Leadership Program Shuts Santa Ana Office

After seeking to provide hundreds of Orange County Latinos the skills to become community leaders, a popular advocacy group closed its local office this week.

Although the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, known as MALDEF, was urged by Latino leaders to stay, organization officials said the five-year program is over.

“Our objective was to go in, identify and train individuals in the community, and we’ve done that,” said Antonia Hernandez, president of the national organization headquartered in Los Angeles. “A lot of our graduates will use their skills to improve the quality of life for Latinos and other peoples.”

Since 1991, about 350 Latinos in Orange County have been trained to become involved in the local political process.

Participants included Benny Hernandez, an Anaheim City School District trustee, former state Assembly candidate Lou Correa and congressional candidate Loretta Sanchez, MALDEF said. Correa, a Democrat, lost to incumbent Jim Morrissey in the 69th District covering Anaheim and Santa Ana. Sanchez, also a Democrat, faces incumbent Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the 46th District election in November.

Through local director John Palacio, who will take another job with MALDEF, the organization also was a staunch, vocal advocate of Latino rights.

“That wasn’t part of John’s job description,” said Juan Garcia, a past president of the Santa Ana-based Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrants support organization. “He did take on an advocacy role and spoke out for a lot of us.”

The nonprofit, nonpartisan group has completed or is running similar programs across the country in San Francisco, Fresno, Dallas, Chicago, El Paso and other communities. About 2,200 Latinos have graduated from the program nationwide since it began in 1979.

In the yearlong program, participants are taught about issues facing Latinos and shown how local governments and nonprofit agencies work.

“Our goal is to plant a seed, let it take root and then have the community go with it,” explained Hernandez, who said the Orange County program cost about $100,000 per year, funded by private donations. “Then we move on so that we can spread the empowerment of the Latino community.”

The final class of the Orange County leadership program graduated at a dinner Thursday night. Some attendees pressed the organization to keep a presence in Santa Ana.

“They made an investment, it would be nice for them to keep track of that investment and see what the return will be,” said Sal Mendoza, a Santa Ana Unified School District trustee and MALDEF advisory committee member. “I think they’ve done a great job getting people through the program. Now what happens to them?”

Mendoza would like to see MALDEF establish a follow-up program that would provide mentors and other support to the leadership graduates.

“They need to give encouragement and guidance to these participants,” he said. “There needs to be a certain amount of nurturing going on.”

But other Latino advocates say that program graduates or others should take charge and form a group to fill the vacuum created by MALDEF’s departure.

“It would be a good program to keep, that would be nice,” Garcia said. “But in terms of a legacy, there’s enough alumni in that group of 300 to 400 graduates to start their own program.”