Barreras stated that LULAC was a 501 c4 and could endorse candidates.

Action: VP Barrera motioned and VP Euler Torres seconded to move forward with looking into creating a PAC.  Discussion on the PAC continued.

VP DeLuna stated he was concerned that we might lose our place at the table if we are not a non-partisan organization.

Past President Flores stated that this is not the first time LULAC endorsed a candidate.

SD Rosales replied that he thought this was a good idea.

VP Corguedo asked if we could get around this issue by using issues and give out a report card on how each candidate has voted on those issues.

VP Barrera said if we create a PAC, we will need to create bylaws to govern the PAC. 

Mr. Proano stated that Unidos has a PAC, Latino Victory started as a PAC and now they have a 501 c3 that will be competing with us.   When You saw the White House Conference with Latino leaders, you saw those with a PAC on stage with the President and President Garcia was in the audience.

Action: VP Barrera restated his motion on the PAC and VP Euler Torres seconded to move forward with looking into creating a PAC and come to the board with recommendations.   Motion carried.

 

 

President Palomares made the following appointments:

Legal Advisor- Eric Cedillo

General Counsel- Gloria Leal

Chief of Staff -Leonard Gonzales

Parliamentarian-Frances Rizo

National Secretary- Gloria Suarez-Sasser

Chaplain- Hilda Duarte

Sargent at Arms- Analuisa Tapia

Senior Advisor- Hector Flores

Oversight Committee Chair- James Fukuda

VP for Veterans- Nominee will be presented at the next meeting

Innovation & Technology- Carolyn Crozier

Education Committee- Luis Chavez

Heath Committee Chair- Aric Herrera

Legislative Affairs- Domingo Garcia

 

Action: VP Barrera moved, and Texas SD Gabriel Rosales seconded to ratify the appointments.  Motion carried.

 

President Palomares introduced Frances Rizo the Parliamentarian.

Ms. Rizzo directed the board to page 78, Article IV- Constitutional Revision Committee, which address the revision of the constitution. Ms. Rizo stated that due to the changes adopted at the convention, the Constitution needs to be revised and updated with the new changes and consider appointing a committee to continue the work revising the constitution.

 

VP Mancera moved to appoint Frances Rizo to the Constitutional Revision committee chair. Ana Valenzuela seconded the motion. Motion carried.

 

President Palomares stated that the lease renewal for our offices is coming up next summer and it’s our understanding that the rent will possibly double because we leased our space under a subsidized sub-lease.  He would like to appoint Alexis Martinez to see if he can help with the negotiations on the new lease. He is a commercial Real Estate agent from Dallas, Texas.

Action: Ms. Gonzales moved, and Lupe Torres seconded to authorize the LULAC President and see if Alexis Martinez is interested in helping LULAC possibly negotiate a new lease for the building located at 1776 Eye Street.  Motion carried.

 

 

 

 

 

Good and Welfare of the League:

Past President Margaret Moran congratulated the new National President Roman Palomares and wished all a safe trip back home.

Past President Hector Flores remembered Dario Chapa from San Antonio who recently passed away.

Past President Belen Robles stated she is extremely blessed to be here today.

Mary Castra from Hawaii stated I leave with a wonderful experience, and we need to have LULAC in Hawaii to help represent us.

Past President Oscar Moran- would like an updated board roster.

Past President Robles- would like LULAC to re-establish a partnership with corporate America.  I recommend you expand it.

 

President Palomares appointed the LULAC 100^th Anniversary Committee:

Ruben Bonilla, Co-chair

Margaret Moran, Co-Chair

Belen Robles, Past National President

Nick Adame, President of Council #1

Raul Vasquez from Corpus Christi

 

President Palomares stated that without the support of his wife, the First Lady of LULAC, Mary Palomares, he would not be able to do this job.

 

Action: VP DeLuna moved, and SD Gabriel Rosales seconded to adjourn. Motion carried.

 

The next meeting will be on October 5, 2024. 

Meeting adjourned at 5:40 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Gloria Suarez-Sasser, National Secretary

Office of the National President