official immigration conference program guide

PRESENT
ONE-DAY CONFERENCE
Dreams and Challenges:
Critical Immigration Issues that Impact
LONG ISLAND
October 27th, 2015
STUDENT UNION
Program Guide
In collaboration with:
The SUNY Old Westbury 50th Anniversary Committee,
SUNY Old Westbury Department of Modern Languages,
Department of PEL, First-Year Experience Program,
School of Education, PEL Student Club, SUNY OW
Student Government Association.
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ONE-DAY CONFERENCE
Dreams and Challenges:
Critical Immigration Issues that Impact
LONG ISLAND
PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
8:30-9:15
Registration
9:30
Opening Remarks | Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, President, SUNY Old Westbury
Conference Introduction
- Rose Muzio, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Politics, Economics & Law
9:40-11:10
Keynote Speaker | Erika Andiola, Co-Founder, Dream Action Coalition
Dreams and Challenges, Part I
- Angel Reyes Rivas, Youth Leader, Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates
- Francis Madi Cerrada, Long Island Outreach Coordinator for the New York
Immigration Coalition
11:25-12:50
Education, Law and Civil Rights
- Georges Eugene Fouron, Professor of Education and Social Sciences,
SUNY Stony Brook
- John Moreno-Escobar, Student Life Manager, City University of New York
- Jason Starr, Attorney and Director of New York Civil Liberties Union,
Nassau County Chapter
- Patrick Young, Attorney and Program Director at CARECEN (Central American
Refugee Center)
1:00-2:30
2:30-3:30
3:50-5:20
5:30-7:00
7:00
Immigrant Workforce and Labor Rights
- Margaret Gray, Associate Professor of Political Science, Adelphi University
- Nadia Marin-Molina, Health and Safety Specialist at NY Committee for Occupational
Safety & Health
- Victoria Daza, Long Island Jobs with Justice
Luncheon | Herrison Chicas, Spoken Word Artist
Keynote Speaker | Luis Valenzuela, Executive Director of the Long Island Immigrant
Alliance (LIIA) and Associate Professor of Social Work at SUNY Stony Brook Dreams and Challenges, Part II
- Laura Lemus, Special Project Coordinator, Long island Wins
- Jackeline Saavedra, Attorney, Empire Justice Center
- Silvana Diaz, Co-Founder, NOTICIA Newspaper
A Suitcase of Dreams
Preview of TV series on Latino migrants living in Westchester County, NY.
- Angel L. Lara, Assistant Professor, Modern Languages Department
Closing Remarks | Zenaida Madurka, Associate Professor, Modern Languages
Department. Director, Hispanic Latino Cultural Center.
Program Guide | 1
ONE-DAY CONFERENCE!
Dreams and Challenges:!
Critical Immigration Issues that Impact!
LONG ISLAND!
2 | Program Guide
PROGRAM
8:30-9:15
Registration
9:30
Opening Remarks
Dr. Calvin O. Butts III
President, SUNY Old Westbury
Conference Introduction
Rose Muzio
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Politics, Economics & Law, SUNY Old Westbury
Keynote Speaker
Introduction by Daniela Guillen, Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates
Erika Andiola
9:40-11:10
Co-Founder, Dream Action Coalition
Erika Andiola is a former Congressional Staffer for
Arizona Congresswoman, Kyrsten Sinema, and
co-founder of the DRM Action Coalition. Erika
started community organizing when she cofounded the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. She then
served in the National Coordinating Committee
and on the Board of Directors for the United We
Dream Network. Erika’s personal struggle as an
undocumented woman, with an undocumented
family, has given her the drive and the passion to
keep fighting for immigrant rights.
Dreams and Challenges, Part I
Moderator: Osman Canales, Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates
Angel Reyes Rivas
Youth Leader, Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates
Angel is a student at Nassau Community College majoring in Liberal Arts. He was
born in Peru and came to the United States at the age of fifteen. His mother was
deported in 2009 and he remained in New York with his younger brother, who
eventually had to go back to Peru. For over a year, Angel has been an active
member and youth leader of Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates. Angel is
currently working on establishing a business in NYC.
Francis Madi Cerrada
Long Island Outreach Coordinator for the New York Immigration Coalition
Francis Madi Cerrada is currently the Long Island Outreach Coordinator for the New
York Immigration Coalition. Prior to that, she was the DREAM organizer at the Arab
American Association of NY and later a Long Island organizer for La Fuente. During
her college years, she became the co-founder of the Queens College Dream Team,
member of the NYSYLC and an Immigrant rights fellow for the Center for Ethnic
Racial And Religious Understanding. She lives in Hempstead, NY and likes to write
and travel in her free time.
Program Guide | 3
11:25-12:50
Education, Law and Civil Rights
Moderator: Maryann Slutsky, Executive Director, Long Island Wins
Georges Eugene Fouron
Professor of Education and Social Sciences, SUNY Stony Brook
Georges Eugene Fouron, a native of Haiti, is Professor of Education and Social
Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His research focuses
on transnationalism and its effects as experienced by Haitians in Haiti and those of
the Haitian Diaspora. His latest book, authored with Nina Glick Schiller, Georges
Woke up Laughing: Long-Distance Nationalism and the Search for Home, was
published by Duke University Press in 2001. His latest manuscript, Haiti’s Migratory
Streams at the Crossroads of Global Capitalism and the Politics of Competing
Empires, is under review by Penn State Press.
John Moreno-Escobar
Student Life Manager, City University of New York
John Moreno-Escobar, a native of Colombia, is a successful social entrepreneur,
community leader and executive innovator. His passion is education equality and
access to higher education for all. He was recently appointed to lead the urban
initiatives at the City University of New York. He also founded the Colombian
Education Fund, an initiative to help Colombian students access financial resources
to pay for their studies. The first nonprofit organization John founded was Latino
Youth for Higher Education Program, which helps recently arrived Latino youth and
families to apply to and pay for college in the U.S. In 2015 John was awarded the
Latino Start Award for his work as a Social Entrepreneur in NYC.
Jason Starr
Attorney and Director of New York Civil Liberties Union, Nassau County Chapter
Jason Starr is a civil rights attorney and consultant focusing on educational equity
and ending the school to prison pipeline. Currently, Jason is the Director of the
Nassau Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union where his work centers on
designing and executing strategic civil rights issue campaigns which include
litigation, direct action advocacy, media relations, and community organizing. Prior
to joining the NYCLU, Jason was a postgraduate fellow at the Benjamin N. Cardozo
School of Law, where he chaired its Diversity Task Force. He also serves as the
Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association. Jason
graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Economics from the University of
Miami and earned his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Patrick Young
Attorney and Program Director at CARECEN (Central American Refugee Center)
Patrick Young is the Program Director of the Central American Refugee Center
(CARECEN) AND Supervising Attorney for the Westchester Hispanic Coalition. He
has represented thousands of immigrants before the immigration courts and the
Department of Homeland Security. He was the founding Chairperson of the Long
Island Immigrant Alliance and served seven terms as Chair of the Board of the New
York Immigration Coalition and is currently the Vice Chairperson. Patrick blogs for
Long Island Wins and the New York State Immigrant Action Fund.
4 | Program Guide
1:00-2:30
Immigrant Workforce and Labor Rights
Moderator: Thomas Lilly, Jr., Assistant Professor and Coordinator of ILR, Department
of Politics, Economics & Law, SUNY Old Westbury
Margaret Gray
Associate Professor of Political Science, Adelphi University
Margaret Gray is Associate Professor of Political Science at Adelphi University.
Gray’s book Labor and the Locavore: The Making of a Comprehensive Food
Ethic (2014) about New York farmworkers and food politics was published by the
University of California Press and won the 2014 Best Book Award from the
Association for the Study of Food and Society and the 2014 Best Book Award from
the Labor Project of the American Political Science Association. She received her
PhD is from the CUNY Graduate Center (2006) and was a postdoctoral Rockefeller
Fellow at Stony Brook University’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center
(2006-7). Her work focuses on low-wage, non-citizen workers in the agro-food
industry and their civic, cultural, and economic opportunities.
Nadia Marin-Molina
Health and Safety Specialist at NY Committee for Occupational Safety & Health
Nadia Marin-Molina is a Health and Safety Specialist at NYCOSH where she is
developing strategy and training for NYCOSH campaigns involving nail salon
workers and other marginalized workforces. Previously, as Workers Rights Program
Coordinator, she led the National Day Laborer Organizing Network’s initiative to
successfully train thousands of day laborers after Hurricane Sandy while building the
capacity of NDLON’s member groups.
She has also served as the Executive
Director of the Workplace Project, an immigrant workers center on Long Island.
Nadia has been awarded multiple recognitions, including the prestigious Gloria
Steinem Award, for her role in the defense of the human rights of day laborers and
other immigrant workers. She received her JD from New York University School of
Law, where she was a recipient of a Public Service Scholarship in recognition of her
work with the Latino community.
Victoria Daza
Long Island Jobs with Justice
Victoria Daza is a formerly undocumented person who has been living on Long
Island since she was 6 years old. Victoria went to Knox College where she majored
in Sociology and started organizing through the student organization, Estudiantes
sin Fronteras. She is currently the immigrant rights organizer for Long Island Jobs
with Justice and coordinates the Long Island DREAM Act Coalition.
Program Guide | 5
2:30-3:30
Luncheon
Introduction by Sayra Velasquez-Trejo, Student, Department of Modern Languages
Herrison Chicas
Spoken Word Artist
Herrison Chicas is a professional Spoken Word Artist from Uniondale, New York. He
is currently the Champion of the TEDxUNC Spoken Word Slam, and has been a
Finalist in the Slam Charlotte, as well as the Bull City Slam. He was also a semifinalist in the 2010 Brave New Voices Poetry Slam, and has been a two-time invitee
to perform spoken word at TEDx-Charlotte. Throughout his career, Herrison has
performed, collaborated, and competed with renowned artists such as Ed Mabrey,
Bluz, Kane Smego, G Yamazawa, Dasan Ahau, and Ernie G., and has also
performed at some of the most prestigious universities and poetry venues
nationwide, including Duke University, Dartmouth College, and The Nuyorican Café.
Keynote Speaker
Introduction by Laura Anker, Distinguished Service Professor, FYE
Community Action, Learning & Leadership Program, SUNY Old Westbury
Luis Valenzuela
3:50-5:20
Executive Director of the Long Island Immigrant
Alliance (LIIA) and Associate Professor of Social
Work at SUNY Stony Brook, School of Social
Welfare.
Dr. Valenzuela works with an alliance of diverse
community, religious, labor, and immigrant
organizations in solidarity with all immigrants who
are an integral part of our communities. He
advocates support for all immigrants, affirms their
legal and human rights, and advances the use of
collective strength to overcome the voices of
extremism, division, and hatred.
Dreams and Challenges, Part II
Moderator: Osman Canales, Long Island Immigrant Student Advocates
Laura Lemus
Special Project Coordinator, Long Island Wins
Laura is the Special Projects Coordinator for Long Island Wins. Her passion for
immigration began in high school when she participated in the East End Listening
Project, a study of recently arrived immigrants and native Long Islanders. Following
graduation from SUNY Old Westbury, Laura joined Long Island Wins team as a fulltime Administrative Coordinator. In August 2014, she was selected as the 2014
Youth Honoree by Long Island Jobs with Justice for her passion and energy in
building power for young people across Long Island, specifically for her work on the
NY DREAM Act. Laura also co-hosts the "Long Island Wins Show" on OWWR Old
Westbury Web Radio.
6 | Program Guide
Jackeline Saavedra
Attorney, Empire Justice Center
Jackeline Saavedra is part of the Immigration Unit at the Long Island office of The
Empire Justice Center. She is a graduate of Touro College’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg
Law Center in Central Islip, New York. While in law school, Jackeline interned at
several nonprofit organizations such as Latino Justice and Safe Horizon. She was
also a student fellow at Long Island Jobs with Justice where she gave numerous
community presentations on educational and employment opportunities for
undocumented immigrant students. In 2012, she was recognized as one of the 40
under 40 Latino Rising Stars by the Hispanic Coalition in New York.
Silvana Diaz
Co-Founder, NOTICIA Newspaper
Silvana Diaz is the Publisher and Co-owner of Noticia, a Long Island publication
founded by her parents founded in 1991. She was born in Lima, Peru and came to
the U.S. at the age of four with her parents and one-year-old sister, escaping
terrorism and death threats. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from F.I.T. In
2005, she and her parents founded Fundación Hispanoamericana, a scholarship
foundation for Hispanic students of Long Island inspired by her own life experience
as an immigrant student. She is the youngest Latina to hold the position of
Chairwoman of the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ Marketing
Committee.
5:30-7:00
A Suitcase of Dreams
Moderator: Angel L. Lara, Assistant Professor, Modern Languages Department
Preview of TV series on Latino migrants living in Westchester County, NY, produced
by the Jacob Burn Film Center-Media Arts Lab.
Presenters: Vivian Mejía and Cristy López Duarte.
Program Guide | 7
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
José Oquendo
José Oquendo was born in Puerto Rico, where he developed his interest in the field
of communications. In 1976 he moved to Long Island and worked in a fabric factory
while helping to publish a Salvadoran community-oriented newsletter. While serving
in the Air Force, he wrote an article celebrating Hispanic contributions to the United
States military. Following his honorable discharge in 1985, he helped start the
Spanish-language television show, “Lunes Latinos,” and was one of the founders of
“La Tribuna Hispana,” a pioneer of the Spanish-language weeklies of Long Island.
His photographs have appeared in the magazine, “Qué Pasa Puerto Rico”; in
academic and travel books such as “Hispanics in the United States,” “Insight Guides
Puerto Rico,” “Moon Handbooks Puerto Rico,” and “Puerto Rico Then and Now”;
and in calendars and web pages of many nonprofit organizations.
José F. Avila
José F. Avila, a native of Colombia, lives in Nesconset and is a successful
businessman whose extensive public service has been recognized with awards and
honors from various public dignitaries and organizations. He has coordinated the
Colombian Independence Day festival in Brentwood, acted as liaison between the
Colombian community on Long island and the Colombian Consulate, and served as
an officer of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce. He is President of the Board of
Directors of Crossroads Counseling Center in Holbrook; member of the Board of
Directors of Latino Health Initiative and Media Coordinator for SEPA Mujer Services
for the Advancement of Woman; founding member of the Colombian-American
Chamber of Commerce of Long Island; and Co-founder and former President and
Executive Director of the Long Island Hispanic Business Roundtable. He is an
amateur photographer who volunteers his talent at many community events.
Dulce Rojas
Dulce Rojas, a native of Mexico, came to Long Island in 1995. She is a Community
Organizer with SEPA Mujer, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on defending the
rights of Latina immigrant women in Suffolk County. She graduated with Honors
from St. Joseph’s College, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communications.
She plans to pursue graduate studies to become a licensed Bilingual Speech
Language Therapist and Professor of Language Development. Her community
involvement has focused on leading women in campaigns against racism,
stereotypes, and all forms of injustice, and helping young immigrants continue their
education. She follows the path of her mother who joined one of the first activist
groups on Long Island confronting racism and the emerging anti-immigrant groups.
Her goal is to continue inspiring other young leaders and strong female advocates
and empowering the next generation to continue to push for change.
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ONE-DAY CONFERENCE
Dreams and Challenges:
Critical Immigration Issues that Impact
LONG ISLAND
Committee Members
SUNY College at Old Westbury
Dr. Zenaida Madurka,
Associate Professor, Department of Modern Languages
Director, HLCC
Mr. Osman Canales,
Student, Department of Politics, Economics & Law
Director, LIISA
Dr. Rose Muzio,
Assistant Professor
Department of Politics, Economic and Law
Mr. Michael Kinane,
Assistant to the President for Advancement
Dr. Laura Anker,
Distinguished Service Professor, First Year Experience
Dr. Thomas Delgiudice,
Associate Professor
Department of Politics, Economics & Law
Dr. Ángel Lara,
Assistant Professor
Department of Modern Languages Dr. M. Carolina Bustamante,
Assistant Professor
School of Education & Department of Modern Languages
Dr. Julio González,
Associate Professor
School of Education
Dr. Thomas Lilly, Jr.,
Assistant Professor and Coordinator of ILR,
Department of Politics, Economics & Law
Long Island Wins
Ms. Maryann Slutsky,
Executive Director, Long Island Wins
Ms. Laura Lemus,
Special Projects Coordinator, Long Island Wins