‘My grandfather imparted in us the desire to build a better future.’

California stands on the cusp of profound demographic changes. And while our state moves from having a clear ethnic majority into a mosaic of many peoples we face a number of challenging opportunities.

Latinos in Ventura County clearly embody the changes of this emerging California. As recent immigrants we may live in ethnic pockets within the communities of Oxnard, Ventura and Simi Valley --neighborhoods where small pockets of people share our language, eat the same foods and help in making the enormousness of a foreign country feel a little more like home.

We look to establish an economic foothold like so many of the immigrant forebears in the history of our country. We come with the same goals and aspirations as the many who have come before us. We seek only opportunity. The opportunity to work hard, play by the rules, buy a home, send our children to college and perhaps open a business of our own.

Some of us have been here for four months, others for four years. Some, like my family, have been here for four generations. I see in the faces of those who labor in the fields of Oxnard and Camarillo the face of my grandfather, who worked the fields of Rancho Simi and was among the earliest settlers in Ventura County. His sweat and backbreaking work helped make our community all that it is for his great-grandchildren today.

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Education has historically been among the most cherished and valued attainments in Latino culture. Increasingly the community colleges of California have provided us with our first affordable steps toward a higher education. Indeed, the number of Latino students enrolled at the campuses of Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark colleges hasploded over the past decade. Equipped with these new degrees, we have moved from a small exotic niche market into the American economic mainstream.

The emerging Latino middle class is rapidly becoming an integral part of the social and economic landscape of our county. The resiliency of this new economic force is evident everywhere we look. We are rural, urban and suburban. We work in the biotech industries of Thousand Oaks and Westlake. And we work the fields of the Oxnard Plain. We are financial planners, attorneys, elected officials and small-business owners--as well as hotel workers, cashiers and laborers.

There was a time when Latino political leaders used to fight solely for affordable housing and better farm worker conditions, but today we have broadened that agenda to include improving our school system, finding greater access to capital for start-up entrepreneurs and committing to fight the crime that too often affects our community. We are transitioning from a political minority coalesced around a few issues into a new governing role concerned with addressing the very same issues that affect all Californians.

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Some of us speak only Spanish, others only English. The fortunate among us have the advantage of speaking both.

The indelible work ethic of our culture promises to bring forth a new golden age of entrepreneurship unprecedented in American history. Over the past 15 years, the number of Latino-owned businesses in Southern California has surged by an incredible 700%, generating billions of dollars in the economy.

I don’t know that my grandparents knew exactly what Rancho Simi would look like when they first came over the Santa Susana Pass decades ago. Or that their grandson would serve as a councilman in the City Hall that stands on the very same lot where his grandmother packed citrus half a century ago. My grandfather built a life in this county because he loved the land and its people. He built his first home here, raised five children and sent his oldest son to the military to defend this country.

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The culture and values that he instilled in his children are his true lasting legacy. He imparted in us the desire to build a better future in a country that simply gave us a chance--the commitment to be our best and achieve through the fruits of our labor and God-given talents, but never--ever--leaving those less fortunate behind. He left us with a passion for the values that built this country and made it strong--for those were the reasons he came to this country.

They were the values that matched his own.

Glen T. Becerra is a member of the Simi Valley City Council.