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Jonathan Avila and Courtney Jones talk to the audience at Latino Advocacy Day.

By Ben Graham, SES Site Coordinator

Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) youth participated in The National Council of La Raza's (NCLR) annual Latino Advocacy Days at Gallaudet University on March 3^rd and 4^th. The event brought together Latino community-based organizations from across the country, with the goal of working to urge politicians to address the issues faced by Latinos living in the United States.

As a local affiliate of NCLR, LAYC was able to play a major role in the Lideres Congreso portion of the conference. The Lideres Congreso brought together more than 100 youth and allowed them to share the work they've been doing with each other, as well as attend skill building workshops.

"We had the opportunity to work closely with NCLR this year in helping to do outreach for the event, and our youth leaders got the chance to present the work that they've been doing," LAYC's Director of Advocacy Ricardo Flores said.

Two LAYC youth, Adrian Arias from Bell Multicultural High School and Paola Encarnacion from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, helped emcee the event. Two other youth leaders, Jonathan Avila and Courtney Jones, presented the work that they've been doing with the LAYC in front of a crowded auditorium of their peers.

Courtney discussed the community listening day that took place recently in which ten youth worked to collect over 50 interviews with community members, in English and Spanish, about their thoughts on public education in the city. Jonathan, who is in LAYC's Upward Bound program, presented about the December youth conference that he was a part of, which had nearly 200 youth in attendance.

"The conference helped me see the bigger picture on a lot of Latino issues," Jonathan said. "I thought it was great to see what other people my age are doing in communities around the country and to share what the LAYC is doing here."

On the second day of the conference, participants were actually able to go to U.S. Congressional offices to do some hands-on advocating for issues important to the Latino community. Overall, the Lideres Congreso served as a good place for youth to be able to learn from each other by sharing what they've been doing in their own communities.