HOPE Helps Latinas See Promise in Future

Lenina Sanchez is 19, a freshman at Cal State L.A., and in her constantly evolving master plan, has a future as a Spanish-language television news anchor.

The poised and articulate daughter of immigrants from Mexico and Nicaragua says much of her focus and ambition are due to the skills and connections she’s made at Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, a Los Angeles-based organization that seeks to promote leadership and literacy skills among Latinas.

The nonprofit, which operates out of a two-room office in an Old Bank District high-rise in downtown L.A., stays afloat with the help of charitable gifts from sources such as the Los Angeles Times Holiday Fund.

“Growing up, I wasn’t around a lot of powerful, successful Latinas,” Sanchez said while visiting the HOPE office recently. The programs “have really inspired me. I’ve gotten more involved in school, and now in college.... We have so many issues facing us -- highest dropout rates, highest pregnancy rates -- this makes us aware.”

Through HOPE, Sanchez was able to travel to Sacramento earlier this year for Latina Action Day, where Latina business and community leaders take students to visit the Capitol and meet legislators. Sanchez said the trip motivated her to look at government as a matter of personal investment -- she even helped lobby against teacher layoffs in the Burbank Unified School District.

Another graduate of HOPE programs, 22-year-old Iris Zuniga, felt so connected to the group that she eventually interned at the HOPE office while attending UCLA. She now drops in whenever she can just to “mingle.”

“It’s a support system,” said Zuniga, who graduated from UCLA with a double-major degree and now does social work at a Tarzana senior center.

“When I went in as a high school student, it was shocking. ‘Oh, my God, Latinas in business suits? Where’d they come from?’ ”

Zuniga adds: “Now I’m looking at graduate schools. I’m really interested in tracking.”

HOPE Executive Director Helen Iris Torres said that when she watches young women like Sanchez and Zuniga grow and mature, she can’t help feeling proud.

“It’s validating,” Torres said, her eyes watering. “It’s very emotional.”

Torres and the small staff at HOPE work year-round preparing statewide institutes and conferences for young and established Latinas.

Many of the programs focus on literacy, which Torres defines as not only the ability to read and write, but also as fulfilling a broader goal of cultural, political and economic awareness for future generations of Latina women.

“Our goal is to create Leninas, to create Irises. It’s truly becoming a pipeline for Latina leaders,” Torres said.

HOPE received a $15,000 grant from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign.

Zuniga, who went through such a program herself, is now back at HOPE to help put together the curriculum.

Sanchez, meanwhile, said that even if her plans changed during college, her broader goals would always stay the same.

“Being politically active is your voice,” she said. “We have to use it.”

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