Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy a Harvard Kennedy School Student Publication

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Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy A Harvard Kennedy School Student Publication

Volume 30 Staff

Kristell Millán Editor-in-Chief Estivaliz Castro Senior Editor Alberto I. Rincon Executive Director Bryan Cortes Senior Editor Leticia Rojas Managing Editor, Print Jazmine Garcia Delgadillo Senior Amanda R. Matos Managing Editor, Editor Digital Daniel Gonzalez Senior Editor Camilo Caballero Director, Jessica Mitchell-McCollough Senior Communications Editor Rocio Tua Director, Alumni & Board Noah Toledo Senior Editor Relations Max Wynn Senior Editor Sara Agate Senior Editor Martha Foley Publisher Elizabeth Castro Senior Editor Richard Parker Faculty Advisor

Recognition of Former Editors

A special thank you to the former editors Alex Rodriguez, 1995–96 of the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Irma Muñoz, 1996–97 Hispanic Policy, previously known as the Myrna Pérez, 1996–97 Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, whose Eraina Ortega, 1998–99 legacy continues to be a source of inspira- Nereyda Salinas, 1998–99 tion for Latina/o students Harvard-wide. Raúl Ruiz, 1999–2000 Maurilio León, 1999–2000 Henry A.J. Ramos, Founding Editor, Sandra M. Gallardo, 2000–01 1984–86 Luis S. Hernandez Jr., 2000–01 Marlene M. Morales, 1986–87 Karen Hakime Bhatia, 2001–02 Adolph P. Falcón, 1986–87 Héctor G. Bladuell, 2001–02 Kimura Flores, 1987–88 Jimmy Gomez, 2002–03 Luis J. Martinez, 1988–89 Elena Chávez, 2003–04 Genoveva L. Arellano, 1989–90 Adrian J. Rodríguez, 2004–05 David Moguel, 1989–90 Edgar A. Morales, 2005–06 Carlo E. Porcelli, 1990–91 Maria C. Alvarado, 2006–07 Laura F. Sainz, 1990–91 Tomás J. García, 2007–08 Diana Tisnado, 1991–92 Emerita F. Torres, 2008–09 Daniel Luna, 1991–92 Gabriela M. Ventura, 2008–09 Alma Ayala, 1992–93 Adam J. Gonzales, 2009–10 Lisa G. Baltazar, 1992–93 Cris Garza, 2010–11 Dale P. Johnson, 1993–94 Joe Carreón, 2011–12 Eduardo Pérez, 1994 Octavio González, 2012–13 Claudia Jasin, 1994–95 Juan M. Salazar, 2013–14 Mark Fassold, 1995 Jeffrey Reynoso, 2015–16 Michael U. Villareal, 1995–96 Paul Ochoa, 2016–17 Executive Advisory Board

Genoveva L. Arellano* Juanita Irizarry* Board Chair and Principal, Arellano Senior Program Officer in Human Associates Services and Community Development, The Chicago Community Trust Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago Board of Governors Distinguished Margaret Lezcano Service Professor of the Graduate Financial Advisor, Stifel Department of Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers, The State Hilda H. Polanco University of New Jersey Founder and Managing Director, Fiscal Management Associates (FMA) Kenneth C. Burt* Political Director, California Federation Henry A. J. Ramos* of Teachers Executive Editor, University of Houston- based Arte Publico Press Principal, Alejandra Campoverdi* Mauer Kunst Consulting Managing Editor, #EmergingUS, Los Angeles Times Juan Salazar* Manager of Local Policy and James R. Carr Community Affairs, Facebook Immediate Past Chair, HJHP Gail Smith Nora de Hoyos Comstock Managing Director, Impacto Latin News Founder, Las Comadres Para Las Chairman & Co-CEO, Abbene | Smith Americas Global

Alfredo Estrada^ Owner, Latino Magazine

Daniel Garza President, The LIBRE Initiative * Harvard Kennedy School of Govern- The Hon. Grace Flores-Hughes* ment degree program alumni Vice President, F&H 2 Inc. ^ Harvard College alumnus

A Note on Terminology

In establishing the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy (HJHP) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985, our founding editors were cog- nizant of the importance of terminology and naming. They sought to form a credible publication that would bring the US Latina/o community to the forefront of policy debates and that would name new priorities, challenges, and opportunities for policymakers to consider. Naming the journal itself proved to be an important endeavor. For decades, the terms used to define US Latina/os fluctuated greatly, creating much dissonance within the policy discourse. Ethnic origin (e.g., Mexican) and regional labels (e.g., “Central American”) were not inclusive enough to capture HJHP’s mission as a publication. Similarly, emerging pan-ethnic constructs (e.g., “Latin American”) implied homo- geneity where incredible diversity and fluidity exists. Even with these limitations, our founding editors knew that a common language was needed to bridge conversations across disciplines. Our founding editors thus reached consensus around “Hispanic,” a term that re- flected national trends at the time. The term’s adoption by the federal government re- flected the growing prominence of US Latina/os in domestic policy. In 1968, President Johnson announced the observation of Hispanic Heritage Week, an important step in recognizing the population’s presence and history. In 1976, Congress passed legislation requiring the federal government to collect and analyze data on “Americans of Spanish origin or descent” in order to understand how this subgroup was impacted by federal policies and programs. The following year, the Office of Management and Budget developed standards for this data collection, hoping to create coherence across educational, health, and human service agencies. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the US Census Bureau added a Hispanic question in 1980 in an effort to obtain more accurate population estimates with which to inform national policymaking. Since the journal’s founding in 1985, the lexicon has only continued to evolve. In 2000, the US Census Bureau introduced survey language that used “Hispanic” and “Latino” interchangeably. Similarly, many national advocacy, leadership, research, and civic organizations continue to use “Hispanic” in their name while adapting their communications to be inclusive of the term “Latino.” Today, we too have adapted. Standing at the eve of our 30th published volume, we are proud to carry our name and legacy with us while remaining forward-looking. For this reason, we have begun to in- tentionally use “Latina/o” and the plural term “communities” within our publication, social media sites, and website. Our Editorial Board remains committed to inclusivity and will continue to publish works from individuals and organizations who may use different terms. It is our firm belief that, in the difficult work of naming the policy needs of our community, no sin- gular term may ever be comprehensive enough for the complexity at hand.

4 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Table of Contents

6 Editor’s Note Feature Kristell M. Millán 39 Effects of Privatization of Immigration Detention in the 8 Cover Art Lives of Detained Transgender Henry Ramos Latina Immigrants Chantiri Duran Resendiz 11 Commentary El Pan de Cada Día: A Review of Feature Wage Theft Policies 51 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Jesús Guzmán and Caleb Soto and Latino Childhood Obesity Lanette García 17 Commentary Fresno, California’s New Featured Art Downtown: Visualizing Policy 61 Steve Alfaro through Anthropology Doris Perez Feature 63 The Importance of College- 21 Commentary Going Culture for Latinos prior We Must Protect Puerto Rican to High School Voting Rights in 2018 Griselda Guevara-Cruz Katherine Culliton-González Feature 27 Commentary 73 Impacts of Payday Lending in Latinos and Unions: The Survival California among Communities of Organized Labor Depends on of Color Increasing Latino Membership, Andrea Ávila, Briana Calleros, Victor Baten Gilbert Felix, and Danielle Guillen

33 Film Review Memoriam When Coco Feels Like Home: Jeanette Acosta, Former Harvard Film as Homenaje 90 Kennedy School Journal of Elizabeth Castro Hispanic Policy Editor Editor’s Note

Reflecting back on the events of the past year, it is hard not to recognize how challenging a year it was for the Latina/o community in the United States. The start of 2017 brought the beginning of a presidential administration that many consider to be fundamentally against many of the values and interests shared among our community, causing widespread concern about the state of US Latina/o policy over the next four years and beyond. This concern materialized in full force when the administration called for the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), leaving 800,000 young adults vulnerable to deportation and millions more fearful of being separated from their family members. In 2017, the Latina/o community also dealt with the horrific effects of some of the most destructive natural disasters in recent history. Hurricane Harvey ravaged communities in Texas, many of which were largely His- panic, and Hurricane Maria caused such devastation on Puerto Rico’s infrastructure that the island continues recovery efforts almost half a year later. Despite the challenges brought on by these events, 2017 also gave us plenty of reason to remain optimistic about the future of US Latina/o policy. The events of the past year prompted our nation to engage in more critical policy discussions around long-standing issues that current policy frameworks have failed to address. They also inspired an unprecedented wave of political engagement among ethnic minorities and women seeking election as first-time candidates, a group that TIME magazine dubbed “The Avengers” in its January 2018 cover feature. In the aftermath of the DACA an- nouncement, we saw an incredible outpour of support for DREAMers and calls for comprehensive immigration reform. Recovery efforts after the natural disasters were met with great support from policy makers, celebrities, and hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans eager to help people rebuild their lives and raised awareness about policies that had hurt minority communities in the affected regions. Finally, the end of 2017 brought the long-awaited release of Disney/Pixar’s Coco, a significant milestone in the ongoing effort to increase representation of Latina/o culture in the mainstream media. Like the events of 2017, the 30th volume of the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy (HJHP) reflects both the challenges and hopes of the current policy sphere. The pieces contained within this volume reflect both a critical view of current policy and methods for improvement. The selected content challenges the status quo and sheds light on important policy issues ranging from wage-theft policies and predatory lending to the rights of detained transgender Latinas in the age of prison privatization. The volume also briefly explores current and potential threats to Puerto Ricans’ voting rights in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, an issue that is extremely timely given recent trends in political engagement. We are also happy to feature a piece written by one of our own senior editors, Elizabeth Castro, after interviewing members of Disney/Pixar Coco’s Cultural Consultants Team. Together, the commentaries, research articles, and artwork contained within seek to educate, promote greater critical discussion of the current policy framework, and inspire policy makers to take action.

6 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy The 30th volume is a milestone in the long-standing legacy of the Harvard Ken- nedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy, and I am truly honored to be able to serve as the editor-in-chief during this momentous year. I would be remiss not to thank the founding editor-in-chief, Henry Ramos, and all subsequent journal staff that have contributed to HJHP’s legacy through a history of excellence over the years. Being part of HJHP has been one of my greatest experiences during my time at Harvard, due in large part to the supportive community we have cultivated. I would like to acknowledge all of the individuals that contributed to this community during the production of the 30th volume. I am deeply grateful to our executive advisory board members for their continued guidance and support of the journal staff, and I would like to give a special thank you to Genoveva Arrellano for all of her hard work as chair. I would also like to thank Martha Foley, the student journals coordinator at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (HKS), and Professor Richard Parker, our faculty advisor, for all of the time and effort that they devote to ensuring that our journal and all student-run journals at HKS have the resources and support necessary to continue our work. I would also like to thank the entire HJHP staff for your hard work, positivity, and commitment to the Latina/o community. Your incredible work made this volume possible and continues to carry forward the legacy of HJHP as the flagship policy journal at HKS. Finally, I would like to give a special thank you to Managing Editor of Print Leticia Rojas for being an instrumental aid to me throughout this journey. Please find more information about the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy on our new website, www.hjhp.hkspublications.org. To all of our committed readers, thank you for your continued support and for helping us achieve this milestone. I hope you enjoy Volume 30!

Sincerely, Kristell M. Millán Editor-in-Chief Cambridge, MA March 2018

Volume 30 | 2018 7 Henry A. J. Ramos is a California-based artist, writer, and progressive public advocate. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (where he earned bachelor’s and law degrees) and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (where he founded the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy), Ramos’s original artworks have been featured and sold in galleries and showing venues in New York City; Paso Robles, California; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Berlin, Germany.

Mauer Kunst Meets the U.S.-Mexico Border

In early 1990, my German wife, Claudia and I travelled to Berlin to experience the aftermath of the fall of communism all across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At the Berlin Wall, we saw seemingly endless depictions of artistic renderings celebrating democracy and freedom. Free Germans and other visitors along the western side of the wall had for years adorned the long corridor with messages and images calling for peace and unification among Europe’s and the world’s divided peoples. As a Mexican American with close friendship ties to the descendants of the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, I naturally resonated with the political renderings and graffiti we found at the Wall. I later learned more about the important history of Mexican political art, and the Mexican Revolution that gave rise to it, through Rivera’s daughter, Dr. Guadalupe Rivera Marín, a longtime friend to me and Claudia. In 1996, when I started my own philanthropic advising and creative culture organization, I named it Mauer Kunst, which is German for graffiti. And I committed our firm’s work to the task of breaking down the barriers of mind, matter, and ideology that political, business, and institutional leaders have too often erected to separate people and communities from one another and their best possibilities. I also began to produce in my own artistic creations increasingly political statements about the role artificial walls continue to play in American and global political economy. The most significant focal point of these pieces was my concern about growing anti-immigrant sentiment in America targeted particularly at Mexican and other Latino workers and families, as well as Muslim Americans, beginning in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on America. By 2005, it had become evident to me that America was moving in a dangerous direction in these connections. A heavy-handed deportation policy and allied encroachments on people’s civil liberties began to evolve and became even worse in subsequent years, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Most recently, American voters have elected a president who has called unapologet- ically for the building of a Great Wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, specifically to prevent immigrants and others fleeing political and economic hardship from gaining access

8 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Cover Artist to America. While xenophobia is not entirely new to U.S. politics, it seems clear to all objective observers that our country has never faced such a serious challenge to the basic elements of our long-established standing as a nation of immigrants and of tolerance. My recent paintings dating back to the early 2000s have thus focused on challenging the nativist impulse to erect new walls between people and nations. Rather, my works embody a reverence for nature, justice, and the free flow of people and ideas that have been the bedrock of America’s best values and traditions throughout our nation’s long history. Accordingly, the works offered here for the Journal of Hispanic Policy’s 30th volume reflect a call to action in these directions. The piece Gardens at el Sueño depicts the effortless beauty of the natural world and harkens to the dream (el sueño is the Spanish word for dream) that unites all immigrants and refugees to the U.S. This is the American Dream that lies at the heart of the contemporary Dreamer movement and that underscores the hopes and aspirations of all newcomers to our nation. The piece entitled Justice Has No Borders serves as a reminder that while man-made laws may reflect man-held prejudices, in the higher scheme of things, there is no just way to separate people and families that have the most human impulses to seek safety, opportunity, and community in the face of unspeakable hardships. Finally, the work entitled House of the Unwelcome reflects the recent turn of American culture from one of openness and invitation to one of un- welcoming hate where newcomers to our land are concerned. Together, these pieces attempt to appeal to what remains of Americans’ intellectual honesty and ethical founda- tions in a time of great danger for our nation and world. They seek to lift up the humanity, dreams, and inclinations that unite all of us; and they serve to remind and warn us that past efforts to walk the path of racial, ethnic, and religious ex- clusion in nations like Germany and the former Soviet Republics have resulted in outcomes that no American should want to associate with.

Gardens at el Sueño, 2013 acrylics and collage on canvas (property of the author)

Volume 30 | 2018 9 House of the Unwelcome, 2005 acrylics and collage on canvas (property of Robert L. McKay, Jr.)

Justice Has No Borders, 2006 acrylics and collage on canvas (property of Genoveva L. Arellano)

10 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Commentary El Pan de Cada Día: A Review of Wage Theft Policies

Jesús Guzmán and Caleb Soto

“He just disappeared.” In 2014, a the monies owed to the aggrieved couple of Latino immigrant workers workers. Ultimately, the workers came to Centro Laboral de Graton were unable to collect their awarded (Graton Day Labor Center) in North- judgment and decided to drop their ern California, seeking help with case by no longer pursuing further recovering their wages. They had action. Through this process, we dis- worked for a farm-labor contractor covered that the contractor had over for weeks who owed them their wages 30 wage claims against him with but who suddenly refused to answer several that had been adjudicated his phone and could not be found. but had been met with a similar fate The staff supported the workers filing as the aforementioned workers, in a wage claim with the state’s Labor which none had been able to col- Commission—a process that lasted lect on their awarded judgment. The roughly more than six months. At the troubling truth about wage theft as a end of the process, a judgment was policy matter is that moderately well- given by the Labor Commissioner, designed policies exist, yet weak en- finding in favor of the workers and forcement ultimately undermines awarding of them roughly $5,000 to their effectiveness. With insufficient be paid by the employer. However, resources, staffing, and regulatory the judgment, in effect, wasn’t much teeth for enforcement, collecting on more than a piece of paper once it judgments can be a nightmare for came time to collect. The employer workers.1 In particular, wage theft is had refused to participate in the state rampant in low-wage labor markets agency’s process and was now refus- wherein Latino and Black working to acknowledge, much less pay, ers are more likely to experience

Volume 30 | 2018 11 minimum-wage violations, as com- enforcement has permitted non-compared to White workers.2 For many pliant firms to forego responsibility Latino households, work is viewed while workers shoulder the economic as an opportunity to earn their daily consequences. There is also a cul- bread. But all too often, the low-wage tural lens that colors this conversation labor market can be a wicked place about the working poor in America. that might leave victimized workers One of this country’s enduring myths without much of a prayer to recover is the belief that the cure to poverty their wages. rests in instilling personal responsibil- Wage theft is commonly defined as ity in the poor.6 In essence, the poor the underpayment or non-payment of have the power to lift themselves out wages or benefits. For example, work- of poverty if only they worked harder. ers can have their wages stolen when For Guadalupe Salazar, a McDon- employers work them off the clock, ald’s cashier who says her paychecks misclassify them as contractors, fail were missing overtime wages, that be- to pay the minimum wage, or refuse lief feels contrived when working-class to pay overtime.3 Wage theft is not a people like her play by the rules and common term in the English lexi- work hard, yet when payday comes con, so perhaps not surprisingly, wage often times no paycheck arrives.7 theft’s impacts are also little known Tragically, it is those individuals to the general public. The Depart- who can least afford wage theft who ment of Labor estimates that 41,000 are thrust even deeper into poverty. families in California and 26,000 in Immigration status adds a further New York would be above the poverty layer to the discussion. A 2011 study line were it not for wage violations.4 of post-Katrina’s rebuilding effort A recent survey estimates that Latino reported roughly half of the construc- workers lose an average of $3,100 per tion workforce was Latino and nearly year from minimum-wage violations all were undocumented. The key alone. Plus, roughly 5 percent of finding was that about 41 percent had Black and Latino workers are paid less experienced wage theft, with many than the minimum wage, compared citing the threat of deportation as a with 3.5 percent of White workers. In strong motivation to remain silent.8 total, workers of color lose an annual In summing the evidence, wage theft average in wages well over $4 billion.5 can be framed as a problem rooted in Wage violations go beyond simply two key policy failures with respect random isolated incidents of rogue to Latino workers: (1) ineffective en- firms seeking an unfair advantage over forcement mechanisms and (2) too the competition. Instead, the problem few protections for undocumented should be understood as systematic in Latino workers who are victims of which a policy failure rooted in weak wage theft.

12 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy woman Judy Chu (D-CA), would National Policy Solutions grant temporary legal protection for The Wage Theft Prevention and immigrant victims of labor retalia- Wage Recovery Act of 2017 intro- tion.12 The POWER Act would be duced by US Senators Patty Murray an equitable solution that could em- and Sherrod Brown, with Congress- power workers to enforce their rights woman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), is while protecting against retaliation. an example of a moderately com- Moreover, the POWER Act would prehensive policy solution.9 The law increase the percentage of workers would levy heavier penalties on dis- coming forward to denounce wage vi- honest employers, allow the Depart- olations and effectively complement ment of Labor to refer bad actors to the Wage Theft Prevention and Wage the Department of Justice (DOJ) for Recovery Act’s tougher enforcement prosecution, permit greater latitude provisions. for workers to engage in collective action similar to class action cases, State Policy Solutions and strengthen whistleblower pro- States like California and New Mex- tections.10 This bill would be effec- ico have made meaningful changes tive because of two features: greater to enforcement by providing addi- possibility of criminal prosecution by tional tools to state agencies.13,14 Two the DOJ would strongly discourage such examples are wage liens, an employers from failing to abide by instrument shown to improve wage- the rules, and increasing penalties theft outcomes, and the streamlining to include treble damages (triple of an otherwise onerous collection back-pay) has been shown by re- process, which had contributed to the cent research to effectively decrease two aforementioned workers drop- wage-theft rates in areas where such ping their case. These mechanisms policies exist.11 address the two weaknesses that most The Wage Theft Prevention and undermine the effectiveness of wage Wage Recovery Act does have cer- claims: the lack of immediacy in re- tain limitations as the bill does not sponding to wage violations and the offer certain legal protections to delays in levying punishment against undocumented workers who come a scofflaw employer. Recent crim- forward to report a wage claim to a inology literature suggests that the government agency such as a state timing of punishment and its certain department of industrial relations or application are more effective deter- the US Department of Labor. The rents compared with the severity of a Protect Our Workers from Exploita- punishment.15 The swift and certain tions and Retaliation (POWER) framework when applied to a wage Act, as last proposed by Congress- lien, accompanied by quicker collec-

Volume 30 | 2018 13 tions, connects the illegal behavior gain when they fail to pay workers of violators with the punishment and and, in turn, save on labor costs. diminishes the “discounting effect,” The private sector and high-road where a violator sees future harm employers have a vested interest as less costly than the immediate and pivotal role to play in ensuring benefit.16,17 their respective industries are on a Equally important in the swift and fair and competitive playing field. certain framework, and as was noted Moreover, strong partnerships be- in the two workers’ story, commu- tween the public and social sector nity-based organizations can be ef- can empower workers so that work- fective intermediaries and support ers are leading the effort for a fair vehicles that bolster the effectiveness and just workplace while wielding of any policy. In the face of asymmet- policy as an anti-poverty tool against rical information, these are organi- a pervasive culture of wage theft in zations that possess the experiential low-wage labor markets. knowledge and pivotal trust that come by way of working with the victimized workers and their families. And because they are on the ground in the most at-risk communities, community-based organizations cut the average time it takes to report a wage violation significantly. County and state governments could make additional funding available to organizations supporting workers’ rights enforcement.

Conclusion Policies that improve enforcement and extend protections to workers can fill much of the gap to hold ex- ploitative employers accountable. Eventually, any effective and equitable policy must be predicated on the maxim that a day worked should be a day paid. Private firms, the large majority of whom play by the rules, should be concerned about the unfair advantage scofflaw employers

14 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Author Bios:

Jesús Guzmán is a second-year MPP Cal Soto has been the worker’s rights candidate at the University of Cali- coordinator and staff attorney for the fornia, Berkeley Goldman School of National Day Laborer Organizing Public Policy. While at GSPP, Jesús Network since 2015. He helps low- has served on the leadership teams wage workers win their money back for both the Labor Policy Group and from scofflaw employers while or- the Berkeley Energy & Resources ganizing labor rights campaigns for Collaborative. Jesús has also served worker centers across the country. as the program analyst for the Na- Before joining NDLON, he was a tional Day Laborer Organizing Net- Ford Legal fellow at LatinoJustice’s work. Jesús is currently completing Rights Restoration Project in Or- his advanced policy analysis with the lando, working to end felon disen- Marin Economic Forum with a focus franchisement practices in Florida. on the housing shortage and income Cal graduated with his bachelor of inequality. Jesús’s policy interests arts from Harvard University and re- include labor economics, equity in ceived his juris doctorate from Yale energy policy, and economic devel- Law School. Cal is originally from opment. Prior to attending graduate Miami, Florida, and now resides in school, Jesús was the program direc- Los Angeles. tor for the Graton Day Labor Cen- ter in Northern California, where he developed innovative workforce training programs and advocated for inclusive immigrant and labor policies. Jesús was born in Jalisco, Méx- ico, and grew up in Sonoma County where he now resides with his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Victoria.

Volume 30 | 2018 15 End Notes 1 Shannon Gleeson, Ruth Silver Taube, and epi.org/blog/new-legislation-could-help-end- Charlotte Noss, Santa Clara County Wage wage-theft-epidemic/. Theft Report (California: Santa Clara County 11 Daniel J. Galvin, “Deterring Wage Theft: Wage Theft Coalition, 2014). Alt-Labor, State Politics, and the Policy 2 David Cooper and Teresa Kroeger, Determinants of Minimum Wage “Employers steal billions from workers’ Compliance,” Perspectives on Politics 14, no. paychecks each year,” Economic Policy 2 (2016). Institute, 10 May 2017, http://www.epi.org/ 12 “The POWER Act: Protect Our Workers publication/employers-steal-billions-from- from Exploitation and Retaliation Act,” workers-paychecks-each-year-survey-data- The National Immigration Law Center, last show-millions-of-workers-are-paid-less-than- modified October 26, 2015, https://www.nilc. the-minimum-wage-at-significant-cost-to- org/issues/workersrights/poweract/. taxpayers-and-state-economies/. 13 Employment: nonpayment of wages: Labor 3 Brady Meixell and Ross Eisenbrey, “Wage Commissioner: judgment enforcement: Theft is a Much Bigger Problem than Other California S.B. 588, (2015). Forms of Theft—But Workers Remain 14 Morgan Lee, “New Mexico Agrees to Mostly Unprotected,” Economic Policy Strengthen Wage-Theft Enforcement,” U.S. Institute, 18 September 2014, http://www.epi. News & World Report, 20 December 2017, org/publication/wage-theft-bigger-problem- https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ forms-theft-workers/. new-mexico/articles/2017-12-20/new-mexico- 4 US Department of Labor, The Social agrees-to-strengthen-wage-theft-enforcement. and Economic Effects of Wage Violations: 15 Daniel S. Nagin, “Deterrence in the Estimates for California and New York Twenty-First Century,” Crime and Justice 42, (Lexington, MA: Eastern Research Group, no. 1 (2013): 199–263. Inc., 2014). 16 Gleeson et al., “Santa Clara County Wage 5 David Cooper et al., “Employers steal Theft Report.” billions.” 17 Daniel S. Nagin and Greg Pogarsky, 6 Brook Gladstone and Bob Garfield, “Who “Integrating Celerity, Impulsivity, and Deserves To Be Poor?” 6 October 2016 in Extralegal Sanction Threats into a Model of On the Media, produced by WNYC Studios, General Deterrence: Theory and Evidence,” podcast, https://www.wnyc.org/story/who- Criminology 39, no. 4 (2001):865–892. deserves-to-be-poor/. 7 Steven Greenhouse, “More Workers Are Claiming ‘Wage Theft’,” The New York Times, 31 August 2014, https://www.nytimes. com/2014/09/01/business/more-workers-are- claiming-wage-theft.html. 8 Elizabeth Fussell, “The Deportation Threat Dynamic and Victimization of Latino Migrants: Wage Theft and Robbery,” The Sociological Quarterly 52, no. 4 (2011): 593–613. 9 Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act: H.R. 3467, 115th Cong. (2017). 10 Ross Eisenbrey, “New legislation could help end wage theft epidemic,” Economic Policy Institute, 16 March 2016, https://www.

16 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Commentary Fresno, California’s New Downtown: Visualizing Policy through Anthropology

Doris Pérez

Several thousand people gathered infrastructure that was once repur- on downtown Fresno, Califronia’s posed from its Modernist provenance newly revamped Fulton Street for its to an open-market-style Latino hub grand opening, crowding the side- that has been deemed empty and un- walk to watch the first official parade derutilized by the City. drive down an area that hadn’t been The population arguably most af- open to traffic for over 50 years. Ful- fected by these changes to the pol- ton Mall, the pedestrian haven for itics of urban space in Fresno is the shoppers in the 1960s, was no more. small mom-and-pop stores on Fulton Fulton Street, the same three-block Street being pushed out of business length, has been reborn as what by disrupted foot traffic due to the many hope will be the city’s newest, project’s construction, as well as the hippest Main Street, opening up the prospect of higher rents, which in- pavement to refresh the local urban clude the new condo developments environment and tempt investors. springing up in what is now known as This event, in warm October 2017, the Cultural Arts District near Down- marked the true culmination of Fres- town that run above market rates. no’s downtown facelift and left many Erasure happens at multiple levels: Fresnans questioning the efficacy of the Latino daytime shoppers that have such reinvestment in their city’s “re- shopped for quinceañera dresses on discovered”1 downtown. Carefully the mall for decades as White flight avoiding the word “gentrification”2 abandoned the space have little to no by most involved in the project, the place in the vision of Fulton Street’s Fulton project is exactly that—an bourgeois craft brewery future. Yet the arguably much-needed facelift on old Latino population in Fresno, now the

Volume 30 | 2018 17 fifth-largest urban center in Califor- new sets of relations, new political nia, has grown 17 percent from 1990 subjects and new webs of meaning.”4 to 2010.3 In short, policy happens within cul- With the State of California’s high- tural milieus, and it is these unspoken speed rail project situated near Fulton norms and ideas that add value to Street, the dense urban area has de- legislative endeavors. Anthropology’s veloped a sheen of promise via media ethnographic methodology of “deep attention and real-estate speculation. hanging out” to discover the invisible It is hard not to get excited at the bril- patterns of human behavior and sys- liant imagined futures city leaders talk tems of value pick up the slack where about. Two sides argued past each big data abstracts. other in the galleries of Fresno’s City Still, it is policy, specifically the fed- Hall, one a push for more investment eral grant won to fund the construc- into urban infrastructure and the tion and the City of Fresno’s building other a cry to remember the value of code adjustments of 2016, that shapes green public space in the age of rapid the outlines and outcomes of my urbanization. Boosterism, or local analysis. Taller buildings and new cheerleading done to great effect, zoning for residential housing means becomes the means through which a increased activity and human capital form of citizenship activism develops. downtown. Policy draws the outlines My dissertation project on Fresno’s of what can be, physically manifesting changing urban renaissance is being financial support and code enforce- completed through anthropology’s ment in contrast to what I measure— qualitative scholarship. Slow method- memory and placemaking—through ological data collection can feel like a ethnographic interviews and on-the- bad match for those in need of good ground participant observation. data to write impactful legislation. My research on memory and the Public policy, defined as the written methodology I use, ethnography, is a legislation and systems of practices of qualitative additive to the more read- governing bodies, is a relatively new ily accepted quantitative data analyses unit of analysis for anthropological that most analysts, be they financial investigation and the subfield of the and/or legislative, use to make policy Anthropology of Policy only a few recommendations. Via nuance, eth- years old. Seen as an outgrowth of nographic data drills down to core political institutions, legal systems, themes—public local memory, social and the interpretation of those exert- connection to space, placemaking ing power and those being governed, strategies in use, like that of a mar- “a policy finds expression through a ginalized Latino presence on Fulton sequence of various events; it creates less welcome in North Fresno—that new social and semantic social spaces, are correlated to the development of

18 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy interest-group resistance and commu- meaning-making that occurs after a nity-empowerment practices. policy is implemented. But the anal- Ethnographic research that sup- ysis of power is not limited to a poli- ports the policies of local govern- cy’s legislative genesis—it is often in ment expands the information being places where power is authorless that received for greater localization more in-depth inquiry is needed. In through the metrics of in-depth local fact, the “authorless” nature of policy public opinion, important as many as a layered patchwork of rules pro- domestic quantitative data sets hap- duced by different actors over time pen at the national or state-wide level helps demystify the reach of author- (i.e., the general social survey) or are itarian power regimes as cultural produced every decade (e.g., the US processes in a world of many. Ful- Census, etc.). Finally, power systems ton’s redesign may be a diffusion of analysis that anthropology affords is responsibility by stakeholders making more holistic than other disciplinary decisions, but the gaps in representa- conventions, making ethnographic tion—here the urban poor, the home- data an underused source of valuable less, and Fulton’s former primacy as a local data, "ground truth" through site for Latino consumers—have been embodiment and participant obser- baked into the project from the very vation rather than inferred through beginning of its problematization as theoretical means. As one person on an “underused” site. Thus, the future a walking tour of the new street said: of policy analysis and development is “If nothing ever changes, why bother interdisciplinary, and the value that coming downtown?” Such qualitative anthropology’s cultural brokerage data highlights the very import that can add to policy scholarship can placemaking strategies like the Ful- be seen in case studies that, like the ton Street project instill. reopening of Fulton Street, speak to In the last decade, the positivism the complex human fortunes of a city forwarded by practitioners eager to fol- bent on change. low linear legislative processes is being eroded, inviting true methodological Author Bio: cross-pollination. Policy is being ana- Doris Pérez is in her fifth year as an lyzed as processual and interpretive, interdisciplinary humanities doctoral as a manifestation of particularized student at the University of Califor- power that is culturally constructed. nia, Merced. Her research focuses Methodologies long held dear to the on the cultural meaning-making of anthropological canon, like reflexive urban space and the political anthro- analysis and situated knowledge, are pology of public policy as a tool for being utilized to better understand cultural change. She was the 2015– the unintended consequences and 2016 Graduate Fellow for the Center

Volume 30 | 2018 19 for Humanities at the UC Merced. An exhibit of her research about water and the history of the Central Valley opened on the UC Merced campus in March of 2017. Her dissertation project centers on the revitalization of the Fresno, Cali- fornia, Fulton Mall, which serves as an anthropological case study around changing urban forms. The creation and maintenance of community as it pertains to open urban space is central to her argument that context and placemaking matter when con- fronting change at the street level, and recently worked on the Google querying the role public space plays X Self-Driving Car project. More in- in 21st-century urban areas. Her re- formation about her research can be search asks what preservation efforts found at www.dorieperez.org. really seek to save in a rapidly changing region like California’s greater End Notes Central Valley. What do such pres- 1 James Holston, Insurgent Citizenship: ervation efforts say about the role of Disjunctions of Democracy and Modernity in Brazil (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University citizens in their community at the Press, 2009). local level and how their participa- 2 Japonica Brown-Saracino, A Neighborhood tion in the urban revitalization pro- That Never Changes: Gentrification, Social cess include cultural meaning that Preservation, and the Search for Authenticity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010). reinforces and counters the discourse 3 “U.S. 2010 Census Quick Facts”, United of a dominant local planning regime? States Census Bureau, accessed November Through ethnographic research and 2017, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ an intimate and empirically grounded states/06/0627000.html. 4 Cris Shore, Susan Wright, and Davide Però, understanding of place, she showcases eds, vol. 14, Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the different negotiations of space and the Analysis of Contemporary Power (New self that community groups and local York: Berghahn Books, 2011). government entities develop. In her previous career as a political aide, she worked for the California State Legislature and the Oakland City Council in Oakland, California. She currently teaches at UC Merced

20 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Commentary We Must Protect Puerto Rican Voting Rights in 2018

Katherine Culliton-González

On the mainland, although the On 20 September 2017, Hurricane solution to the problem of low Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and Latino turnout is complex,6 several with recovery sorely lacking, many components are obvious as they flow residents are fleeing for the mainland. from already-developed but under- By November 17, over 168,0001 had enforced legal and policy solutions. arrived in Florida, and 100,000 more2 Puerto Rican community leaders are expected by the end of 2017. One won protections for Spanish speakers7 prediction estimates 750,0003 Puerto under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Ricans arriving in the Sunshine State and precedent-setting cases8 were in the next four years. brought during the next decade in Mainstream media has been cov- Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey, ering how Puerto Ricans can change and New York. These cases were Florida and national politics,4 but there mainly brought by the Puerto Rican is little discussion5 of the many chal- Legal Defense and Education Fund lenges to Puerto Ricans’ voting rights. (now LatinoJustice PRLDEF) and the Puerto Ricans’ potential to influence US Department of Justice (DOJ). In the 2018 elections may be massive, recent years, LatinoJustice PRLDEF but the community’s actual political led successful cases9 in Florida, New power and ability to influence policy York, and New England; I worked on is stunted not only by Hurricane Maria Puerto Rican voting rights cases10 in but also by many layers of disenfran- Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, chisement. Participation in elections New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in Puerto Rico is over 80 percent, yet while serving at the DOJ. Yet expe- once Puerto Ricans move to the main- rience is already showing that under land, participation plummets. Trump11 and Attorney General Jeff

Volume 30 | 2018 21 Sessions12, we cannot rely on the derstand ballot measures. Therefore, DOJ13 to protect the new American the law requires that most Florida demos. Non-profit voting rights and counties and any county in the United community groups must step in to States with a significant Puerto Rican protect voting rights, including the population must provide bilingual specific rights of Puerto Ricans. ballots and poll workers. English-only elections are a major Puerto Rican birth certificates is- barrier to the ballot for many Puerto sued prior to 2010 are not accepted Ricans. Over 78.5 percent14 of Puerto as proof of citizenship17 in states Rico’s 2.78 million adults are limited- with strict voter ID or documentary English proficient. Because persons proof of citizenship laws (these are educated in Puerto Rico received Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, public schooling in Spanish, Section Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act15 requires Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, that they be provided with Spanish Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin).18 voting materials and assistance. In In these states, exceptions must be Central Florida, after legal interven- made for Puerto Ricans in 2018; in tion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and the long run, discriminatory voter ID Volusia counties began providing bi- and documentary proof of citizenship lingual access to voting for their signif- laws must be overturned. The com- icant Puerto Rican communities, and plications of proving residency after South Florida counties have long had climate displacement are another bilingual elections. However, other obstacle, so proof of residency rules counties with significant Puerto Rican must also be made more reasonable. populations still have English-only Additionally, the tendency of poll elections, making it very difficult for workers to disproportionately ask vot- Spanish speakers to vote. According ers of color for ID,19 even in non-voter to 2016 Census data,16 Pasco, Duval, ID states,20 is a discriminatory practice and Brevard counties each had over that must end immediately. 20,000 Puerto Rican residents; Mar- Puerto Ricans may also be subject ion, Lake, St. Lucie, and Hernando to voter purges, as Black and Latino had over 10,000; and a dozen other surnames are more likely to be mistak- Florida counties had over 2,000 each. enly identified21 in the Interstate Voter With thousands fleeing from the Is- Registration Crosscheck Program that land, these numbers are skyrocketing, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach but nearly 80 percent of the newcom- has urged states to adopt.22 Crosscheck ers face a de facto literacy test. allegedly identifies persons who may This has to change: Like all US cit- have voted in more than one state, but izens, Puerto Ricans have the right to it has a high misidentification rate of register, vote for candidates, and un- up to 99.5 percent.23 Since Crosscheck

22 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy compares addresses,24 being displaced time to protect Puerto Rican voting and living in temporary housing may rights, along with the rights of mil- also exacerbate Crosscheck’s misiden- lions of other voters who would also tifying voters25 as being illegally reg- benefit from these measures. istered in two jurisdictions. Demos, a public policy organization fighting Author Bio: for inclusive democracy, urges elec- Katherine Culliton-González is se- tion officials to refrain from purging nior counsel and bilingual civil rights voters based on Crosscheck or in- lawyer at Demos. She focuses on appropriate and inaccurate federal overcoming racial discrimination in immigration data26 that has also dis- access to political power and justice parately targeted voters of color,27 in- and promoting inclusive democracy. cluding Puerto Ricans. Instead, states She brings over 20 years of experi- should undertake proactive measures, ence in movement lawyering, and her such as automatic voter registration, work focuses on lifting up the voices to enable every citizen to vote. and visions of communities of color In 2018, Puerto Rican evacuees to bring about empowering change. will want to vote in their first federal Prior to joining Demos, she served election, as the racist, colonialist sys- as director of the Voter Protection tem codified in the 1917 Jones Act,28 Program at Advancement Project, as a which made Puerto Rico a US terri- senior attorney in the Voting Section tory subject to numerous inequities, of the Civil Rights Division of the prohibits people on the Island from US Department of Justice, and as a doing so. To truly change the system staff attorney at the Mexican Ameri- that has created the post-Maria hu- can Legal Defense and Educational manitarian crisis, the Jones Act must Fund. During the last decade, work- be repealed so that everyone has an ing with community groups, she de- equal say in American democracy. veloped successful litigation against The modern American crisis of voter discriminatory voting practices in suppression requires visionary oppo- various states, authored influential sition. Failure to remove barriers to reports on Latino voting rights, and the ballot for Puerto Ricans in 2018 provided expert advice regarding the would be just one more way that legislation needed to restore the full communities of color are counted on protections of the Voting Rights Act. during elections but not respected in A former Fulbright Scholar, policy decisions. On the positive side, Culliton-González taught human high turnout in Puerto Rico shows rights law in Chile (1993–1994), and that there is no essentialist cause for among other awards, she graduated as Latino voting rates to continue to stay valedictorian of the Washington Col- low. For all these reasons, now is the lege of Law of American University in

Volume 30 | 2018 23 1993. She is the author of a series of law review articles and other publica- tions, written in English and Spanish, which have been used to protect civil and human rights in the Americas. Ms. Culliton-González’s scholarship includes the 2008 Berkeley La Raza Law Journal article “Time to Revive Puerto Rican Voting Rights,” which she authored in English and Span- ish, and “La Gente Unida Jamás Será Vencida: The Power of ‘Changing Demographics’ in the 2012 Elec- tions and Beyond,” published in this journal. Ms. Culliton-González has been interviewed and has published opinion pieces in major news outlets and has frequently appeared in Span- ish-language media as a nationally recognized civil rights expert. For visionary opposition to voter suppression, follow her on Twitter @ KathyCullitonGZ.

24 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy The United States Department of Justice, last updated 16 October 2015, https://www. End Notes justice.gov/crt/cases-raising-claims-under- language-minority-provisions-voting-rights- 1 Lizette Alvarez, “A Great Migration From act#pennsgrove. Puerto Rico Is Set to Transform Orlando,” 11 Ryan J. Reilly, “Trump’s Controversial Pick The New York Times, published 17 November For DOJ Civil Rights Chief Appears Headed 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/ For Confirmation,” Huffington Post, published puerto-ricans-orlando.html. 6 September 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost. 2 Alvarez, “A Great Migration From Puerto com/entry/eric-dreiband-doj-civil-rights-trump_ Rico.” us_59b0230be4b0b5e53102fb4a. 3 Lauren Ritchie, “Puerto Rico exodus to 12 Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz, “While Central Florida could bring unprecedented eyes are on Russia, Sessions dramatically change,” Orlando Sentinel, published 6 reshapes the Justice Department,” The November 2017, http://www.orlandosentinel. Washington Post, published 24 November com/news/puerto-rico-hurricane-recovery/ 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ os-lauren-ritchie-hurricane-maria-puerto-ricans- world/national-security/while-eyes-are- 20171005-story.html. on-russia-sessions-dramatically-reshapes- 4 Elise Viebeck and Joel Achenbach, the-justice-department/2017/11/24/ “Puerto Ricans are a surging, outraged dd52d66a-b8dd-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story. political force in Florida in the aftermath of html?utm_term=.6004cd5a2f36. ↑ Maria,” The Washington Post, published 6 13 Tess Owen, “Justice Department switches October 2017, https://www.washingtonpost. sides in another huge voting rights case,” com/powerpost/in-florida-puerto-ricans- VICE News, published 8 August 2017, https:// are-a-surging-political-force--and-outraged- news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb9xkx/justice- by-trumps-response-to-maria/2017/10/06/ department-switches-sides-in-another-huge- e7389e7a-aa29-11e7-b3aa-c0e2e1d41e38_story. voting-rights-case. html. 14 Generated by Katherine Culliton-González, 5 Katherine Culliton-González, “Florida should using American FactFinder. American help protect Puerto Ricans’ voting rights,” Community Survey 2011–2015 Selected Miami Herald, published 12 October 2017, Population Tables. Age, by Language Spoken http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/ at Home, by Ability to Speak English for the article178625691.html. Population 5 Years and Over. U.S. Census 6 Katherine Culliton-González, “La Gente Bureau. https://factfinder.census.gov. 15 Unida Jamás Será Vencida: The Power Culliton-González, “Time to Revive.” of ‘Changing Demographics’ in the 2012 16 Generated by Katherine Culliton- Elections and Beyond,” Harvard Journal of González, using American FactFinder. Hispanic Policy 25 (2013): 5–14. American Community Survey 2011–2016, 7 Katherine Culliton-González, “Time to 5-Year Estimates. Population Statistics Revive Puerto Rican Voting Rights,” Berkeley in Florida by County; Table B03001. La Raza Law Journal 19, no. 27 (2008): US Census Bureau. https://docs.google. 102–142. com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1xLAJrzc_ 8 Culliton-González, “Time to Revive Puerto sLnKK6bLSuV0AXtI48Su7iHnJzNKrrqcsD8/ Rican Voting Rights.” edit?usp=sharing&usp=embed_facebook. ↑ 9 “Voting Rights News,” LatinoJustice, last 17 Katherine Culliton-González and Luz Sosa, updated 2017, http://latinojustice.org/civil_ “Katherine Culliton-González and Luz Sosa: rights/voting_rights_news/. Time to protect Puerto Rican voting rights 10 “Cases Raising Claims under the Language in Wisconsin,” The Cap Times, published 6 Minority Provisions of the Voting Rights Act,” November 2017, http://host.madison.com/ct/

Volume 30 | 2018 25 opinion/column/katherine-culliton-gonz-lez- Purge,” Al Jazeera America, published 24 and-luz-sosa-time-to-protect/article_9da66991- October 2014, http://projects.aljazeera. 35e7-5af2-96ab-ebcad8642860.html. com/2014/double-voters/index.html. 18 Wendy Underhill, “Voter Identification 22 Ari Berman, “The Man Behind Trump’s Requirements Voter ID Laws,” National Voter-Fraud Obsession,” The New York Times Conference of State Legislatures, published Magazine, published 13 June 2017, https:// 5 January 2018, http://www.ncsl.org/ www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the- research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id. man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html. aspx#Laws%20in%20Effect. 23 “The Many Problems of Crosscheck,” 19 Caroline Allen, Marian Schneider, and #EndCrosscheck, accessed 18 January 2018, Katherine Culliton-González, “The Time Tax: https://www.endcrosscheck.com/crosscheck- America’s newest form of voter suppression for concerns/. millennials, and how it must be eliminated to 24 Palast, “Jim Crow Returns.” make voting accessible for the next generation,” 25 Palast, “Jim Crow Returns.” Advancement Project, published 18 November 26 Katherine Culliton-González, “Rights 2013, https://advancementproject.org/resources/ Advocates: Trump’s Commission on Election the-time-tax/. Integrity Set Up as a Pretext for Voter 20 Jon C. Rogowski and Cathy J. Cohen, Suppression,” interview by Amy Goodman Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Nermeen Shaikh, DemocracyNow!, 20 July Future of American Politics: Black and Latino 2017, video, https://www.democracynow. Youth Disproportionately Affected by Voter org/2017/7/20/rights_advocates_trumps_ Identification Laws in the 2012 Election commission_on_election. (28 February 2013); “United States v. Salem 27 Culliton-González, “Rights Advocates.” County and the Borough of Penns Grove, NJ 28 Amanda R. Matos, “Trump’s Atrocious Complaint,” The United States Department Behavior Towards Puerto Ricans is Nothing of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/crt/case- New,” The Harvard Kennedy School Journal document/united-states-v-salem-county-and- of Hispanic Policy, published 4 October borough-penns-grove-nj-complaint. 2017, http://www.harvardhispanic.org/trumps- 21 Greg Palast, “Jim Crow Returns: Millions atrocious-behavior-towards-puerto-ricans-is- of Minority Voters Threatened by Electoral nothing-new/.

26 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Commentary Latinos and Unions: The Survival of Organized Labor Depends on Increasing Latino Membership

Victor Baten

their ranks. Latino workers should be Introduction important to American labor unions For the American labor movement, because of their organizing poten- declining union membership rates is tial. Latinos represent an increasing a serious problem for the survival of share of the US population and work- organized labor. Union membership force.1 This makes Latinos a grow- has plummeted from one-third of ing segment of workers for unions to workers in the 1960s to one in every organize. ten workers today. It is in this environ- While more Latinos are joining ment that the American Federation the workforce, they are also confront- of Labor & Congress of Industrial ing tremendous challenges at their Organizations (AFL-CIO) met in St. worksites and are America’s most vul- Louis, Missouri, for their 2017 Con- nerable workers. The United States’s vention, where they discussed the fu- growing low-wage service sector and ture of the US labor movement and broken immigration system are forc- passed numerous resolutions aimed ing Latinos into underpaid, unsafe, at addressing the decline in member- and abusive working environments ship. Although the resolutions mostly that place their lives and livelihoods focused on organizing more workers, at risk. Because of this combination none of the resolutions paid attention of factors, Latinos are perfectly posi- to Latino workers, the fastest-growing tioned to join unions in large num- sector of workers. bers. Unionization will provide this It is surprising that the AFL-CIO widely exploited population with a ignored Latino workers since the voice at the worksite and protections labor movement should be focus- to improve their working conditions ing on organizing more Latinos into and economic standing.

Volume 30 | 2018 27 For unions to continue to be a Although wages vary by sector and source of power and protection for occupation, the overall union aver- all workers,2 they must face the real- ages are striking for Latinos. ity that an aging workforce and lack • On average, Latinos represented of sustainable new membership are by a union earn approximately causing their numbers to diminish.3 If $45,552 a year. Non-union unions are to survive and rebuild in Latino workers earned approx- the near future, there is no doubt that imately $32,448 a year. That Latinos and historically underserved means Latinos represented by communities will have to join the a union earned $13,104 more a labor movement. Latino engagement year.4 will be critical to organizing more • On average, Latino men rep- Latino workers. There must be tar- resented by a union earn ap- geted bilingual organizing campaigns proximately $46,852 a year. to ensure Latinos understand their Non-union Latino men earned rights to organize. More importantly, approximately $34,476 a year. the labor movement will need to em- That means Latino men rep- brace this new workforce by creating resented by a union earned pathways to leadership in the worksite $12,376 more a year.5 and in the union. • On average, Latina women represented by a union earn The Union Difference for approximately $43,108 a year. Latino Workers Non-union Latina women While Latinos are naturally posi- earned approximately $30,472 a tioned to join unions, the monetary year. That means Latina women incentive for Latinos to unionize is represented by a union earned what makes organizing Latinos an $12,636 more a year.6 easier lift and sell for labor unions. It is clear the union difference in The moment a Latino worker wins earning is significant for Latino work- a union contract, they start makers. These earning-potential figures ing better wages and work in safer could be the central incentive for and healthier environments. Latino union organizers to attract Latinos to workers benefit the most of any other a union and drive up Latino mem- ethnic group with respect to median bership nationwide. weekly earnings. According to a 2017 Bureau of Latinos Have the Highest Risk Labor Statistics report, Latino work- of Dying on the Job ers who belong to a union typically According to the US Bureau of Labor earn higher pay than non-union Statistics and the AFL-CIO’s Death workers doing the same kind of job. on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, Latino

28 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy and immigrant workers continue to The leading industries with the be at higher risk than other workers.7 most Latino deaths include construc- • The Latino fatality rate was 4.0 tion, administration and support, per 100,000 workers, 18% higher waste management and remedia- than the national average.8 tion services, and transportation and • Deaths among Latino workers warehousing.13 These industries are increased significantly in 2015— primed for union organizing. Latino 903 deaths, compared with 804 in workers will undoubtedly benefit 2014.9 from a union contract, especially since • Almost the entire increase in the Federal Occupational Safety and Latino deaths was among immi- Health Administration’s (OSHA) can grant workers—605 (67 percent) currently inspect a workplace on aver- of Latino workers killed were image only once every 145 years.14 Even migrant workers.10 worse, the average OSHA penalty to • 943 immigrant workers were employers for a serious safety/health killed on the job—the highest violation was only $2,148, while the since 2007.11 median penalty for worker deaths was While the number of Latino fatali- only $7,000.15 ties is troublesome, these numbers do not describe the many more Latinos The Organizing Potential for who suffer debilitating workplace in- Latino Workers juries but remain silent because their While organized labor should be legal status leaves them voiceless in the aggressively attempting to organize workplace. Undocumented workers more workers, their dwindling re- are in constant fear of being reported sources should be directed in a stra- to immigration enforcement officials, tegic way. There is no question that so in cases of injury, many undocu- the American labor movement is old mented workers do not report injuries and aging. According to the Bureau of because their undocumented status Labor Statistics, union membership could be used against them. For many rates are highest among individuals employers, exploiting Latino workers aged 45–64.16 When considering race and cutting corners on safety has be- and ethnicity, Black workers contin- come a common but deadly business ued to have a higher union member- practice. This an important reason ship rate in 2016 (13.0 percent) than why Latino advocacy groups have workers who were White (10.5 per- supported unionization. Third parties cent), Asian (9.0 percent), or Latino such as unions can ensure workplace (8.8 percent).17 safeguards are in place and can report Considering these trends, it is clear safety infractions, lessening the num- that the labor movement must target ber of deaths and injuries on the job.12 workers who are young and growing

Volume 30 | 2018 29 in population. Latino workers per- ing. As young Latinos enter the work- fectly fit a growth strategy for unions. force, Latino GDP will account for an According to the Pew Research Cen- increasing portion of total US GDP ter, about half of Latino workers are growth—projected to be 24.4 percent employed in just four industries: by 2020.20 Although Latinos are un- construction; eating, drinking, and derpaid compared to other workers, lodging services; wholesale and retail their numbers in the workforce make trade; and professional and other busi- them an economic giant. If unions ness services.18 These industries have could successfully organize a sizable a strong labor union presence. portion of this workforce, it would not More importantly, Latinos are join- only benefit Latinos and labor unions, ing the workforce at a disproportional but the US economy at large. pace. According to a new report by the Latino Donor Collaborative, 70 Conclusion percent of the increase in the US Despite the vital role unions play in workforce from 2010 to 2015 was protecting workers, the share of work- due to Latinos workers. Even more ers represented by a union is in de- impressive, from 2010 to 2015, the cline. It is clear that organized labor number of young Latinos who were must make strategic investments in in the workforce and were between their outreach to Latinos. The poten- 16 and 24 years old grew by 359,633, tial for growth in organizing Latinos while the number of non-Latinos in is a critical lifeline that labor unions the workforce grew by only 155,160. must use in order to stay relevant. In other words, for every two young More importantly, labor unions can Latinos entering the civilian work use this new membership to leverage workforce, roughly one young non- a more pro-worker agenda and reverse Latino entered. This is a clear oppor- the laws that have weakened collec- tunity for organized labor to target a tive bargaining for working people. young, growing workforce that will Although the current outlook for help union membership numbers.19 Latinos is uncertain, their growth in Finally, Latinos are proving to be a the US workforce and population is real force in the US economy. It is es- impressive. Wielding over $2.3 tril- timated that the gross domestic prod- lion dollars in GDP and making huge uct (GDP) produced by Latinos in gains in the workforce, it is no surprise the United States in 2015 was $2.13 that this community will be important trillion. That ranks Latinos as the to the future of the US economy. In seventh highest GDP in the world, order to realize their potential, Lati- compared to the world’s ten largest nos must harness their strengths and economies. Of the top ten economies, exert their voice in the workplace. it would rank the third-fastest grow- Gaining access to a union will be

30 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy an essential step for Latino workers and their families. Through union representation, Latinos can achieve higher wages that will help them fight poverty and gain access to health and retirement benefits. All of these factors truly highlight why unions and Latinos need each other now more than ever. However, this partnership can only come to fruition if unions make (GSPP), Victor worked for the Latino strategic investments in organizing constituency group of the American Latinos. This starts by hiring cultur- Federation of Labor & Congress of ally competent organizers to make Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) inroads into Latino-heavy worksites. on issues affecting US workers and More importantly, unions must make Latinos within the halls of Congress thoughtful decisions about creating and with the Obama administration. leadership pipelines for Latinos al- Before joining the AFL-CIO in 2013, ready in the labor movement. As of Victor worked on the 2012 election of now, there are only a handful of Lati- Representative Lois Frankel (FL-22) nos holding the highest leadership and served at the offices of Represen- positions in American unions. If orga- tative Judy Chu (CA-32) and Speaker nized labor wants to survive, it must Nancy Pelosi’s Green the Capitol embrace the changing face of the Initiative. At GSPP, Victor has fo- workforce and let underrepresented cused his studies on creating pub- workers take the helms of unions by lic-private partnerships to address the creating leadership pipelines within policy issues affecting underserved unions. Without these strategic in- communities. He currently serves as vestments and decisions, the future of a graduate student researcher at the organized labor is in real jeopardy. Berkeley-Haas School of Business on a project with the MasterCard Cen- Author Bio: ter for Inclusive Growth & Financial Victor Baten is a policy strategist with Inclusion. The project is evaluating over six years of experience working the effectiveness of a government pro- with national Latino advocacy orga- gram focused on micro-entrepreneurs nizations and political campaigns in Mexico. He is also involved with and on Capitol Hill. Prior to start- the American Institute for Contempo- ing a master’s of public policy at the rary German Studies (AICGS) New University of California, Berkeley’s Transatlantic Exchange Program, Goldman School of Public Policy which focuses on the issues affecting

Volume 30 | 2018 31 German and US immigrants. Victor National and State-by-State Profile of Worker was raised in Boynton Beach, Florida, Safety and Health in the United States, and has a BS in political science from 26th edition (Washington, DC: American the Florida State University. He is Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations, 2017). proud alumnus of the Congressional 8 Death on the Job, 1. Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) 9 Death on the Job, 1. and was a Public Policy and Interna- 10 Death on the Job, 2. 11 Death on the Job, 2. tional Affairs (PPIA) fellow at Princ- 12 Bivens et al., “How today’s unions help eton University’s Woodrow Wilson working people.” School of Public Policy and Interna- 13 Death on the Job, 10. 14 tional Affairs. Michelle Chen, “In the Time It Take to Read This Article, a Person Will Die at Work in the US,” The Nation, published 27 April 2016, End Notes https://www.thenation.com/article/in-the-time- 1 Maria T. Mora, “The increasing importance it-takes-to-read-this-article-a-person-will-die-at- of Hispanics to the U.S. workforce,” U.S. work-in-the-us/. Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States 15 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Department of Labor, published September Pub. L. No. 91-596, 29 U.S.C. §666. 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/ 16 “Economic News Release: Union Members article/the-increasing-importance-of-hispanics- Summary.” to-the-us-workforce.htm. 17 “Economic News Release: Union Members 2 Josh Bivens, Lora Engdahl, Elise Gould, Summary.” Teresa Kroeger, Celine McNicholas, Lawrence 18 Rakesh Kochhar, “Latino Jobs Growth Mishel, Zane Mokhiber, Heidi Shierholz, Driven by U.S. Born,” Pew Research Marni von Wilpert, Valerie Wilson, et al., Center, published 19 June 2014, http://www. “How today’s unions help working people: pewhispanic.org/2014/06/19/latino-jobs-growth- Giving workers the power to improve their jobs driven-by-u-s-born/. and unrig the economy,” Economic Policy 19bWerner Schink and David Hayes-Bautista, Institute, published 24 August 2017, https:// Latino Gross Domestic Product Report: www.epi.org/publication/how-todays-unions- Quantifying the Impact of American Hispanic help-working-people-giving-workers-the-power- Economic Growth (Beverly Hills, CA: Latino to-improve-their-jobs-and-unrig-the-economy/. Donor Collaborative, 2017). 3 “Economic News Release: Union Members 20 Schink and Hayes-Bautista, Latino Gross Summary,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, United Domestic Product Report. States Department of Labor, published 19 January 2018, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ union2.nr0.htm. 4 “Data Retrieval: Labor Force Statistics (CPS),” Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, last modified 16 September 2015, https://www.bls.gov/webapps/ legacy/cpslutab2.htm. 5 “Data Retrieval: Labor Force Statistics (CPS).” 6 “Data Retrieval: Labor Force Statistics (CPS).” 7 Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect: A

32 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Film Review When Coco Feels like Home: Film as Homenaje

Elizabeth Castro

ventures in Latin America combining Film Synopsis policy and storytelling. Contributing Released in November 2017, Disney/ their insight, Marcela Davison Avilés Pixar’s Coco1 centers around the tradi- and Lalo Alcaraz, two of the cultural tional celebration of Day of the Dead consultants from the film, were in- set in Mexico. The story follows Mi- terviewed by senior editors Elizabeth guel Rivera, a 12-year-old boy with a Castro and Bryan Cortes of the John talent for the guitar despite his fami- F. Kennedy School of Government ly’s generational ban on music. Young Journal of Hispanic Policy. Miguel reveres Ernesto de la Cruz, a Disney met swift backlash from former film star and musician who is the Latinx community in their early the point of pride in Miguel’s home- attempt to trademark the phrase Day town. After a dispute with his family, of the Dead or “Día de los Muertos.”2 Miguel breaks into Ernesto’s mauso- The studio blunder was a prompt leum only to be swept into the Land toward forming collaborations with of the Dead. There, he must find his cultural consultants who provided way home with the help of savvy nav- feedback for the film. Marcela igator, Hector. Amid the discoveries Davison Avilés is a producer and strat- he makes about his family’s past, Mi- egist with long-standing consultancy guel comes to understand the love work for Latino-related projects at that is shared amongst family. the Walt Disney Company. A graduate of Harvard College, Marcela Aiming to “Get It Right” has produced Latino arts and culture Marked with subtle commentary on festivals. Lalo Alcaraz is a political Mexico’s society, the film Coco is cartoonist, satirist, and creator of the uniquely situated in a line of Disney nationally syndicated comic strip “La

Volume 30 | 2018 33 Cucaracha,” as well as early critic of the music spoke to them. Seeing kids Disney’s doomed trademark effort. perform this music the way Miguel When invited to join the film, he was does spoke to them.” With Coco, “I upfront by fielding questions such as think, for the most part, we were able “If there was going to be brown-fac- to create something that people feel ing.” Audiences today are quick to call very deeply.” out studios for casting decisions that favor white or prominent actors while The Role of Indigeneity diminishing opportunities for under- Marcela and Lalo underline that “in- represented artists. In Coco’s case, the digeneity is at the core” of the film. film is imbued with a long list of Lat- “From the beginning, we brought in inx voices. elders who have spent their lives cre- Critiques of the film range from ating magic through Día de Muertos assertions of appropriation to skepti- through their creation of ofrendas,” cism of Disney’s corporate backing Marcela shares. Elders include Ofe- of the venture. As someone who grew lia Esparza, a master artist engaged in up crossing the border between San altar-making who is known across the Diego and Tijuana, Lalo’s worldview Los Angeles Chicano art scene and is informed by tuning in to Mexican brought to the film via Lalo. In respect perspectives. For Coco, he has “rarely to a traditional altar, Coco is replete heard criticism from the Mexican with cempasúchil, the orange mari- side of the border.” Marcela adds gold meant to attract spirits through that communities have strong feel- its color and scent.3 Miguel’s dog is a ings about how identity is depicted as xoloitzcuintli, sacred to Mayans, Az- part of their critiques. “My own view tecs, and multiple communities who is that here is the States, the context regard it as a spiritual guide. The film also has to do with feelings of identity has “actual dark-skinned characters, that don’t necessarily exist in Mexico, indigenous-featured characters on or if they do, they exist in a different film,” Lalo says. way. The political situation is differ- In Mexico, Coco’s success exists in ent,” she adds. a context where colorism and anti-in- Sharing about her production of digenous sentiment permeate across mariachi events, Marcela recalls Mexican media. There, Coco became instances “where folks who have at- one of the highest-performing films tended were very conservative, not of all time. Mexican national news- necessarily supportive of our [Latino] paper Milenio positions Coco as a jab community, but they attended be- to Mexico’s entertainment executives cause friends invited them. They left who render Brown and indigenous with that proverbial ‘aha.’ The light- characters as inferior to their blonde bulb going off over their head because counterparts in national television.4

34 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Marcela emphasizes Coco’s music the film is a scene featuring Mamá for highlighting musical fusion, or Imelda, the proud head of the family, syncretismo. The film scores are a re- singing a serenade. Marcela details: sult of “musicians from “First of all, you don’t all over Mexico coming “Seeing kids perform this get more Mexican to Mexico City to record music the way Miguel than the song La Llo- for the movie.” Beyond does spoke to them” rona. In the Siglo de the nod to mariachi Oro, you see Pedro music, source music includes son Infante, Jorge Negrete, Javier Solís, jarocho from the Gulf state of Vera- a singer who is typically down in the cruz, a style riddled with indigenous, street singing up to their novia [girl- African, and European influence. “I friend] who is on a balcony. And she is don’t recall that type of homenaje receiving the song and he is … doing [tribute] in any other movie coming his macho thing. In this instance, who out of Hollywood.” sings the song? It’s Imelda. Imelda the entrepreneur. Imelda who had to create a business to provide for her family. She has to go back and recall a very painful memory, and out of that memory comes a serenade. But then what happens? She is literally on a pedestal that is raised as she is singing. And don’t we all put our mothers on pedestals? There is this whole thing on marianismo and veneration of women, except that here, this woman is claiming her agency. She is singing to her family, and through that she is re-uniting them. If you look at women like María Félix or María Grever, or now like Natalia Lafourcade. That’s my favorite scene and I think that it was so marvelously done. And that came out of the brain of Lee, Adrian, and the team.” Interpreting Scenes in the An unconventional narrative is Co- Film: The Serenade, Frida, and co’s depiction of Frida Kahlo, one the Shoeshiners most recognized women from Mexico. *spoilers ahead* Strengthening the Famed for her self-portraits, Frida’s re- themes of female empowerment in al-life art addresses trauma, love, and

Volume 30 | 2018 35 disability. Lalo adds, “A part that could have been done wrong but was not was From Donald Duck to Abuela all the Frida stuff. There was a mo- Coco: Disney’s History in Latin ment when we were talking [around a] America screening. Lee [Unkrich] is immersed Historically, Coco joins a line of Dis- in this and, I think, said ‘What do you ney films on Latin America, the first think of this Frida sequence and gag? dating to the 1940s during the Roo- And the papaya?’ They were thinking sevelt administration’s promotion of about cutting it, and they ran it by us. I the Good Neighbor Policy.6 Using was like, ‘No way!’ It is so unexpected, film as a policy vehicle, Roosevelt was kind of a modern gag, really an adult keen on combatting “Nazi influence” gag. It is so great that it is in a Pixar and the threat of this infiltration or even just a mainstream Hollywood in Latin America.7 Marcela writes, movie.” In effect, the light-heartedness “President Roosevelt and his team in portraying Frida became a comical also knew… they needed to reach the way of incorporating her into the film. hearts and minds of ordinary Amer- La chancla scene, as it is known, icans and invite them to re-imagine is also a nod to Mexico’s shoeshiner negative stereotypes of Latin Amer- industry. After Miguel’s grandmother icans which painted Latinos as lazy, finds him talking to a mariachi, she suspicious, and uncivilized.”8 In the reacts in a scolding tone, taking off US State Department, the Office of and shaking her chancla, the infa- Coordinator of Inter-American Af- mous leather sandal. Simultaneously, fairs (CIAA) had a division seeking to this scene shows Miguel, a 12-year-old “present Latin Americans in more fa- boy working as a shoeshiner, mirroring vorable images,”9 and the government real-life shoeshiners in Mexico, or as enlisted Walt Disney himself to sup- they are locally known, lustradores or port their work. boleros de zapatos. Across Latin Amer- Before Coco’s Rivera family, ica, boleros are recognized for carrying Disney featured Mexican rooster a shoeshiner box, or cajón de bolero, Panchito Pistoles belting “¡Ay, Jalisco, to hold their brushes and supplies, all no te rajes!” in the 1944 Disney re- details that are present in the film. lease, Los Tres Caballeros. True to his Mexican news sources, particularly in last name, Pistoles is a pistol-wielding southern states, continually report on character replete with boot spurs and the stories of shoeshiners, including a sombrero. The Three Caballeros fol- youth, who carry out this work every lows the lively rooster travelling and day.5 Among discussions of inclusivity, teaching his buddies about Mexican one finds a less-addressed image of culture and traditions, from posadas youth working during their school-age to piñatas. A distracting part of the years in Coco. film centers around Donald Duck

36 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy chasing after Latinas as love inter- mistic about seeing more pilots being ests, including Carmen Miranda’s green-lit for TV and life-action work. younger sister, Aurora. “I am from Nogales. You got two Saludos Amigos (Greetings border babies on this team here. We Friends), released in 1942, features know the sweet/bittersweet elements Goofy in Argentina and introduces of the stories of la Frontera. And I am José Carioca, a Brazilian parrot. To hoping that we will see more of that draw inspiration for the films, Walt in terms of what comes from our film- Disney and studio artists gathered re- makers,” she says. search during their “Goodwill Tour” Powerhouses such as Mexican film in Latin America, a trip captured in directors Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro South of the Border with Disney.10 At González Iñárritu, and Guillermo del times almost a head-on educational Toro are already taking Hollywood by tool, the films are inescapably cen- storm. In a span of five years, they tered in their political moment and each won coveted awards for Best consciousness. Director: two Academy Awards and Coco met audiences during a time one Golden Globe. González Iñár- marked by a record-breaking earth- ritu won praise after the dedication quake in Mexico City, the aftermath of his win to the immigrant commu- of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico nity and those in Mexico.11 Given and Hurricane Harvey in Texas, and its reception, it is not surprising that decisions on programs including De- Coco cinched a Golden Globe and ferred Action for Childhood Arrivals an Academy Award for Best Animated (DACA) and Temporary Protected Feature film in 2018. Status (TPS). Countless viewers ex- Yet the most heart-warming recep- perience Coco within the context of tion to the film is seen in the faces Mexican and Latinx experience, and of elders in Oaxaca, Mexico, some of their positionality at large today. For them reportedly visiting the cinema Marcela, the power of narrative lies for the first time.12 Disney and Pixar’s in “the notion that storytelling really Coco demonstrates that generations can make a difference in terms of of Latinx will continue to vocally policy.” praise and thoughtfully examine the intentional portrayals of our cultura The Spotlight and the Future that are yet to come. Looking toward the future of Lati- no-oriented animation, “I am hoping Author Bio: that they are done right, with care, The daughter of migrant farmworkers, and that they actually are using Latino Elizabeth Castro grew up surrounded creators in these instances…I’m by apple orchards in Mesa, Washing- hopeful,” Lalo shares. Marcela is opti- ton and sugarcane fields in Veracruz,

Volume 30 | 2018 37 dead/index.html. Mexico. She is driven to serve rural 3 Erick Huerta, “Master Altar-Maker Ofelia students as they transition to higher Esparza: L.A.’s National Treasure,” Grand education. Her research has addressed Park LA, accessed 21 January 2018, http:// higher education for Canadian Inuit grandparkla.org/master-altar-maker-ofelia- esparza-las-national-treasure/. and Mexican rural teacher colleges, 4 José Antonio Álvarez Lima, “‘Coco’ y centered on the Ayotzinapa college. los racistas…,” Milenio, published 30 Most recently, she engaged university November 2017, http://www.milenio.com/ firmas/jose_antonio_alvarez_lima/coco- students in Iztapalapa, Mexico City as pelicuala-pixar-calidad-cine-television-racista- a teaching assistant. Elizabeth is an milenio_18_1076472345.html. Ed.M. candidate in Education Policy 5 “Los boleros de zapatos: historias de vida,” El and Management at Harvard Gradu- Diario de Yucatán, published 6 February 2017, http://yucatan.com.mx/merida/ciudadanos/los- ate School of Education, and she par- boleros-de-zapatos-historia-de-vida. ticipates in the Women and Public 6 Coincidently, Marcela is a curator at the Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation, School. She is a Fulbright and CHCI associated with Adams House at Harvard College, and she aims to amplify Roosevelt’s alumnus and a McNair and Gates role in US-Latin American relations. Millennium scholar. She graduated 7 Dale Adams, “Saludos Amigos: Hollywood from Columbia Basin Community and FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy,” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 24, no. 3 (2007): College and the University of Wash- 289–95. ington, majoring in International 8 Marcela Davison Aviles, “FDR’s Good Studies. Neighbor Policy,” The Franklin Delano Roosvelent Foundation, published 15 September 2016, http://fdrfoundation.org/ author/marcelada/. 9 Dale Adams, “Saludos Amigos.” 10 Keith Gluck, “Walt and the Goodwill Tour,” The Walt Disney Family Museum, published 8 September 2016, http://waltdisney.org/blog/ walt-and-goodwill-tour. 11 Matt Hamilton, “Iñárritu calls for ‘dignity and respect’ for immigrants in Oscar speech,” Los Angeles Times, published 22 February 2015, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la- me-ln-irritu-oscar-speech-20150222-htmlstory. html. 12 Daniel Barcenas, “Un cine en Oaxaca organizó una función especial de Coco End Notes cólo para abuelitos,” Sopitas, published 1 Coco, directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian 6 November 2017, http://www.sopitas. Molina (2017; California: Disney/Pixar). com/812270-reaccion-abuelitos-oaxaca-coco/. Theatrical Release. 2 Cindy Y. Rodriguez, “Day of the Dead trademark request draws backlash for Disney,” CNN, published 11 May 2013, https://www. cnn.com/2013/05/10/us/disney-trademark-day-

38 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Feature Effects of Privatization of Immigration Detention in the Lives of Detained Transgender Latina Immigrants

Chantiri Duran Resendiz

Abstract Introduction: Criminalization of Over the past three decades, the privat- Undocumented Immigration ization of prisons has accelerated and The prison industrial complex describes expanded to include undocumented both the rapid expansion of the US in- immigrants. This paper builds upon mate population as well as the political the assertions that immigrant deten- influence of private prison companies tion has become increasingly privat- and for-profit suppliers of government ized and disproportionately affects prison agencies. Over the past decades, low-income Latino communities. I ex- the prison industrial complex has examine how the social marginalization panded to include undocumented of transgender undocumented Latina immigrants and other noncitizen resi- immigrants has created conditions that dents living in the United States.1 This facilitate their subjugation within the reshaping of the processing of undoc- government and private immigrant de- umented immigrants in the American tention infrastructure. Understanding criminal justice system has been possi- how racism, xenophobia, transphobia, ble because of the increasing policies and sexism operate within society is im- that criminalize daily activities of immi- perative to dismantle the human rights grants, as well as the expanding privat- violations of the immigrant detention ization of prisons that began developing infrastructure. I conclude by reviewing since the 1980s with the creation of current policy efforts to strengthen the Miami’s Krome Detention Center.2 rights of detained transgender Latina This detention center was used to de- immigrants. tain and process Cuban refugees in the Keywords: Latinas; undocumented im- early 1980s. The phenomenon of de- migrants; transgender; detention centers taining and deporting undocumented

Volume 30 | 2018 39 immigrants has significantly acceler- lies, educators, or health care providers. ated since September 11, as collective Even though the proposed H.R. sentiment and policies toward undocu- 4437 died at the Senate, there are mented immigrants have largely been more intensive examples of state and shaped by anti-terrorist propaganda.3 local legislation that have passed and The anti-terrorist and anti-immigrant criminalized undocumented immi- discourse that has developed since grants, particularly in southern states September 11, has convoluted acts of of the country. Since 2007, states like improper immigration entry, criminal Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, South activity, and terrorism, all under simi- Carolina, Utah, and Arizona have lar laws. Under federal law, Title 8 US passed state legislation that has crimi- Code § 1325 - Improper Entry by Alien, nalized nearly every aspect of the daily the act of being present in the United lives of undocumented immigrants. States without proper documentation For instance, Alabama’s H.B. 56, Bea- is not a criminal violation but instead son-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and an administrative violation or a civil of- Citizen Protection Act, was signed into fense.4 Yet, over the course of the past law June 2011. H.B. 56 made it ille- two decades several federal and state gal for undocumented immigrants to legislative bills have attempted to crim- work or to seek work, required police inalize undocumented immigration by to arrest anyone suspected of being in criminalizing the everyday activities of the country illegally, forced schools to living life in the United States without check the immigration status of their proper documentation. A federal exam- students, and made it illegal to rent an ple of this type of proposed legislation apartment to an undocumented immi- is the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, grant. This type of legislation increases and Illegal Immigration Control Act the possibilities for undocumented and of 2005, H.R. 4437, a bill that passed noncitizen immigrants to be arrested the House of Representatives but died and detained for acts that have not been at the Senate. H.R. 4437 attempted to traditionally viewed as “illegal.”5 The make unauthorized lawful presence or increasing criminalization of undocu- aiding an undocumented immigrant mented immigrants has generated an stay in the US an aggravated felony. escalating need for administrating the H.R. 4437 exemplifies the most dras- physical detainment of undocumented tic legislation push to criminalize the immigrants once they enter into police daily activities of undocumented immi- and immigration custody. grants at the federal level. Had this bill become a law, it would have criminal- Privatization of Immigration ized those who have close connections Detention Centers to undocumented immigrants such as Immigration detention has been used family members in mixed-status fami- in the United States in various ways

40 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy throughout history. The detention of ized prison, jail, and detention services. immigrants pending the resolution of CCA has advertised itself as a corpora- their legal status and potential depor- tion “striv[ing] to aid governments by tation was not always the norm. Immi- reducing costs, alleviating overcrowd- grants were not detained at all until the ing, and providing quality correctional 1890s, when the United States opened care for inmates and detainees.”8 CCA its first federal immigration detention has built a strong influence based off center in Ellis Island, New York. A shift its extensive lobbying and participation in immigration policy occurred in 1952, in the American Legislative Exchange when Congress passed the Immigration Council, a conservative group founded and Nationality Act, which eliminated in 1973 where private corporations and immigrant detention except in cases conservative state legislators draft and in which an individual was a flight risk mobilize pro-business legislation. In or posed a serious risk to society. Ellis the 1980s, CCA along with the GEO Island subsequently closed. Group, currently the second largest pri- It wasn’t until the early 1980s that vate-prison contractor with the Depart- the United States government began to ment of Homeland Security, won their seek private companies to contract into first contracts to operate immigrant de- operating correctional facilities.6 Private tention centers.9 detention illustrates an interesting shift For more than three decades, CCA to market-based solutions, promoted as has been an active participant in the more cost efficient and effective than privatization of detention centers and solutions from the government, to solve has benefited from the social construc- socio-political issues. According to tion of undocumented immigrant Doty and Wheatley, “the fiscal conser- criminality by turning their administra- vatism that began in the 1970s, as well tive processing in the immigration sys- as the crisis that resulted from Reagan’s tem into a powerful potential source of monetarism in the early 1980s, played revenue. According to Ackerman and a significant role in the rise of private Furman, “To date CCA houses over prisons.”7 During this time period, in- 75,000 inmates in over sixty facilities… creasing budget deficits and revenue the company has entered into contracts constraints made private prisons an at- with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the tractive alternative to using tax revenue US Marshals Service, Immigration, for constructing prisons. Customs and Enforcement, half of the The oldest and most influential US states and several local municipal- private company contracting the op- ities.”10 Companies like CCA and the eration of correctional facilities is the GEO Group not only benefit from the Corrections Corporation of America ownership and operation of correc- (CCA). Funded in 1983, CCA became tional facilities but also benefit from the first corporation to provide privat- the subsidiary industries of immigra-

Volume 30 | 2018 41 tion detention such as transportation, hearings. According to the National Im- health care services, residential treat- migrant Justice Center, “ADTs cost as ment services, design, construction, little as seventy cents to seventeen dol- and expansion of facilities. lars a day—a fraction of the $159 ICE spends to detain one person per day. Detention Bed Mandate in the Over the course of a year, immigration Appropriations Act of 2014 detention costs over two billion dollars, The detention bed mandate represents approximately 5.5 million dollars each the number of detention beds that day. Taxpayers could save 1.44 billion must be occupied by immigrants at dollars each year—a nearly 80 percent any time as an aggregate in the 250 decrease in detention spending—if US immigration detention facilities, as ATDs were more widely used.”12 mandated by Congress and interpreted The detention bed mandate fuels by the Department of Homeland detention by forcing ICE to continually Security’s office of US Immigration keep the private and federal immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE). detention facilities and county jails at Congressional appropriations language the rate of 34,000 detained immigrants covering ICE’s detention budget—most a day. Expedited removals and depor- recently referenced in the Continuing tations of immigrants create empty Appropriations Act of 2014—states, beds that ICE needs to fill to keep in “[t]hat funding made available under compliance with the mandate. In this heading shall maintain a level of February 2014, Congressmen The- not less than 34,000 detention beds.”11 odore E. Deutch (D-FL) and Bill Given that ICE and some members of Foster (D-IL) urged the Office of Congress interpret the language to re- Management and Budget to end the quire ICE to maintain and fill 34,000 detention bed mandate for the pres- beds daily, it has become known as the ident’s fiscal year 2015 budget and detention bed “mandate.” This quota proposed to consider alternatives to has steadily increased since its enact- detention such as, “ankle bracelets, ment in 2007. No other law enforce- curfews, telephonic and in person ment agency is subject to a statutory reporting.”13 Their proposal to elim- quota on the number of individuals to inate the detention bed mandate hold in detention. did not pass, although then-Presi- The detention bed mandate prevents dent Barack Obama decreased the ICE from exercising discretion and proposed 2015 DHS budget from expanding more efficient alternatives 34,000 to 30,500 beds.14 However, to detention (ATD) that would allow in October 2016, the National Im- individuals who pose no risk to public migrant Justice Center and the Wall safety to be released back to their fam- Street Journal reported that ICE was ilies while awaiting immigration court detaining a historic high of more

42 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy than 40,000 people.15 in which immigration laws have detrimental consequences for all racial Perpetual Foreigners: Racial minorities.18 Critical race theory re- Policing and Citizenship veals how racialized immigration laws Inspection of Latinos and citizenship distinctions allow Part of the argument of this paper is to physical appearance to serve as a way unravel the ways in which the crimi- of controlling certain racial and ethnic nalization of undocumented immigra- groups. The practice of racial profil- tion and the privation of immigration ing assumes that citizenship status is enforcement are issues that affect Lati- inscribed on the body and that a per- nos at large, not only US noncitizens. son’s physical appearance can serve Political theorist Ray Rocco states, as a reasonable suspicion for inspec- “Although the United States was built tion. Critical race theorists Tara Yosso upon ethnic and cultural diversity, eth- and Daniel Solorzano argue that the nic diversity has constantly presented method of counterstory-telling may be a challenge to the normative political a useful mechanism to challenge and imagery of white supremacy grounded change racial dominance.19 Counter on the political, cultural, and justice stories of racialized immigrants chal- system.”16 The normative political im- lenge narratives of meritocracy and agery of White supremacy has defined immigrant assimilation. Counter sto- the de facto parameters of inclusion of ries to the myth of immigrant incor- the nation and often complicated the poration also demonstrate the ways in inclusion of people of color. Latino which White privilege is embedded studies scholars have explored the into our understanding of immigrant images and depictions of immigrants incorporation—the myth of immigrant that racialize and refer to all Latinos success that has not applied to the lives as foreign and “others,” regardless of of transgender immigrant Latinas. their immigration status.17 This is a Through the theoretical framework very important theoretical framework of critical race theory, we can exam- to help us understand why Latinos are ine how the criminalization of un- disproportionally targeted by police, documented immigrants, and in this why undocumented immigrants’ ev- case, transgender Latinas, is centered eryday actions have become increas- within the racial and gendered exclu- ingly criminalized, and eventually, sionary character of US citizenship.20 I how they enter the immigrant deten- view how undocumented transgender tion infrastructure. Latinas have systematically become A growing body of critical race the- vulnerable to an intersection of legal ory literature has shown that racism vulnerabilities because of their citizen- in the United States can be fully ship status, gender, and race. For the comprehended by studying the ways purpose of this paper, I define “Lati-

Volume 30 | 2018 43 nas” as women born in Latin America, were forcibly removed from the US “transgender” as women whose gen- over a 9-year period—the most ad- der’s identity or gender’s expression versely affected in recent deportations does not match their assigned sex at have been Mexicans.”23 According birth, and “undocumented immi- to the Department of Homeland Se- grants” as those women who entered curity, in 2012 ICE detained an all- the United States without immigration time high of 477,523 unauthorized inspection or who overstayed their visa. migrants: Mexicans accounted for 64 percent, Guatemalans accounted Transgender Latina Immigrants for 11 percent, Hondurans for 8.5 in Detention Centers percent, and El Salvadorians for 6.6 Transgender Undocumented Latinas percent of total detainees. These four Immigrants in the United States countries accounted for 90 percent of According to the Williams Institute all detainees in 2012. In terms of de- at UCLA, there are approximately portations, the number of immigrant 267,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and removals increased to 419,384, with transgender (LGBT) adult undoc- Mexican nationals accounting for 73 umented immigrants living in the percent, Guatemalans for 9.2 percent, United States.21 The National Center Hondurans for 7.5 percent, and El Sal- for Transgender Equality estimates vadorians for 4.5 percent. These four that between 15,000 and 50,000 of countries accounted for 94 percent of these undocumented adults are trans- all removals in 2012.24 gender “based on the existing data on ICE detention and deportation fiscal the trans population as a fraction of year statistics for 2016 show a decrease the US population and LGBT popula- in ICE removals, from record-high tion.”22 Current immigration laws and 409,849 in 2012 to 240,255 in 2016. the continuous discrimination against These statistics also show an increase transgender people make transgender in removals from the Central American immigrants among the most vulnera- Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and ble to discrimination and violence. El Salvador), with Mexican nationals Transgender undocumented im- accounting for 62.4 percent, Guate- migrants of Latino descent are more malans for 14.1 percent, Hondurans likely to be racialized and criminalized for 9.3 percent, and El Salvadorians than White undocumented immi- for 8.5 percent. These four countries grants. Although in ideological sense, accounted for 94.2 percent of all re- modern deportation campaigns have movals by ICE. These statistics demon- aimed to protect US citizens from the strate that among all ethnic groups, risk of potential terrorist attacks—“just Latinas are more likely to be targeted like in the deportation campaigns of by immigration authorities and enter the 1930s, when 458,000 Mexicans the immigrant detention infrastructure.

44 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy The deportation of immigrants has assault allegations data [was] not com- been utilized throughout the 20th plete, a fact that could limit their useful- century at the nexus of national crises, ness for detention management.”26 xenophobia, and racism; thus, Latino Several reports by nongovernmental detention is a process of historical con- organizations, such as the Heartland tinuity and links to the detention of Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice other racialized immigrants. Given the Center, Center for American Progress, different legal vulnerabilities in relation and Americans for Immigrant Justice, to the intersections of race, gender, and have uncovered incidents of sexual as- citizenship status, low-income transgen- sault, denial of medical care, prolonged der Latina undocumented immigrants use of solitary confinement, verbal and are at the highest risk of being racialized physical abuse, and even death among and targeted for detention, and because immigrants in detention facilities. The of the inefficiencies of how detention situation is particularly dangerous for centers handle transgender individuals, LGBT immigrants. According to the or- they are at higher risks of suffering in- ganization Just Detention International, stitutional violence—particularly being LGBT immigrants are “fifteen times sexually abused. more likely than other detainees to be Transgender Immigrants in sexually assaulted in confinement.”27 Detention Facilities Community Initiatives for Visiting Im- According to a 2013 report by the Cen- migrants in Confinement (CIVIC) es- ter for American Progress, “While the timates that between January 2010 and Department of Homeland Security… July 2016 there were 33,126 complaints does not keep data on gender orienta- of sexual or physical abuse in immigration or gender identity of people in its tion detention facilities, with just 570 of custody, reports of treatment of LGBT those complaints leading to investiga- detainees obtained through Freedom of tion by the federal government.28 Modi- Information Act…requests and through fications to the Prison Rape Elimination complaints filed by immigrant rights Act is one the current legal efforts to groups reveal that much like in the address and protect transgender immi- general prison population … LGBT grants from rape in detention. immigrants in immigration detention facilities face an increased risk of abuse Policy Efforts to Protect in detention.”25 Additionally, in their Transgender Immigrants 2013 report on immigration detention, in Detention Facilities: the United States Government Ac- Prison Rape Elimination Act countability Office found that “[t]he Adjustments to Department of Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Congress unanimously passed the Enforcement (ICE) sexual abuse and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)

Volume 30 | 2018 45 in 2003. After more than a decade of CCA and the GEO Group—as well as study and review, the US Department to the bed space rented from local or of Justice issued final regulations to county facilities, which house the ma- implement it in 2012. PREA’s purpose jority of immigrants in DHS custody. is to provide for the analysis of the in- The standards require that any “new cidence and effects of prison rape in contracts, contract renewals or substan- federal, state, and local institutions tive contract modifications” comply and to provide information, resources, with these standards, but unfortunately, recommendations, and funding to pro- most of Department of Homeland Se- tect individuals from prison rape. With curity’s contracts have auto-renewals or more than 200,000 youth and adults in will not be up for renewal for decades. prisons, jails, and juvenile detention fa- This means that many immigrants in cilities being raped each year,29 these DHS custody are housed in facilities rules represent an important step to- that will never be required to comply ward ending the crisis of sexual abuse with the PREA standards. in confinement facilities. Yet, PREA as The final rule requires that housing implemented in 2012 excluded immi- decisions for transgender detainees gration confinement facilities. never be made solely on the basis of iden- In May 2012, then-President Barack tity documents or physical anatomy and Obama released a memorandum instead be made on a case-by-case basis clarifying that, in addition to the De- that considers a detainee’s self-identifi- partment of Justice, all confinement cation and self-assessment of safety. This facilities must work with the attorney provision applies to all housing deci- general to implement the goals of sions, including the decision of whether PREA. As a result of this memoran- a detainee should be placed in female dum, the Department of Homeland or male housing. Under this provision Security was required to publish a final transgender women must be housed rule that adopted national standards for with other women in appropriate cases, the detection, prevention, reduction, genital anatomy notwithstanding. Al- and punishment of sexual abuse in im- though this requirement already exists migration detention facilities. in the PREA standards, the Department On March 2014, the Department of of Homeland Security has continued to Homeland Security published its final house all transgender women with men standards. These standards include based on their anatomy. many important protections for LGBT Among the many shortcomings of immigrants in detention facilities that the final rule is neglecting that the mass apply to immigrants in DHS-owned fa- incarceration of nearly 400,000 people cilities. However, it is unclear when, if per year in immigration detention is a ever, they will apply to contract facilities failed and dangerous policy and that run by private companies—such as the immigration detention continues to

46 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy be unacceptably hazardous and un- will continue to be at risk of sexual necessary for transgender individuals. assault. Many of the 400,000 individuals held 2. Require annual audits of all facil- in these facilities include permanent ities, including holding facilities. legal residents with long-standing rela- Under the Department of Home- tionships to the United States, asylum land Security’s current implemen- seekers, and victims of human traffick- tation and auditing timelines, many ing. Transgender immigrants who are facilities will not be held account- asylum seekers face unusually long able to implement PREA’s protec- periods of detention. This is detrimen- tions for nearly a decade, and those tal to their psychological well-being immigration facilities that have au- and exposes them to further danger. dits are only every three years. Instead of finding safety in the United 3. Eliminate the use of solitary con- States, LGBTQ asylum seekers who finement as a form of “protective fled persecution and imprisonment custody” for transgender individu- in their home countries, often due to als who cannot be safely detained their LGBT status, are subjected to with the general prison population. further trauma when they are placed 4. Allow individuals to continue their in immigration detention facilities. hormonal treatment when in detention facilities. Policy Recommendations 5. Require officers to identify other Based on a review of recommendations housing options, such as ATD, from the National Immigrant Justice which are far more cost effective Center, the Community Initiatives for and safe to transgender individuals. Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, 6. Require facilities to house trans- the Detention Watch Network, the gender individuals according to Government Accountability Office, their gender identity. the Transgender Law Center, and 7. Allow individuals who are victims the National Center for Transgender of abuse while in DHS custody Equality, some recommendations for to apply for U visa protection and improving the lives of transgender refrain from deporting U visa– Latina immigrants in detention cen- eligible individuals while their ap- ters include the following: plications and case investigations 1. Mandate the application of 2013 are pending. PREA regulations to all forms of custody, including all DHS con- Conclusion tract facilities and short-term hold- The expansion of the immigration de- ing facilities. Until all detention tention system has created a profitable centers and county jails adhere to market for those involved in operating PREA, individuals in DHS custody county and state jails as well as for the

Volume 30 | 2018 47 private-prison industry. The current partment of Homeland Security offers Congress detention bed mandate re- a few new legal protections against sex- quires ICE to have 34,000 immigrants ual assault to transgender individuals in held in detention facilities at any time immigrant detention facilities. These while they wait for their cases to be heard adjustments were only implemented in immigration court. Many reports to DHS-owned facilities and do not confirm that a vast number of human include any protections for individuals rights violations occur in detention cen- in private detention centers. With 60 ters and that transgender immigrants are percent of people held in privately run at even higher risks of violence. immigration detention facilities, there According to the Department of is no doubt that policymakers working Homeland Security, most of the immi- for the rights of all immigrants in all grants detained and deported in the last detention facilities still have work to do year were of Mexican or Central Amer- to guarantee that the financial interests ican descent. For Latina transgender of private corporations do not get in undocumented and noncitizen immi- the way of prioritizing human rights. grants, the fear of deportation is a serious On 5 October, 2017, California’s Gov- reality facing their communities. Once ernor Jerry Brown’s signing of S.B. 29, transgender Latina immigrants enter Dignity Not Detention Act, into law the detention center, they are often sub- will freeze the growth of private, for- ject to incorrect housing arrangements profit immigration detention facilities in male facilities, which makes them in the state of California. This legisla- vulnerable to being sexually harassed by tion will prohibit cities or counties from inmates and guards. Jennicet Gutiérrez, entering into new, or modify existing, a transgender immigrant community contracts with private-prison companies organizer with Familia: Trans Queer for the purposes of expanding immigra- Liberation Movement, a grassroots tion detention.31 If replicated in other group based in Los Angeles, has testi- states, similar legislation that stops the fied that despite the mandatory training construction of further private deten- of guards in Santa Ana detention facil- tions could contribute to the decrease ities, transgender women are told “to of human rights violations that are ram- act male and are often addressed with pant in privately run detention facilities. male pronouns.”30 With guards who lack real sensitivity training to the issues Author Bio facing transgender Latina immigrants Chantiri Duran Resendiz is a Eugene in detention, it is imperative that legis- Cota Robles fellow and doctoral stu- lation and proper government oversight dent at the University of California, Los assures the well-being of this vulnerable Angeles in the Department of Chicana population. and Chicano Studies. She received a The PREA Adjustments to the De- graduate certificate in urban humanities

48 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in project examines the impact of narrative development studies with disciplinary and performance of personal testimony concentration in economics and in the development of the undocu- geographical concentration in Latin mented immigrant youth movement America from the University of Cali- and immigrant student movement fornia, Berkeley. As an interdisciplinary across the country. Her research looks scholar, Chantiri has engaged in a va- at how these intertwined movements riety of methodologies and approaches developed by highlighting the human- in her work with Latino immigrant ity of undocumented young immigrants communities. She collaborated in com- and their right to access educational re- munity participatory research through sources, a path to citizenship, and eco- the Luskin School of Public Affairs nomic opportunities. Community Scholars Program where she had the opportunity to engage with students and community members to create and disseminate a resource guide for recently arrived Central America un- accompanied minors and their families in the Westlake/Pico Union neighborhoods. As a Dream Summer fellow at the UCLA Labor Center, Chantiri has been commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers to develop immigration curriculum for high school and End Notes community college students. Her train- 1 Jonathan Simon, “Refugees in a Carceral Age: ing in urban humanities has provided The Rebirth of Immigration Prisons in the United her the opportunity to build and col- States,” Public Culture 10, no. 3 (1998): 580. 2 Mary Bosworth and Emma Kaufman, laborate with community organizations “Foreigners in a Carceral Age: Immigration in Boyle Heights neighborhood, Mul- and Imprisonment in the US,” Stanford Law & ticultural Communities for Mobility Policy Review 22, no. 1 (2011). 3 Alissa A. Ackerman and Rich Furman, and Self-Help Graphics, and to develop “The criminalization of immigration and the public humanities projects engaging is- privatization of the immigration detention: sues of mobility equity and public art. implications for justice,” Contemporary Justice Her dissertation, “The Development of Review 16, no. 2 (2013): 251. 4 8 U.S.C. § 1325 (2012). a Politicized Voice in Undocumented 5 Ackerman and Furman, “The criminalization Immigrant Student Organizing,” exam- of immigration and privatization of ines the ways in which politicized im- immigration detention,” 253. 6 migrant youth disclosed their personal Yijia Jing, "Prison privatization: a perspective on core governmental functions," Crime, Law testimonies in public spaces and in the and Social Change 54, no. 3–4 (2010): 263. process created collective identities. Her 7 Roxanne Lynne Doty and Elizabeth

Volume 30 | 2018 49 Shannon Wheatley, "Private Detention and the York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004), 188. Immigration Industrial Complex," International 21 Gary J. Gates, “LGBT adult immigrants in Political Sociology 7, no. 4 (2013): 434. the United States,” The Williams Institute, 8 “Learn about us and our role in corrections,” published March 2013, accessed 15 October Corrections Corporation of America, accessed 2017, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/ 15 October 2017, http://www.cca.com/about-cca research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/us- 9 Phillip J. Wood, “Globalization and Prison lgbt-immigrants-mar-2013/. Privatization: Why Are Most of the World's 22 LGBT People and the Prison Rape For-Profit Adult Prisons to Be Found in the Elimination Act (Washington, DC: National American South?,” International Political Center for Transgender Equality, 2012). Sociology 1, no. 3 (2007): 233. 23 Joanna Dreby, "The burden of deportation on 10 Ackerman and Furman, “The criminalization children in Mexican immigrant families," Journal of immigration and privatization of of Marriage and Family 74, no. 4 (2012): 831. immigration detention,” 255. 24 “Immigration Data & Statistics,” 11 Department of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security, last Appropriations Act of 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-76. updated 7 February 2018, https://www.dhs. 12 “Detention Bed Quota,” National Immigrant gov/immigration-statistics. Justice Center, accessed 17 October 2017, 25 Sharita Gruberg, “Dignity Denied: http://www.immigrantjustice.org/eliminate- LGBT Immigrants in the U.S. immigration detention-bed-quota#.VJOQmriA8. Detention,” Center for American Progress, 13 Ashley Mushnick, “Rules Committee Rejects published 25 November 2013, https://www. Deutch-Foster Amendment to End Detention americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/ Bed Mandate,” press release, Congressman reports/2013/11/25/79987/dignity-denied-lgbt- Ted Deutch website, published 30 September immigrants-in-u-s-immigration-detention/. 2015, https://teddeutch.house.gov/news/ 26 Immigration Detention: Additional Actions documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398498. Could Strengthen DHS Efforts to Address 14 Department of Homeland Security, Sexual Abuse (Washington, DC: United States “Standards to Prevent Detect and Respond Government Accountability Office, 2013). to Sexual Abuse and Assault in Confinement 27 Gruberg, “Dignity Denied.” Facilities,” Federal Register 79, no. 45 (2014): 28 Esther Yu Hsi Lee, “Chances are high that 13100–13183. if you’re abused in immigration detention, no 15 “Detention Bed Quota.” one will care,” Think Progress, published 12 16 Raymond Rocco, Transforming Citizenship: April 2017, https://thinkprogress.org/dhs-33000- Democracy, Membership, and Belonging complaints-abuse-civic-cf154614c006/. in Latino Communities (East Lansing, MI: 29 Initial Regulatory Impact Analysis for Michigan State University Press, 2014), 23. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Proposed 17 Amalia Pallares, Family Activism: Immigrant National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Struggles and the Politics of Noncitizenship (New Respond to Prison Rape Under the Prison Rape Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2014), 5. Elimination Act, (Washington, DC: United 18 Mary Romero, “Crossing the immigration States Department of Justice, 2011). and race border: a critical race theory approach 30 Fernanda Santos, “Transgender Women Fear to immigration studies,” Contemporary Justice Abuse in Immigration Detention,” New York Review 11, no. 1 (2008): 23. Times, published 19 January 2017, https://www. 19 Daniel G. Solorzano and Tara Yosso, “Critical nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/transgender-women- Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an fear-abuse-in-immigration-detention.html. Analytical Framework for Educational Research,” 31 CIVIC Legal Guide, “Lawyers File Litigation Qualitative inquiry 8, no. 1 (2002): 24. Hold to Preserve Sexual Assault Records of 20 Evelyn Nakano Glenn, “Race, Gender, and People in Immigration Detention,” CIVIC, Unequal Citizenship in the United States,” in published 7 November 2017, accessed 10 The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity, November 2017, http://www.endisolation.org/ Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis, eds. (New blog/.

50 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Feature Child Nutrition Reauthorization and Latino Childhood Obesity

Lanette García

Abstract Kids Act, which expired in 2015, Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s that can be improved and, in doing Let’s Move campaign focused around so, help decrease childhood obesity health initiatives that will help cre- among Latinos. ate healthier future generations of children. This public health cam- Background paign brought attention to childhood Obesity, having too much body fat obesity and, as a result, helped to or weight that is higher than what set higher standards for the Healthy, is considered a healthy weight for a Hunger-Free Kids Act (2010). The given height, is a much more com- Act authorized funding and set nu- plex issue than a calculated body tritional standards for the US De- mass index (BMI) number.1 Obesity partment of Agriculture (USDA)’s stems from an individual’s behaviors, core child nutrition programs, which race, genetics, socioeconomic status, include the National School Lunch the environment, and other social Program and the School Breakfast determinants of health. While the Program. Together, these programs root cause of obesity can be disputed, serve millions of Latino children na- obesity rates in our country are unde- tionwide. While nutritional standards niably high. More than one-third of have improved, childhood obesity re- US adults (36.5 percent) were consid- mains a pressing issue, especially in ered obese during 2011–2014.2 These the Latino community, where nearly numbers are even more alarming 40 percent of children are overweight within certain ethnic groups, as obe- or obese. This paper will assess pro- sity affects some groups more than visions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free others. For instance, the prevalence

Volume 30 | 2018 51 of obesity among Hispanics is 42.5 ative in the future health of the US percent and only second to non-His- population.7 panic Blacks.3 While childhood obesity con- The long-term effects of obesity tinues to rise, Latinos face unique have been found to include diabetes, challenges and issues that increase heart disease, stroke, certain types of the likelihood of obesity. Latinos are cancers, and negative mental and less likely to have access to healthy emotional health outcomes.4 It is food and have higher exposure to important to note that obesity-re- marketing of less nutritious foods.8 lated diseases not only affect the in- Hispanic neighborhoods have almost dividual but also pose major public one-third fewer chain supermarkets health concerns and cause an eco- than non-Hispanic neighborhoods.9 nomic burden for our country. For Nearly 40 percent of Latino children an overweight or obese individual, are overweight or obese, compared to direct costs often relate to outpatient 28.5 percent of non-Hispanic White and emergency visits and medication. children.10 As adults, Latinos are Obesity and its comorbid conditions disproportionately affected by obesi- result in higher insurance premiums ty-related chronic diseases. Latinos and Medicare and Medicaid spend- are also 1.7 times more likely than ing. In 2013, obesity-related illnesses non-Hispanic White adults to be diag- resulted in a $69 billion cost to our nosed with diabetes by a physician.11 country, including $8 billion to Reducing health disparities among Medicaid.5 Obesity indirectly affects Latinos proves not only important absenteeism and productivity in our to this community but essential to workforce, which totaled $988.8 bil- the future health of our country, as lion in 2014.6 Latinos are expected to grow to more Considering the detrimental long- than a quarter of the US population term public health and economic by 2060.12 Addressing obesity among effects of obesity, many obesity pre- Latino children is critical considering vention programs and interventions that one out of every four children focus on a much younger population: in the United States is Latino, while school-aged children. Overweight in certain school districts this num- and obese children are more likely to ber may be even higher.13 By 2030, perform poorly in school, as well as Latino children are projected to make become overweight or obese adults. up one out of every three children, This reality, together with obesity and 44 percent of all poor children affecting cognitive development, if these trends continue—the same impacts their future outcomes as population who will most likely be adults, which makes addressing obe- able to benefit from programs such sity during childhood a key imper- as Women, Infants, and Children

52 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy (WIC), Supplemental Nutrition As- in over 30 years.18 While the HHFKA sistance Program (SNAP), and free expired in 2015, the child nutrition school meal programs.14 programs continue to operate, as Considering children spend a large re-authorization is not required for portion of their time in school, most them to continue. However, Child children consume a majority of their Nutrition Reauthorization is neces- daily calories at school; for some, sary, as it offers the opportunity to school meals are their only source re-examine and potentially improve of food.15 This situation is especially nutrition standards. As of December true for Latino children, who are 2016, Congress was unable to reach more than twice as likely as non-His- agreement and reauthorize these panic White children to be living in child nutrition programs.19 households with low food security.16 USDA’s Food and Nutrition Ser- As major recipients of the USDA’s vices consist of 13 programs that are school-based core child nutrition pro- designed to combat food insecurity grams, which include the National while promoting healthy and high School Lunch Program (NSLP) and nutritional standards. NSLP and SBP the School Breakfast Program (SBP), are two programs specifically target- Latino children can benefit from im- ing childhood nutrition at school that provements made to the policies that are appropriate and effective points of fund these programs and, in doing intervention as they directly impact so, reduce their chances of becoming millions of Latino children they serve overweight or obese. every day.20 While Latino children make up about one-quarter of all chil- Existing Policies and Programs dren participating in the NSLP, they Among the objectives of the for- also make up more than one-third mer Let’s Move campaign was the of income-eligible nonparticipants, Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act suggesting that there is ample room (HHFKA) of 2010 as a means of for improvement in program enroll- achieving improved school nutri- ment.21 Limited English proficiency tional standards.17 This legislation au- and apprehension or confusion about thorized funding and set nutritional application requirements were cited standards for USDA’s core child in one study as barriers that prevented nutrition programs, mandating that eligible children and families from ac- recommendations from the National cessing programs such as the NSLP.22 Academy of Medicine, formerly the In some school districts, coordi- Institute of Medicine (IOM), be nated efforts between Medicaid, used, changing nutritional standards SNAP, and the NSLP have allowed significantly and reforming this vital for direct certification, which au- safety net program for the first time to-enrolls Medicaid and SNAP-eligi-

Volume 30 | 2018 53 ble students into the NSLP without The School Breakfast Program, further paperwork from parents.23 another critical school-based nutri- Not all states have successfully done tion program, had just over half of so, however, despite efforts through low-income children participate in the HHFKA to institute reforms to the 2015–2016 school year, which strengthen and expand direct certi- highlights the need for increased en- fication. Some states have identified rollment in this underutilized pro- data collection and communication gram.28 According to a report from issues with their local Medicaid and the US Congressional Budget Office SNAP agencies that have prevented (CBO), Latino children make up them from directly certifying chil- the majority (38 percent) of all the dren into the NSLP.24 A 2016 USDA SBP participants in the 2010–2011 report notes that only 24 states have school year.29 A 2008 study showed successfully implemented direct certi- that the SBP enables children to eat fication at a rate at or above HHFKA’s more nutritious foods, lead more 95 percent performance target.25 Cal- emotionally and physically healthy ifornia and Texas, the two top Latino- lives, and improve their cognitive populated states, were not among and mental abilities.30 School dis- these 24 states. tricts in Los Angeles and Chicago Another recently implemented that have increased participation in provision of the HHFKA was the the SBP have been shown to reduce Community Eligibility Provision absenteeism while increasing test (CEP), which allows the nation’s performance, reducing food insecu- highest poverty schools and districts to rity, and improving dietary intake.31 eliminate household paperwork and In an effort to increase participation offer all students breakfast and lunch in the SBP, several school districts at no additional cost, eliminating have introduced Universal School the stigma of free or reduced-priced Breakfast, which provides breakfast lunch.26 School districts with more to all students regardless of income.32 than 40 percent of their students In Newark, New Jersey, the public identified as eligible for free school school district saw an increase of meals, based off of previous eligibility more than 150 percent in SBP par- for other programs such as SNAP, can ticipation after implementing Uni- participate. Similar to direct certifi- versal School Breakfast during the cation, CEP is still in its early stages; 2004–2005 school year.33 the 2016–2017 school year was its Reducing obesity rates among third year since being implemented Latino children in the United States nationwide, with slightly over half of is not only a matter of increasing all eligible schools nationwide partic- enrollment in programs such as the ipating (55 percent).27 NSLP and SBP but ensuring that

54 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy these programs adhere to high nutri- school lunch revenue is up approx- tional standards, another important imately $200 million since imple- component of the HHFKA. In 2012, menting new nutritional standards. the USDA released its new nutri- This increase accounts for the in- tional standards, making significant centivized additional six cents per changes for the first time in 30 years. meal for school districts meeting the Using science-based recommenda- new standards and the annual reim- tions set forth by the National Acad- bursement-rate adjustments.38 Some emy of Medicine, the new standards school districts have also expressed included reducing the sodium con- concerns around food waste—chil- tent of meals gradually over a ten- dren throwing away unappetizing year period; sizing portions based on healthy food options. Food waste con- grade level (i.e., fewer calories for tinues to be a prevalent problem in younger children); and introducing schools; however, the new standards more whole grains, fruits, and veg- have in fact resulted in a decrease etables, among other recommenda- of vegetables being discarded (60 tions.34 After receiving backlash from percent compared to 75 percent be- food-industry lobbyists, certain regu- fore the implementation of USDA’s lations have been relaxed. As an ex- new standards).39 The new standards ample, the USDA is actively working did not result in an increase of food to rollback nutrition standards with waste per person; overall food waste respect to sodium, whole grains, and remains the same.40 Lastly, the issue flavored milk.35 Another important of “double dipping,” children who component of the HHFKA provides may already be consuming meals at an additional six cents per lunch re- home in addition to the ones offered imbursement to school districts that at school, has been raised. Double are in compliance with USDA’s nu- dipping, especially in school districts tritional guidelines, the first meal where Universal School Breakfast is reimbursement increase in over 30 in place, is considered problematic years.36 As of July 2014, 92 percent as it is thought to increase the likeli- of school districts across the coun- hood of obesity and contradict some try indicated that they are receiving of the main intentions of HHFKA. the reimbursement; only 12 states Similar to the concerns around fund- reported 100 percent of their school ing and food waste, concerns around districts in compliance with the new double dipping have been found to nutritional standards.37 be false in that there is no correlation Major concerns around imple- to excessive weight gain.41 menting these child nutrition programs relate to funding. USDA Recommendations reports, however, have shown that Currently, these programs are set in

Volume 30 | 2018 55 place to reduce food insecurity and mandated and readily available combat childhood obesity, but na- for families as set forth by the Na- tionwide participation rates are not tional Standards for Culturally yet where they should be. Below are and Linguistically Appropriate recommendations that should be Services.42 The expansion of the taken into consideration with the next SBP should be done so with the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. implementation of the Universal • Increase enrollment in the NSLP School Breakfast across all school and SBP through mandated direct districts. certification, CEP, and Universal • Incentivize school districts to meet School Breakfast. The burden high nutritional standards by proof elaborate paperwork should viding higher reimbursement rates. not fall on parents, particularly Childhood obesity rates will not for families who are already eli- decrease solely based on program gible for free or reduced-priced enrollment and participation rates meals, who have often already without nutritional standards completed paperwork for other being considered. With Child programs such as Medicaid and Nutrition Reauthorization well SNAP. This initiative can be overdue, it is imperative that nu- facilitated through auto-enroll- tritional standards currently set in ment (direct certification and place be protected and improved CEP) and can include an opt-out upon. Nutritional standards option for parents. This process should be reflective of the origi- should be streamlined by improv- nal recommendations set forth by ing data-exchange systems be- the National Academy of Med- tween local Medicaid and SNAP icine that have been weakened agencies and local school dis- and made less restrictive since tricts. Since being executed eight 2010. School districts should be years ago, nearly half of all states incentivized to meet these stan- have successfully implemented dards by increasing current reim- direct certification at a rate at bursement rates by an additional or above HHFKA’s 95-percent ten cents. Although increasing performance target—mandating current reimbursement rates by that all school districts nation- ten cents would increase federal wide directly certify eligible chil- spending by $10.2 billion (or 4 dren within the next eight years percent) between 2016–2025, is attainable. If school districts increasing reimbursement rates choose to mandate some form of not only incentivizes schools to paperwork, alternative language comply with improved nutritional applications should be federally standards but also helps school

56 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy districts with their increased costs in USDA’s school-based core child of providing healthier meals.43 nutrition programs, while improving nutritional standards, we can help Conclusion decrease childhood obesity among With the Child Nutrition Reauthori- Latino children in the United States. zation overdue, protecting nutrition programs, funding, and standards set Author Bio: forth by HHFKA and the Let’s Move Lanette García is a policy analyst for campaign proves important. These the Health Policy Project at Unido- programs are crucial to our most sUS, formerly the National Coun- vulnerable populations, low-income cil of La Raza, the largest national children, many of whom are Latino Hispanic civil rights and advocacy children. Increased enrollment in the organization in the United States. National School Lunch Program and Lanette works across various issue the School Breakfast Program is im- areas including child nutrition policy, perative and can be achieved through health care reform, and an emerging direct certification and the Commu- state-level policy and advocacy port- nity Eligibility Program and through folio. She conducts policy analysis Universal School Breakfast. Concur- that examines the impact of various rent with program enrollment rates, health and nutrition policy proposals nutritional standards set in place and advocates for policy options that should be reflective of the original will benefit the Latino community. recommendations set forth by the Na- Lanette is a recent Congressional tional Academy of Medicine that have Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) been weakened and made less restric- Health Graduate fellow, gaining ex- tive since 2010. While school districts perience with the National Hispanic already have incentives to comply Medical Association and having the with the current nutritional stan- privilege to work for Congresswoman dards, the reimbursement rate should Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Before arriv- increase by an additional ten cents to ing in Washington, DC, Lanette was ensure that all schools districts across a caseworker at the Illinois Depart- the country adhere to these standards. ment of Human Services, helping Although an increased reimburse- underserved families and individu- ment rate will result in an immediate als enroll in Medicaid and SNAP. increase in federal spending, it is im- Lanette is a first-generation Ameri- portant to note that investing in the can, born and raised in Chicago’s Lit- health of our children will help de- tle Village and Pilsen neighborhoods. crease future obesity-related expenses She earned a master’s degree in pub- in our country. Through increasing lic health and a bachelor’s degree in enrollment and participation rates anthropology from the University of

Volume 30 | 2018 57 Michigan. As a graduate student, she interned at Healthy Schools Cam- End Notes paign, where she researched devel- 1 “Getting started: What is Obesity?” Let’s Move!, accessed December 2016, https:// oping health and wellness policies in letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ Chicago Public Schools and helped obesity. educate parents from predominantly 2Cynthia L. Ogden, Margaret D. Carroll, Latino communities in Chicago on Cheryl D. Fryar, and Katherine M. Flegal, “Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and food justice issues. Youth: United States, 2011–2014.” NCHS data brief, no. 219 (2015): 1–8. 3 Ogden et al., “Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and Youth.” 4 “The Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last updated 5 June 2015, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects. 5 Y. Claire Wang, John Pamplin, Michael W. Long, Zachary J. Ward, Steven L. Gortmaker, and Tatiana Andreyeva, “Severe Obesity In Adults Cost State Medicaid Programs Nearly $8 Billion In 2013.” Health Affairs 34, no. 11 (2013): 1923–31. 6 Hugh Waters and Ross DeVol, Weighing Down America: The Health and Economic Impact of Obesity (Washington, DC: Milken Institute, 2016), 1–60. 7 Toni M. Burkhalter and Charles Hillman, “A Narrative Review of Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity to Cognition and Scholastic Performance across the Human Lifespan.” Advances in Nutrition 2, no. 2 (2011): 201S–206S. 8 “Special Report: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Obesity,” Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, accessed December 2016, http://stateofobesity.org/disparities/latinos. 9. Lisa M. Powell, Sandy Slater, Donka Mirtcheva, Yanjun Bao, and Frank J. Chaloupka, “Food store availability and neighborhood characteristics in the United States,” Preventive Medicine 44, no. 3 (2007): 189–195. 10 Minerva Delgado, Samantha Vargas Poppe, and Steven Lopez, “Trends in Overweight and Obesity among Latino Children,” Profiles of Latino Health A Close Look at Latino Child Nutrition 3 (Washington, DC: National Council of La

58 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Raza, 2015). 23 Quinn Moore, Kevin Conway, Brandon 11 “Diabetes and Hispanic Americans,” US Kyler, and Andrew Gothro, Direct Department of Health and Human Services Certification in the National School Lunch Office of Minority Health, last modified 11 Program: State Implementation Progress, May 2016, https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/ School Year 2014–2015 (Washington, DC: omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=63. United States Department of Agriculture, 12 Sandra L. Colby and Jennifer M. Ortman, 2016). “Projections of the Size and Composition of 24 Moore et al., Direct Certification in the the U.S. Population: 2014 to 2060,” Current National School Lunch Program. Population Reports (Washington, DC: US 25 Moore et al., Direct Certification in the Census Bureau, 2015). National School Lunch Program. 13 Colby and Ortman, “Projections of 26 “School Meals: Community Eligibility the Size and Composition of the U.S. Provision,” United States Department of Population.” Agriculture, last modified 8 August 2017, 14 Janet Murguía, Robert Menendez, Patricia https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/ Foxen, Linda Jacobsen, Janis Bowdler, community-eligibility-provision. Leighton Ku, Jim Weill, Marion Wright 27 Jessie Hewins, Randy Rosso, and Alison Edelman, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Juan Maurice, Community Eligibility Continues Sánchez, et al., Investing in Our Future: to Grow in the 2016–2017 School Year The State of Latino Children and Youth (Washington, DC: Food Research & Action (Washington, DC: National Council of La Center, 2017),. Raza, 2011).. 28 Etienne Melcher, School Breakfast: 15 The Weight of the Nation: Community Making it Work in Large School Districts, Activation Kit: Topics (Oakland, CA: Kaiser (Washington, DC: Food Research & Action Permanente, accessed December 2016). Center, 2017). 16. Latino Hunger Fact Sheet (Chicago: 29 Child Nutrition Programs: Spending Feeding America, 2017). and Policy Options, (Washington, DC: 17 Solving the Program of Childhood Obesity Congressional Budget Office, 2015). Within a Generation (Washington, DC: 30 J. Larry Brown, William H. Beardslee, White House Task Force on Childhood and Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Impact of Obesity, 2010, School Breakfast on Children’s Health and 18 “School Meals: Healthy Hunger-Free Learning: An Analysis of the Scientific Kids Act,” United States Department of Research (Gaithersburg, MD: Sodexo Agriculture, last modified 5 October 2017, Foundation, 2008). https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/ 31 Michael M. Grynbaum, “With Classroom healthy-hunger-free-kids-act. Breakfasts, a Concern That Some Children 19 “Child Nutrition Reauthorization,” Eat Twice,” The New York Times, 19 April Food Research & Action Center, accessed 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/ December 2016, http://frac.org/action/child- nyregion/with-classroom-breakfasts-some- nutrition-reauthorization-cnr. children-may-eat-twice.html. 20 Minerva Delgado, Samantha Vargas 32. Start School with Breakfast: A Guide to Poppe, and Steven Lopez, “Hispanic Increasing School Breakfast Participation Participation in School-Based Nutrition (Washington, DC: NEA Health Information Programs,” Profiles of Latino Health A Network and Share Our Strength, accessed Close Look at Latino Child Nutrition 10 December 2016). (Washington, DC: National Council of La 33 Start School with Breakfast. Raza, 2015). 34 Department of Agriculture, “Nutrition 21 Delgado et al., “Hispanic Participation in Standards in the National School Lunch 22 Delgado et al., “Hispanic Participation in and School Breakfast Programs,” Federal School-Based Nutrition Programs.” Register 77, no. 17 (2012): 4088–4167.

Volume 30 | 2018 59 35 “Ag Secretary Perdue Moves to Make School Meals Great Again,” United States Department of Agriculture, last modified 1 June 2017, https://www.fns.usda.gov/ pressrelease/2017/003217. 36 “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act,” United States Department of Agriculture, last modified 6 June 2017, https://www.fns.usda. gov/tags/healthy-hunger-free-kids-act-0. 37 National School Lunch Program: Trends and Factors Affecting Student Participation, (Washington, DC: Food Research & Action Center, 2015). 38 “Fact Sheet: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act School Meals Implementation,” United States Department of Agriculture, last modified 1 June 2017, https://www.fns.usda. gov/pressrelease/2014/009814. 39 Juliana F.W. Cohen, Scott Richardson, Ellen Parker, Paul J. Catalano, and Eric B. Rimm, “Impact of the New U.S. Department of Agriculture School Meal Standards on Food Selection, Consumption, and Waste,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 46, no. 4 (2014): 388–394. 40 Juliana F.W. Cohen, Scott Richardson, Ellen Parker, Paul J. Catalano, and Eric B. Rimm 41 “Impact of the New U.S. Department of Agriculture School Meal Standards on Food Selection, Consumption, and Waste,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 46, no. 4 (2014): 388–394.213–220. 42 “The National CLAS Standards,” US Department of Health and Human Services, last modified 1 September 2016, accessed December 2016, https://minorityhealth.hhs. gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlid=53. 43 Child Nutrition Programs.

60 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Featured Art Steve Alfaro

Artist Bio: Steve Alfaro is the son of immigrant parents from Guatemala. He is a graphic artist, designer, and a senior advisor for creative and digital at Voto Latino. His social media designs have gone viral multiple of times, and his work has garnered awards and recog- nitions including a Webby Honoree Award and a MySpace Impact Award for Online Organizing. Steve is currently an Art for Social Impact fellow at the Sanctuaries DC. He continues to do his graphic art, which has allowed him to display his work at multiple art exhibits across the country including Manifest Hope in Wash- ington, DC, Re: form School in New York, Manifest Equality & Manifest Justice in Los Angeles, and the Cross- Lines exhibit at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building in Washing- ton, DC.

Volume 30 | 2018 61 “Dream Act - Good for America” is part of a “Tierra” is part of a series of posters showing series of posters showing Capitol Hill with an Capitol Hill with an open dome. The idea open dome. In this art piece, the actions of behind this piece is a bit more abstract, activist and lawmakers pushing the DREAM envisioning nature getting involved in the Act forward from within in a fun and fight for Earth justice. The hybrid between aesthetically pleasing way. the protest signs and the tree shows two worlds uniting for the fight against climate change.

“The vote” is an art piece inspired and dedicated to our living legend, activist, and fighter, Dolores Huerta. Her work, contributions to our country about people power, comes down to getting our community involved, to participate, and to vote in all elections. The flames and symbols around her represent her love, fire, and fight for social justice.

62 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Commentary The Importance of College- Going Culture for Latinos prior to High School

Griselda Guevara-Cruz

and career readiness are critical ne- Abstract: cessities in the 21st century. Creating The earlier students are exposed to the an inclusive college-going culture idea of college and nurtured to believe for all students in every elementary, in their ability to achieve success, the middle, and high school can better more likely it is that they will live up to prepare Latinos for college and career those expectations and feel prepared to success. It is important to focus on achieve their goals. A big component Latino initiatives because they are a of students’ success is access to re- growing representation in the educa- sources and support systems in school. tion pipeline and are also one of the To be college and career ready means most underperforming groups. Latino leaving a K–12 system with adequate college preparedness has increased academic preparation (including ac- but remains lower than other groups. ademic planning), social awareness, Latino students face challenges early financial literacy, and a clear under- on in the education pipeline because standing of career pathways. Invest- they have the least access in compar- ments in middle school college and ison to all racial and ethnic groups, career coaches, early commitment particularly to high-quality pre-schools, scholarships, and improved family en- which have a direct correlation with gagement can ameliorate secondary positive education benefits.1 Other bar- and postsecondary opportunities for riers commonly experienced by Latino Latino students. students are being English learners, coming from low-income families, and Introduction attending high-poverty schools with less Narrowing the opportunity gap and experienced educators.2 fostering an environment for college According to the National Cen-

Volume 30 | 2018 63 ter for Education Statistics, Latino literacy, and a clear understanding of students comprise 26.8 percent of postsecondary opportunities. These all pre-K through 12th grade public opportunities should encompass tech- school population.3 The earlier these nical, vocational, two-year, and four- students are exposed to the idea of year institutions. college and nurtured to believe they This paper presents regional and fed- are capable in achieving success, the eral initiatives that have helped Latino more likely it is that they will live up students and other underserved young to those expectations and feel prepared people navigate the K–12 educational to achieve their goals. Currently, the pipeline and pursue postsecondary college participation rate, including opportunities—academic and career enrollment in two- or four-year col- tracks. Furthermore, this paper seeks to leges, for Latinos is at a high 35 per- add to conversations regarding college cent.4 However, as per The Condition and career readiness for Latino youth by of Education 2016, Latinos ages 25–29 offering policy recommendations for instill trail behind other groups in ob- vestments in middle school college and taining a four-year degree, with only career coaches. This will ameliorate 16 percent earning a bachelor’s degree secondary and postsecondary opportu- or higher in comparison to 43 percent nities for Latino students, a community of Whites, 63 percent of Asians/Pacific that is rising in numbers and should Islanders, and 21 percent of Blacks.5 have opportunities to positively contrib- In Latino communities, early conver- ute in all sectors of society. sations regarding postsecondary opportunities and access to information Background and Importance and resources can help Latino stu- Importance of College and Career dents navigate the educational system Awareness and Preparedness and move up the economic ladder. As Creating a college-going culture in per UnidosUS, formerly known as the K–8 grades is important because National Council of La Raza, “poverty these are fundamental years to en- and other barriers to economic mo- gage young people and encourage bility will never be eradicated unless academic success. More importantly, children from communities of color today, college readiness simultane- are thriving” in schools.6 A big compo- ously means career readiness. The nent of students’ success is access to re- majority of jobs in the country now resources and support systems in school, quire some postsecondary education. which help students become college There is a demand for a well-educated and career ready—leaving the K–12 workforce, specifically to fill jobs that system with an adequate academic require a degree in a science, tech- preparation (including academic nology, engineering, or mathematics planning), social awareness, financial (STEM) field or other technical disci-

64 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy plines7 because these fields drive the higher.13 While US Latino students economy. For the United States to enroll in two-year institutions up to maintain its competency in the global one and a half times more than their economy, it requires a workforce that non-Hispanic White counterparts,14 is skilled.8 Additionally, jobs in these they often require additional support sectors often pay a salary above the in their academic tracts, including poverty line and provide opportunities course remediation. There is a need for career advancement.9 In STEM to better prepare Latinos to become careers, Latinos are still not well rep- college ready in order for them to suc- resented: roughly 5 percent Latino ceed in higher-education institutions. in comparison to 70 percent White.10 Moreover, as they continue to be the For the Latino community to achieve fastest-growing majority in the United success in postsecondary opportuni- States, they need to be well equipped ties, whether in higher education or political actors of this country. the workforce (especially in STEM At a Glance: US Latinos and Their fields), they need to be fully equipped Educational Attainment with college readiness early in their Currently, there are nearly 58 million education. Latinos in the United States,15 only 15 Environments that cultivate a percent of whom have earned a bach- college-going atmosphere make stu- elor’s degree.16 Twenty-one percent of dents feel safe, welcomed, and in- all Latinos currently live in poverty cluded in the learning community. in comparison to 13.5 percent of the In the Latino community, dropout general US population.17 Access to rates continue to be higher than their equitable educational opportunities is non-Hispanic counterparts. Although critical in order to address poverty and the overall Hispanic dropout rate has ensure generational and economic sus- dropped in recent years to 10.6 per- tainability. Latinos now make up 26.8 cent, it remains higher than White (5.2 percent of all public-school students percent) and Black (7.4 percent) drop- according to the National Center for out rates.11 As such, it is imperative to Education Statistics’ Fall 2017 Back prepare young Latinos to matriculate to School Statistics.18 The latter pop- through primary and secondary school ulation percentage can be attributed and eventually pursue a postsecondary to the high school dropout rate. It is education. According to Excelencia in important for Latinos to be exposed Education, 65 percent of Latinos grad- to college and career readiness topics uate from high school, with 70 per- by the time they reach eighth grade to cent of this group enrolling in higher maximize the opportunities available education institutions.12 Nevertheless, to them after high school. For Latino just 22 percent of those enrolled go youth, interventions prior to high on to complete an associate degree or school are crucial and show a positive

Volume 30 | 2018 65 correlation with success in high school In the United States, the 2008 ACT and postsecondary institutions. research23 demonstrated that the ear- Students who come from a low-in- lier students are equipped with infor- come family, high-poverty schools, and mation on how to navigate K–12 and are first generation (first in family to at- learn about postsecondary opportuni- tend college) have a lower likelihood ties, the more likely they are to grad- of being academically and socially pre- uate on time from high school and pared for college or being considered pursue opportunities. An increased college and career ready by the time focus on college and career readiness they graduate from high school. Com- in settings prior to high school provides plete College America research shows students with an increased likelihood that in four-year colleges, 20.6 percent of being successful in high school and of Hispanic students needed remedia- beyond.24 According to a report from tion in comparison to the average 19.9 ACT in 2016 that measured college percent of the overall student demo- readiness of high school students seek- graphic.19 In two-year colleges, 58.3 ing enrollment in college, 64 percent percent of Hispanic students needed of all 2016 US high school graduates remediation in comparison to 51.7 took the ACT, an 8.6 percent increase percent of the overall student popu- from 2015.25 The number of under- lation.20 Another indicator, income, served students taking the ACT test showed that 64.7 percent of students also increased: 44 percent among His- of low income in two-year colleges panic/Latino students and 23 percent needed remediation. In four-year col- among African American students.26 leges, 31.9 percent of low-income Overall, 84 percent of 2016 ACT- students needed remediation.21 As re- tested graduates aspired to obtain a search conducted by ACT suggests, postsecondary education.27 This report “if we want not merely to improve but breaks down some data that support to maximize the college and career the claims made around the impor- readiness of U.S. students, we need to tance of college awareness and pre- intervene not only in high school but paredness, particularly in settings prior also before high school, in the upper to high school (emphasis on eighth- elementary grades and in middle grade academic achievement). school.”22 Students’ success in becom- Twenty-eight states are now partic- ing college and career ready is the re- ipating in statewide partnerships with sult of a process extending throughout ACT on college awareness and pre- K–12 grades, not just in a single stage paredness—as such, the number of in the educational journey. students tested has increased.28 The Why Is Exposure to College and ACT report provides a much deeper Career Readiness at an Earlier Age and more representative sample of Fundamental? students in comparison to the purely

66 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy self-selected college-going population. graduate on time, and go on to post- A prominent detail woven throughout secondary institutions of learning. the report is that an 8th-grade student’s Students who come from low-income grade is the most important predic- and underrepresented backgrounds, tor of 12th grade GPA, followed by such as English-language learners, academic achievement and psycho- farm workers, special education stu- social and behavioral factors. Earlier dents, should be encouraged to take access to testing (prior to 12th grade) rigorous academic courses and par- for students from low-income back- ticipate in extracurricular activities. grounds would be beneficial because Through these, students learn new they would have more opportunities to skills that they otherwise would not in improve their test scores and because the classroom setting, such as social they would be exposed to various post- and decision-making skills, and they secondary opportunities with ample develop an increased interest in pur- time to plan. There was also a clear suing postsecondary education. discrepancy in an increased number of students interested in vocational or Programs that Promote College technical and two-year degrees versus and Career Awareness and going straight into a four-year college. Readiness prior to High School This suggests that students now better Gaining Early Awareness and understand that they do not have to Readiness for Undergraduate Programs go to a four-year university to be suc- Currently, Gaining Early Awareness cessful and that broad opportunities and Readiness for Undergraduate Pro- are available from other postsecondary grams (GEAR UP), a federal grant opportunities. whose goal is to increase the number Although this report shows import- of underrepresented students who ant information, it is not indicative are prepared to enter and succeed in of all 50 states. These numbers do postsecondary education, serves as an not take into consideration students example of a program geared toward who did not have access to informa- promoting and preparing underrepre- tion or resources to sign up for the sented students to complete secondary ACT. There is still a lot of work to be education and enter higher-education done in preparing young people for institutions. GEAR UP, signed into college, particularly those that come law in September 1998 by then-Presi- from a low-income background. ACT dent Bill Clinton as part of the 1998 research has consistently shown that Amendments to the Higher Education when students take rigorous academic Act of 1965 (HEA), provides early in- courses in middle school, particularly tervention services at middle and high in eighth grade, they are more likely schools with high-poverty, first-gen- to succeed—do well in high school, eration students. Through initiatives

Volume 30 | 2018 67 such as the Career and College Clubs non-profits) place recent college grad- (CCC) and Youth Leadership Summit, uates in underserved middle and high students gain access to knowledge that schools across the United States to con- fosters, creates, and promotes college tribute to educational support systems awareness and preparedness. This in- as tutors or college and career coaches. cludes information on the importance Some examples include the College of school attendance, matriculation, Advising Corps and the College Suc- and professionalization and the im- cess Foundation. Both programs work pact the students can have as positive to increase the number of underserved, contributing members of society. More low-income students graduating from importantly, students who go through high school and pursuing postsecond- GEAR UP have a clear understanding ary opportunities—college or career of what college success entails (aware- tracks. While College Advising Corps ness, persistence, and graduation). partners up with 15 higher-education A study conducted by CCC in 2015 institutions across the country, the Col- found that students who engaged in lege Success Foundation has a presence CCC were 85 percent more likely to in Washington State and Washington, enroll in college than peers who did DC. Both programs create or expand not participate in the program.29 on a college-going culture—aware- One limitation of GEAR UP is that ness, preparedness, and financial lit- it is a competitive grant, so not every- eracy—at the schools served. This is one who would benefit from it has ac- achieved through the implementation cess to the resources or information. As of school-wide college awareness/read- such, it is imperative to look for other iness curricula, providing students with ways to provide support in alleviating academic and social enrichment activ- the barriers that many Latino students ities such as mentorship, opportunities may have in their navigation of the to visit college campuses, and in Wash- K–12 pipeline and eventual pathway ington State’s case, signing up eligible to higher education or other opportu- students for the Washington State Col- nities. The services GEAR UP provides lege Bound Scholarship. Furthermore, can be easily emulated if resources, in school districts have the capacity to the form of staff to serve as college and implement college awareness and pre- career coaches, materials, and funding paredness curricula by providing the to carry out the programs, are provided right training for educators to send con- to the schools. sistent messages to all students that they College Advising through Ameri- are capable of pursuing postsecondary Corps State and National Service opportunities. More resources and ac- Some existing AmeriCorps state and cess to information for students prior national programs (through varied to high school around the topic of col- partnerships with either states or local lege and career pathways will increase

68 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy the likelihood of their success in high school and beyond. Investments in Middle School Although these programs have a College-Going Culture via tremendous impact on the students College and Career Coaches served, their shortcomings are the in- Middle schools will benefit tre- consistencies in program longevity or mendously from the creation of a renewability and continuous turnover college-going culture and establish- of coaches. The inconsistency in service ment of an onsite college and career can be disruptive to the mission of cre- coach to work with students and em- ating a college-going culture and pre- phasize the importance of planning paring students to thrive academically. ahead. College and career coaches The nature of AmeriCorps’s programs can increase students’ awareness and is for individuals to serve one or two preparedness in academics, social terms as volunteers—limited monetary capital, and financial literacy. In this compensation plays an important factor capacity, these coaches can collabo- in whether AmeriCorps members will rate with school administrators on the serve a second term. In order for pro- implementation of school-wide col- grams like these to have greater impact, lege awareness/readiness curricula, these positions (of college and career providing students with academic coaches) need to be written in as part of and social enrichment activities the school budget. Research conducted such as mentorship, opportunities to by the College Board revealed the pos- visit college campuses, and signing itive impact of having college advising up eligible students for early com- coaches in schools, particularly on mitment scholarships. Indiana and Latino students and students receiving Washington State have championed free and/or reduced-price lunch. 30 early commitment scholarship initiatives through their state legislature for Recommendations the 21st Century Scholars Program Investments in middle school college and College Bound Scholarship, re- and career coaches can ameliorate spectively. These initiatives alleviate secondary and postsecondary oppor- the economic hurdles of college for tunities for Latino students. At the low-income students and encourage local level, districts can include these students to have high school plans, important roles in their school-year persist in high school, and pursue budget—prioritizing schools with the postsecondary opportunities—college highest needs. Subsequently, the De- or career. partment of Education should expand All students should have access to on how it defines the roles of parapro- college preparation curriculum to fessionals in schools “labeled” as Title better equip them for postsecondary 1 and mobilizes access for all students. opportunities. Students’ grades, at-

Volume 30 | 2018 69 tendance rates, and levels of school ment of Education should expand on engagement prior to high school how it defines the roles of paraprofes- are correlated with their ability to sionals in schools “labeled” as Title 1 complete high school and position and mobilizes access for all students. them to be college and career ready. As part of the new provisions of Therefore, increased investment in ESSA, schools can implement col- college and career counselors and lege and career awareness and col- coaches in middle school will ben- lege-going culture as part of their efit students tremendously. At the strategic plan to improve the aca- local level, districts can include these demic achievement of the disadvan- important roles in their school-year taged. Particularly after Sec. 1002(d) budget, prioritizing schools with the (Prevention and Intervention Pro- highest needs. Along with it, school grams for Youth Who Are Neglected, districts should have family engage- Delinquent, or at Risk), (h) (School ment as part of their priorities. Part Dropout Prevention), and (i) (School of family engagement can be to fa- Improvement),31 a provision that miliarize Latino parents with the US schools can use in their accountabil- education system—including post- ity plans to the Department of Educa- secondary opportunities—and the tion can be to have paraprofessionals college and career readiness prepa- serve as college and career coaches ration that takes place prior to high as part of schools’ goals to ensure school. School districts need to see students meet the proficiency test, Latino parents as partners in raising English language proficiency, and student academic achievement, pro- graduation rate expectations. Para- moting persistence, and cultivating professionals already have a lot of aspirations for opportunities beyond access to students. As such, they can high school. be leveraged to teach students about Creating pathways for paraprofes- college and career readiness through sionals to serve in the capacity of col- different points of contact—reading, lege and career coaches can provide an writing, and mathematics. Paraprofes- opportunity for schools to better serve sionals are key instructors in schools Latino students while providing para- and should be provided with oppor- professionals with an opportunity to tunities to have a participatory role in expand their impact in the classroom. an important component of student Through amendments to Title 1 of the learning and development. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), paraprofessionals could serve as college Conclusion and career coaches onsite, with them It is imperative to ensure that the ed- and the school receiving incentives for ucation system paves clear pathways, their work. Subsequently, the Depart- ones that include college-readiness

70 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy opportunities for Latino students, in order for students to fulfill their potential and become positive contributing members of society. By having intentional efforts investing in middle school college and career coaches, improved family engagement, and early commitment scholarships, we can ameliorate secondary and postsecondary opportunities for Latino students. There is a need for federal, state, and local policymakers to affect change by supporting initiatives and legislation that grant students access to readiness for college and career readiness path- National Association for Chicana and ways. Federal and state grants aimed Chicano Studies Undergraduate Fred- at providing access to information erick A. Cervantes Student Premio for and resources to underserved and un- her paper, “El hombre mexicano in- derrepresented young people create migrante a través de las canciones de a lifelong impact, especially among Los Tigres del Norte.” Most recently, Latino student populations, changing Griselda served as the Congressional the trajectory of their lives and that of Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 2016– their families and future generations. 2017 Secondary Education Graduate Fellow. She is deeply committed to Author Bio narrowing the opportunity gap and fos- Griselda Guevara-Cruz is an educator tering comprehensive work for college based in Washington State. She was and career readiness for Latino youth. born in Portland, Oregon, to parents Griselda is an experienced educator from La Mixteca region in Oaxaca, and an actively involved community México. The daughter of two mono- member. She has served on various lingual indigenous immigrant parents, boards ranging from community ac- Griselda is a first-generation US citi- countability in the juvenile justice zen and a first-generation formal edu- centers to her local school board’s cation attendee. Griselda received her research and evaluation committee. BA in Spanish with honors, with dou- These experiences continue to shape ble minors in education and sociology her passion and commitment to equity from Whitman College. She earned in educational services for underrepre- her MA in Mexican American studies sented and underserved youth while at The University of Texas at Austin. continuously mentoring young adults She is the recipient of the 2012 with college navigation.

Volume 30 | 2018 71 12,13 Santiago et al., The Condition of Latinos in Education, 3. End Notes 14. Thomas D. Snyder, Cristobal De Brey, and 1 Andrew H. Nichols, A Look at Latino Sally A. Dillow, Digest of Education Statistics Student Success: Identifying Top- and Bottom- 2015, 51st Edition (Washington, DC: US Performing Institutions (Washington, DC: Department of Education, 2016), 437–39. The Education Trust, 2017). 15 Antonio Flores, “How the U.S. Hispanic 2 Nichols, A Look at Latino Student Success. population is changing,” Pew Research 3 “Fast Facts: Back to school statistics,” Center, published on 18 September 2017, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed 5 February 2018, http://www. last updated 2017, accessed on 5 February pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/18/how- 2018, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display. the-u-s-hispanic-population-is-changing/. asp?id=372. 16 Krogstad, “5 facts about Latinos and education.” 4 Jens Manuel Krogstad, “5 facts about 17 Bernadette D. Proctor, Jessica L. Semega, Latinos and education,” Pew Research and Melissa A. Kollar, Income and Poverty in Center, published 28 July 2016, accessed on the United States: 2015, (Washington, DC: 5 February 2018, http://www.pewresearch. United States Census Bureau, 2016). org/fact-tank/2016/07/28/5-facts-about-latinos- 18 “Fast Facts: Back to school statistics.” and-education/. 19,20,21 Remediation: Higher Education's Bridge 5 Institute of Educational Sciences, National to Nowhere (Indianapolis: Complete College Center for Education Statistics, “Population America, 2012), 6–12. Characteristics, Educational Attainment of 22 “Introduction: The Overwhelming Young Adults,” in The Condition of Education Importance of Being on Target for College 2016 (Washington, DC: US Department of and Career Readiness,” in The Forgotten Education, 2017).) Middle: Ensuring that All Students Are on 6 Janet Murgía, “Implementing the Every Target for College and Career Readiness Student Succeeds Act: A Civil Rights before High School (Iowa City, IA: ACT, Perspective,” (paper presented at ESSA 2008), 2. Implementation: Perspectives from Education 23 “The Benefits of Academic Behaviors in Stakeholders,” submitted to US Senate Supporting College and Career Readiness,” Committee on Health, Education, Labor and in The Forgotten Middle: Ensuring that All Pensions, Washington, DC, 18 May 2016), 1–6. Students Are on Target for College and Career 7 “K–12 Education Strategy Overview,” Bill Readiness before High School (Iowa City, IA: & Melinda Gates Foundation, n.d., accessed ACT, 2008) 25–30. January 2017, https://www.gatesfoundation. 24 “The Benefits of Academic Behaviors in org/What-We-Do/US-Program/K-12- Supporting College and Career Readiness,” Education. 25–30. 8 Jeff Wyatt, Kara Smith, and Nina Proestler, 25,26,27,28 The Condition of College & Career The Benefits of Early Engagement in the Readiness 2016, 2. College-Preparation Process: Implications for 29. “Career & College Clubs,” National Practitioners (New York: College Board, 2014). Council for Community and Education 9 The Condition of College & Career Readiness Partnerships, last updated 2013, accessed 2016: National (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2016). January 2017, http://www.edpartnerships.org/ 10 Deborah A. Santiago, Emily Calderón career-college-clubs. Galdeano, and Morgan Taylor, The Condition 30 Christopher Avery, Jessica S. Howell, and of Latinos in Education: 2015 Factbook Lindsay Page, A Review of the Role of College (Washington, DC: Excelencia in Education, Counseling, Coaching, and Mentoring on 2015), 19. Students’ Postsecondary Outcomes (New York: 11 William J. Hussar and Tabitha M. Bailey, College Board, 2014). Projections of Education Statistics to 2023, 31 “Title I — Improving The Academic 42nd Edition (Washington, DC: US Achievement Of The Disadvantaged,” US Department of Education, 2016), 1–67. Department of Education, 2004.

72 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Feature Impacts of Payday Lending in California among Communities of Color

Andrea C. Ávila, Briana M. Calleros, Gilbert Felix, and Danielle Guillen

Abstract: Overview financial services, which allows the While many US states have worked industry to offer high-risk loans to fi- to confront the rise of the payday nancially vulnerable populations. lending industry with bans or regu- Consumers often fall into a “debt trap” latory action, the State of California of repeated borrowing due to the high has failed to pursue an adequate pol- interest rates and inability to meet re- icy response of its own. This policy payment terms. The high prevalence failure has left consumers across the of payday lending in poor communi- state vulnerable to predatory lending. ties of color hurts their ability to build Californians consistently account intergenerational wealth and stagnates for the highest rates in the nation of local economic development. payday loan borrowing in terms of dollar amount and number of loans Objectives disbursed. Typical payday loan con- This analysis evaluates different pol- sumers are from lower socioeconomic icy options to address the repeated and underserved backgrounds who borrowing of payday loans among use the services as an alternative- California consumers. This was done form of credit. Studies demonstrate using the following objectives: that a disproportionate amount of • Increase consumer financial payday loan storefronts conduct busi- literacy ness in predominantly Latino and • Strengthen payday-loan protec- Black communities. Additionally, the tions for consumers State of California does not regulate • Improve government oversight of payday loan providers to the same payday lending extent as other traditional consumer • Implementation feasibility

Volume 30 | 2018 73 ment within one to two weeks.2 The Policy Options average borrower in the United States Status Quo: Regulation will continue utilizes a payday loan about eight times to limit loans at $300 per loan with a year to cover recurring expenses.3 a 15 percent initiation fee. No con- Payday lending institutions charge sumer resources. a borrowing fee for a loan amount • Market Regulation of Payday- limited to $300.4 Consumers who are Loan Industry: Regulation will not able to repay their original loan alter the supply and demand of have access to rollovers or the ability the payday lending industry to to renew the original loan for an ad- benefit consumers. ditional fee. The rollover continues • Financial Literacy Program: to accumulate interest, leading the Option will increase consumer average payday loan consumer to be knowledge of payday lending as indebted for approximately five well as other financial options months out of the year.5 Borrowers available. who face difficulty accessing financial • Deferred Presentment Transac- capital often pay a high price to uti- tion System Database: A real- lize credit. Consequently, the payday time database system will track loan industry serves as an attractive payday loans option for high-need borrowers who • Industry Regulation with Deferred are locked out of the traditional credit Transaction System Database: A market. combination of new regulation and a real-time database will mon- National Payday Lending by the itor payday-lending practices. Numbers Adults ages 25–49, workers with an- Recommendation nual incomes below $40,000, and We recommend that the California people of color tend to use payday Department of Business Oversight loans at higher-than-average rates implement regulation of the pay- nationwide.6 The average credit score day-loan industry and the integration of a payday loan borrower, below 520, of a statewide deferred transaction is more than 100 points below that of digital database. the general population at 680.7 These borrowers utilize payday loans when Main Text: they are not able to qualify for or have Payday Loan Industry Background exhausted more affordable forms of For the past 25 years, the payday loan credit, such as credit cards and bank industry has steadily grown, constitut- loans with lower interest rates.8 The ing a $50 billion industry.1 A typical increased popularity of payday lending payday loan averages $350 for repay- across the nation, along with decries

74 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy of predatory lending, has drawn the In addition, the average APR for attention of the Consumer Financial payday loans increased from 361 per- Protection Bureau (CFPB).9 cent in 2014 to 366 percent in 2015.13 Advocates who favor regulation of The California Department of Busi- the payday loan industry are primarily ness Oversight (CDBO) indicates that concerned with the “debt trap,” or the in 2015 over 12.3 billion payday loans inability of payday loan borrowers to were given to 1.9 million individual pay off their loan, primarily due to the customers. The average number of high annual percentage rate (APR). payday loans obtained by each indi- The CFPB conducted a study that ex- vidual customer in 2015 was 6.5 while plains the profile of the repeated bor- the average payday loan in California rower. Most repeat consumers take out had an APR of 366 percent.14 between $3,000 and $6,000 in payday loans annually. Their loans accounted Who Borrows Payday Loans in for over 42 percent of the total annual California? dollar disbursement of payday lenders Repeat Consumers across the country. These same con- Repeat payday loan consumers repre- sumers averaged 14 loans per year with sented 76.2 percent of all transactions approximately two weeks between in California and totaled 83.1 percent each loan disbursement.10 of the total dollar amount disbursement for 129 licensed payday lend- California Payday Loan Industry ers.15 Repeat consumers represented in 2015 63.75 percent of all fees collected by California accounts for 40 percent of payday lenders and 47.2 percent took all payday loan disbursements nation- out two payday loans in the same day.16 wide.11 Over the past decade, the Cali- California consumers in long-term fornia State Legislature has considered debt are defined as those who have various bills aimed at regulating the taken out 10 or more loans or borrow payday lending industry the way banks an average of 13 loans annually.17 and credit cards are regulated. Such Impacted Populations legislative proposals have repeatedly Low credit scores severely hinder a failed passage. A 2012 Pew study cat- consumer’s ability to borrow tradi- egorizes states by level of regulation, tional loans or access a line of credit listing California as among one of the from banks at affordable rates, driving least-regulated states. This lack of reg- them toward riskier alternatives like ulation has allowed the payday loan payday loans. The APR of a payday industry to increase the amount of dol- loan is 390 percent, while the average lars loaned out to consumers by 23.5 APR of a credit card is 14.7 percent.18 percent despite a 1.17 percent drop in The CDBO used 2015 data sub- the total number of loans disbursed.12 mitted by payday lenders to identify

Volume 30 | 2018 75 the industry’s consumers. The report dominantly middle class and White, shows that most Californian consum- there were 31 payday lenders and 270 ers are 22–31 years old with an annual banks.25 income of $20,000–30,000.19 In a The majority of storefronts across ddition, a 2007 study done by the Cal- the state were located in areas where ifornia Department of Corporations, Latino and Black families were living now known as the CDBO, found that in poverty. Nearly 49 percent of all most borrowers were Latino (36.4 payday loan storefronts were located percent), female (59.8 percent), and in communities where the Latino had either a high school education family poverty rate was higher than (33.5 percent) or some college (29.3 the statewide Latino poverty rate.26 percent). These store fronts were in areas that had about 29.2 percent of Latino fam- Payday Lending Locations in ilies living in poverty on average.27 For California Black families living in poverty, 48.8 Studies have found that payday loan percent of all payday loan storefronts storefronts are concentrated in spe- were located in communities where cific areas of California, including the average rate of poverty was 36.7 poor and minority neighborhoods percent.28 A spatial analysis by the and near military bases.20 The City CDBO found that a higher-than-av- of Los Angeles and the City of Sac- erage number of storefronts are lo- ramento had the highest concentra- cated in zip codes that have family tions of payday lending storefronts.21 poverty rates above the state average Sacramento County was ranked as of 12.3 percent.29 In addition, more having the highest urban rate of pay- storefronts were found to be located day lenders with about ten lenders in communities where the average per 100,000 residents.22 Rural areas Latino family poverty rate was 19.4 also experienced a high rate of pay- percent and the average Black family day-lender-to-population ratio, with poverty rate was 20 percent.30 Madera County having a rate around The number of payday lending 11 lenders per 100,000 residents.23 storefronts is disproportionately higher A 2011 comparative analysis of two in Latino and Black communities. Southern California State Senate When examining individual zip codes districts demonstrated targeted con- with six or more store fronts, there was centrations of payday loan storefronts. a high correlation between race and The analysis found that Senate Dis- number of storefronts. The average trict 20, which was predominantly poverty rate for families living in com- working class and Latino, had 96 munities with six or more storefronts payday lenders and 76 banks.24 In the was 22.6 percent for Latino families 23rd Senate District, which was pre- and 24.4 percent for Black families.31

76 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy The average population rate of White to high-cost financing. Consum- individuals in these areas was 38.5 ers access payday lending services percent lower than the average num- because they have exhausted tradi- ber of White people living within the tional forms of lower-interest credit state.32 On average, payday lending lo- such as bank loans and credit cards. cations are less likely to be in commu- The State of California does not nities that are predominately white. regulate payday loan providers to the same extent as other traditional Latinos and Payday Lending consumer financial services, which Payday lending has had an immense allows the industry to offer high-risk impact on the Latino community in loans to financially vulnerable pop- California and across the nation. A ulations. Consumers with the few- 2009 study found that Californians est financial resources and access to alone paid approximately $247 mil- capital pay the most to use payday lion toward servicing payday lenders, lending services, which puts them at with a majority of those dollars com- risk for revolving debt. ing from Latino and Black commu- Objectives and Criteria Increase nities.33 According to a 2012 national Consumer Financial Literacy study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Data gathered by agencies outside the payday loan debt trap most sig- of the payday industry show that nificantly impacts communities of individuals who lack access to tra- color, with Black individuals ranking ditional forms of credit and finan- first in usage and Latinos following cial information are often exploited behind, representing 14 percent of by the payday loan industry.34 In- all payday loan borrowers nation- creased financial literacy among ally. Payday lenders are filling a gap payday loan consumers will in- left by the neglect of traditional fi- crease their knowledge of financial nancial services in communities services and improve their access to of color. This gap, coupled with the other competitive products. A bet- absence of clear regulation in some ter informed and more empowered states such as California, continues to consumer base will be determined trap many Latino families in a cycle by the following: of debt. This hinders social mobility • Credit Scores: Consumers with and ultimately drains communities of low credit may be ineligible to color of income that could be used to borrow at low interest rates from stimulate local economies. banks and credit card companies. An improved credit score would Problem Definition change a consumer’s eligibility The payday loan industry provides prospects. Measured by the aver- consumers with immediate access age credit scores of payday loan

Volume 30 | 2018 77 consumers who have participated of repayment periods while con- in financial literacy training com- trolling for fees. Measured by the pared to the general population of median length of repayment peri- payday loan consumers. ods in California. • Understanding of APRs: Some Improve Oversight of Government consumers may not initially un- Lending derstand what the 15 percent California state law indicates that pay- origination fee for a payday day lenders can only give one payday loan constitutes. Consumers are loan per customer and cannot make likely to realize the advantages of a new loan while an existing loan is low-interest borrowing after learn- outstanding.36 This regulation is not ing about the risks of payday loans consistently enforced due to a lack in conjunction with improving of shared information on behalf of one’s credit score. Measured by governmental agencies.37 Limiting the average number of loans per consumer access to one payday loan borrower in long-term debt (with at a time and increasing communica- ten or more loans). tion between lenders and the CDBO Strengthen Payday Loan Protections about a borrower’s loan history would for Consumers reduce the number of repeat borrow- Greater protection and security for ers. The following criteria will be consumers decreases the rate of re- used to evaluate. peat borrowing and the use of a new • Consumer Borrowing from Mul- loan to pay an existing loan. The fol- tiple Lenders: Decreased con- lowing criteria will be used to evalu- sumer borrowing from multiple ate this project. lenders.38 Measured by the num- • Charged Fees: Creation of bill ber of times a client took out a similar to the Talent Amendment loan from more than one lending to the Service-members Civil agency. Relief Act for the civilian popu- • Time Period between Payday lation.35 Measured by the average Loans: Increased time between dollar amount of fees charged in consumer payday loans. Mea- California. sured by the number of days be- • Number of Loans: Limit num- tween the customer’s first and ber of loans consumers can take second payday loans. out from a single agency and Implementation Feasibility multiple agencies. Measured by To evaluate the cost of the alternatives the average number of payday and the likelihood of gaining support loans initiated and disbursed in from stakeholders, the cost and polit- California. ical feasibility of the alternative will • Repayment periods: Extension be considered. The following criteria

78 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy will be used to evaluate: reducing the likelihood for revolving • Minimizing Cost: Minimized debt, limiting the APR and fees charged cost of implementation and en- to customers, and extending the length forcement of the alternative. of repayment for low-interest loans. Measured by amount of dollars Between 2006 and 2012, 11 US states needed to fully implement and and the District of Columbia indirectly sustain alternative. Dollars will banned payday lending by regulating be measured in the worth of dol- APRs at levels between 24 and 36 per- lars in 2015. cent.43 Requiring low APRs may render • Political Feasibility: Probability the payday loan industry unprofitable, of gaining approval and support ultimately pushing out payday lending for implementing the alternative. services and effectively banning payday Measured by the likelihood of lending in the state. stakeholder approval. Demand-Side Regulation Demand-side regulation restricts pay- Policy Options day loan consumption, thereby limit- Status Quo ing the customer’s ability to borrow. California limits payday loan amounts Although payday loans are marketed to $300 and its APR to 460 percent for as one-time loans for emergency sit- a two-week loan.39 A customer with no uations, the average California con- outstanding payday loans can receive sumer takes out seven payday loans only one loan disbursement at a time, annually.44 Consumers are less likely which cannot be used to pay off an ex- to find themselves entrapped in a isting payday loan.40 Due to a lack of cycle of payday loan debt if they are government oversight of the one loan not allowed to borrow excessively. limit, borrowers may obtain multiple Regulations to curb borrowing in- loans at different payday lenders.41 clude limiting the number of loans Alternative 1: Market Regulation per consumer and limiting the max- of Payday Loan Industry imum dollar amount per loans. Supply-Side Regulation Summary Supply-side regulation directly limits Despite the regulations already out- the activities of the payday lending in- lined under the status quo, California dustry to protect consumer safety. Al- continues to leave financially vulner- though payday loan consumers borrow able populations at risk for revolving small, short-term loans at a maximum debt. Therefore, new regulations to fee of 15 percent, the fee over a two- consider include extending the re- week repayment period translates to payment period and limiting the total an APR of 460 percent.42 Imposing the amount of payday loans that a cus- following regulations on lenders would tomer may borrower annually. facilitate repayment for borrowers, • Extend repayment period to four

Volume 30 | 2018 79 weeks (supply-side). of this analysis, we assume an • Limit the amount of payday loans eventual normal distribution with per consumer to seven annually an average of four loans. (demand-side). • Improve Government Oversight Analysis of Payday Lending: No data exists • Increase Consumer Financial to determine how many consum- Literacy: Payday loans do not ers borrow more than one payday impact a consumer’s credit score loan at a time. Because regulation and neither does their regulation. without enforcement has little to The criteria for measuring the no impact, consumers can still understanding of APRs suggests borrow from multiple lenders. By that limiting the number of pay- extending the repayment period day loans per consumer increases through regulation, the median financial literacy. However, regu- time between loans will likely lating the number of payday loans increase because an individual a consumer can borrow necessar- cannot have more than one loan ily decreases consumption of pay- at a time. We predict that it will day loans, even without increased increase to 21 days since not all financial literacy. consumers will use the full four • Strengthen Payday Loan Protec- weeks (28 days) to repay their tions for Consumers: Extending loan. Using the median time the repayment period to a max- period between payday loans as imum of four weeks gives a cus- criteria suggests that this increase tomer two additional weeks to leads to improved oversight, when pay off interest. With the current that is not necessarily the case. cap of a 15 percent fee, allowing • Implementation Feasibility: The four weeks for repayment instead cost of regulation will fall on of two effectively lowers the APR, payday lenders because, in con- thereby reducing the amount of junction with existing laws, the fees charged. The current na- cost of new regulations cannot tional average for repayment is 13 be passed onto the consumer. days because most payday loans New regulations that are en- have repayment periods of two forced will increase the liability weeks. Extending the repayment of payday lenders; the industry is to four weeks lengthens the aver- likely to oppose any type of reg- age amount of time for repayment ulation. The CDBO will assume to a new average. Additionally, the additional costs to enforce the customer can still repay their loan new regulations. The method of within two weeks without prepay- enforcement contributes to the ment penalties. For the purposes overall cost. The supply- and de-

80 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy mand-side regulations outlined utilize payday loans because they are above will require legislative locked out of the credit market due to action; given the Democratic low credit scores.46 Others with rela- supermajority in the legislature, tively good credit may lack an aware- regulation is possible. Otherwise, ness of the various market options and an advocacy campaign could be in turn rely on payday loans.47 This implemented to secure legislative shows that payday borrowers are not support for regulatory reform. If fully informed of all their financial the legislature is unwilling, the options or that they do not know how governor or advocacy groups to access alternatives.48 could utilize the ballot initiative Analysis process to regulate payday lend- • Increase Consumer Financial ing. Lastly, the governor also can Literacy: By offering classes issue an executive order; however or workshops that emphasize Governor Jerry Brown has histor- money management, consum- ically been opposed to increased ers can learn about the various regulatory action. ways to obtain cash and credit. Trade Offs In addition, repeat borrowers can The regulations discussed above as- obtain the necessary tools to man- sume enforceability. Limiting the age their current payday lending number of loans and extending re- debt, allowing them to stop the payment periods without serious en- borrowing cycle. To promote forcement will not solve the problem attendance, trusted community faced by millions of consumers. How- organizations must conduct out- ever, the law cannot be meaningfully reach and implement workshops enforced without the existence of a in various languages and using database. Likewise, the collection cultural sensitivity. of information through a database is • Strengthen Payday Loan Protec- pointless unless it is used to enforce tions for Consumers: A financial the law. If the regulations are enforce- literacy program would give cus- able, they mostly strengthen payday tomers the necessary information loan protections for consumers and to identify and report fraud or do not increase consumer financial suspicious activity from a pay- literacy or improve government over- day lender. Workshops must em- sight of payday lenders. power borrowers to report abuses Alternative 2: Financial Literacy without fear of repercussions. Program for Repeat Consumers • Improve Government Oversight Studies have shown that consumers of Payday Lending: An additional who borrow payday loans often lack benefit of financial literacy work- financial literacy.45 Some consumers shops is the creation and strength-

Volume 30 | 2018 81 ening of social networks that can panding a financial literacy pro- serve as support groups for repeat gram for payday borrowers builds borrowers. In addition, many of upon the current infrastructure. It the workshops can be provided will likely be well received within by community or non-profit orga- the legislature because programs nizations that already advocate to would directly benefit consumers. improve oversight of the payday Additionally, lenders would lose lending industry. Borrowers can credibility if they were to oppose potentially participate in actions this reasonable measure, leading to pressure local governments to high probability of support and to regulate the industry through passage. zoning and community economic Trade Offs development initiatives. Due to the lack of a database that iden- • Implementation Feasibility: Fi- tifies individuals who have borrowed nancial literacy in California is repeatedly, outreach and attendance currently conducted through the to the workshops would be based on public K–14 education system, self-identification. This would mean which includes community col- that many borrowers can potentially leges and adult education.49 The decide not to participate. Also, in- state also has several campaigns creased protection for consumers as- aimed at addressing financial sumes an agency is already in place literacy.50 Implementation of a for consumers to report abuses in va- financial literacy program tar- riety of languages. geting payday borrowers can be Alternative 3: Adopt a Deferred achieved by expanding the cur- Presentment Transaction System rent plan, which includes adult Database education, and working with Nine states across the country limit non-profit organizations such the number of loans a borrower can as the National Endowment for take annually by using a real-time, Financial Education. Imple- point-of-sale verification database sys- mentation costs would increase tem to track disbursed payday loans compared to current funding due called Veritec Solutions, LLC.51 to a greater number of individuals Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, served. The State of California North Dakota, New Mexico, Okla- has already established efforts homa, South Carolina, and Virginia to provide certain populations all contract with the private deferred in the state, such as high school presentment database.52 This corpora- and community college students, tion provides the nine states with reg- with the tools needed to make ulatory support to protect consumers informed financial decisions. Ex- using data-driven examination report-

82 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy ing. Florida, the largest of these states, the CDBO to enforce borrow- enacted 2001 legislation that paved ing limits while at the same time the way for establishment of the relieving the department of col- Deferred Presentment Transaction lecting borrower information and System database.53 This legislation maintaining the database. requires payday lenders to check the • Implementation Feasibility: statewide database prior to initiating The Florida Veritec database the loan process to ensure borrowers is funded annually in the state are eligible under state law.54 Con- budget in compliance with H.B. sumers who do not meet state guide- 217, with the 2015–2016 fis- lines cannot legally borrow a payday cal year allocation standing at loan and are flagged in the system.55 $320,020.56 New Mexico uses a Analysis transaction fee option available • Increase Consumer Financial through Veritec to fund the state- Literacy: Establishment of a wide database. Approved loans statewide database to track pay- are subject to a 50-cent transac- day loans would not increase fi- tion fee that funds the database; nancial literacy on its own. The payday lenders pass on this fee database would be able to provide to the borrower.57 California can regulatory agents data to target adopt either funding source to geographic areas throughout the contract with Veritec, consider- state where there is a large pool ing the cost of implementation of borrowers maxing out their in Florida as a baseline. Adopting annual borrowing cap, thus jus- Veritec technology database, and tifying need for financial literacy budget allocation, would need workshops. to come before the state legisla- • Strengthen Payday Loan Protec- ture. The database would be the tions for Consumers: This policy responsibility of the CDBO in option indirectly protects borrow- cooperation with the private cor- ers by helping enforce statewide poration Veritec. California has a borrowing caps. Consumers who strong track record of consumer reach their max borrowing would financial protection, and this not be able to further deepen database will serve as a tool to their payday loan debt, pulling continue those protections; estab- them out of the revolving debt lishment of the database is likely trap. but not guaranteed. The payday • Improve Government Oversight lending industry, and their strong of Payday Lending: Contract- lobby, may be opposed to an ad- ing with Veritec Solutions, LLC ditional level of oversight because would strengthen the ability of it has the possibility of lowering

Volume 30 | 2018 83 the number of payday loans dis- sumer safety. Imposing the following bursed by enforcing the legal regulations on lenders would facili- limits. Consumer financial pro- tate repayment for borrowers, reduc- tection advocacy groups may take ing the likelihood for revolving debt. issue with an information-gather- The following recommendations for ing non-state entity taking part in regulation are to extend the length state regulations. of repayment for low-interest loans to Trade Offs four weeks. The Veritec database alone cannot reg- Demand-Side Regulation ulate the payday loan industry or elim- Demand-side regulation restricts pay- inate the debt trap for borrowers. This day loan consumption by limiting the policy option is a technological tool customer’s ability to borrow. Regu- that monitors borrowing statewide and lation to curb borrowing is limiting provides critical, real-time informa- the number of loans per consumer to tion. California law enforcing payday seven annually. lending regulation must follow suit for Deferred Presentment Transaction the database to work. The database is System Database not effective without impactful regula- Consumers who do not meet state tion on the industry. In addition, the guidelines cannot legally borrow a caveat with a transaction fee to fund payday loan and are flagged in the the database is that current Califor- database.58 The database has two nia law prohibits additional fees on funding methods: (1) the database is consumers; this funding source would funded annually in the state budget have to be absorbed by payday lenders. depending on legislative approval, Alternative 4: Industry or (2) the database is funded by the Regulation with Deferred payday loan provider through a 50- Transaction System Database cent transaction fee on every ap- New regulatory additions to Califor- proved loan.59 The database provider nia’s payday law would be enforced is Veritec Solutions, a Florida-based by a deferred presentment transac- business. tion system database. California does Analysis not have a method to oversee whether • Increase Consumer Financial Lit- payday lenders adhere to the payday eracy: New regulations on payday loan laws. A combination of addi- lending would increase consumer tional payday loan regulations with financial literacy by decreasing a deferred presentment transaction the average number of loans per system database entails the following: borrower in long-term debt. How- Supply-Side Regulation ever, it is unclear whether the Supply-side regulation limits the pay- decrease would also be linked day lending industry to protect con- with borrowers’ increased under-

84 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy standing of how APR affects loan borrower as a max borrower; the repayment. The database would customer will not be able to take not address consumer financial out any other loans for the re- literacy on its own and does not mainder of the year. affect regulation change. The • Improve Government Over- CDBO would use the database sight of Payday Lending: Pres- to regulate the new payday law. ently, California does not have a • Strengthen Payday Loan Protec- mechanism to ensure borrowers tions for Consumers: Extend- obtain one loan at a time. Con- ing the repayment period will sumers can borrow more than increase the length of time bor- one loan from multiple payday rowers must pay back loans. For lenders. Payday lenders do not example, a four-week repayment have knowledge of customer loan period, instead of the current two- status and do not know whether week repayment period, effec- a borrower is eligible for another tively lowers APR. Under the new loan. By extending the repayment regulation of repayment period, period through regulation, the customers still have the option of median time between loans will paying a loan within two weeks. likely increase because an indi- New regulation also aims to pre- vidual cannot have more than vent a repeat borrowers’ long-term one loan at a time. We predict payday loan debt by limiting the that it will increase to 21 days total amount of payday loans a since not all consumers will use consumer can obtain. Currently, the full four weeks (28 days) to repeat borrowers in long-term repay their loan. Using the me- debt are classified as borrowing dian time period between payday ten or more loans. Limiting the loans as criteria suggests that this number of loans a consumer can increase leads to improved over- obtain will decrease the average sight when that is not necessarily number of loans per borrower. the case. The Veritec database For the purposes of this analysis, will track borrowing in the state we assume that capping the num- and strengthen the ability of the ber of payday loans at seven will CDBO to enforce borrowing result in an eventual normal dis- limits. This in turn will relieve tribution with an average of four the department of collecting bor- loans. The deferred presentment rower information and maintain- transaction enforces the borrowing the database. ing caps, preventing borrowers • Implementation Feasibility: Es- from obtaining more than seven tablishing a real-time enforcement loans. The system will flag the database will enable the CDBO

Volume 30 | 2018 85 and the payday lending industry and pursuing regulatory legisla- to meet current and future payday tion after the implementation of lending guidelines. Veritec Solu- the database. Establishing the da- tions can create database options tabase will allow for effective and that track borrowers and enforce efficient enforcement of current borrowing caps statewide.60 Ad- and future regulations. ministration and oversight of the Trade Offs database would be the responsi- The ability to pass regulatory legisla- bility of the CBDO in cooperation is probable, but it is uncertain tion with Veritec. The baseline how California’s legislative body will budget allocation for this system is perceive the new regulations, par- $320,020.61 New payday loan reg- ticularly the cap on the amount of a ulations will require legislative ac- customer can borrow. Passing regulation and approval by the governor, tion and purchasing the database con- or they will require a ballot initia- sume financial and human resources tive and approval by the voters. that the state legislature may be un- There are several possible avenues willing to use. that could be used to introduce new regulations. The Democratic Recommendation supermajority in the legislature Repeat consumers of payday loans could work with the governor’s who borrow more than ten loans are office to introduce reasonable leg- at high risk of falling into long-term islation with a guarantee that the debt. Under current payday laws, bor- governor will sign the bill. The rowers cannot obtain more than one governor can act independently loan at a time; however, the CDBO of the legislature with statewide has no infrastructure in place enforc- advocacy groups to secure public ing the one-loan limit. To this end, support for payday lending regu- California payday regulation does not lations and push for legislative ac- address repeat borrowing specifically. tion on the issue. If the legislature Considering these factors and their does not pursue action, the gov- impact on both the payday lending ernor and advocacy groups could industry and consumers, California utilize the ballot initiative process would benefit from both new regula- to take payday lending regulatory tion of the payday loan industry and a action directly to the voters. Lastly, deferred transaction database system. the governor could issue an execu- The new regulation that caps the tive order if appropriate. The State amount of loans a consumer can take Legislature would be wise to pur- out annually and extends the repay- sue action focused on securing a ment period aligns with the mission budget allocation for the database of the CFPB.

86 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Enforcing current and future pay- Angeles and on the use of big data to day loan regulation will curb repeat navigate emergency response in the borrowing and reliance on the payday City of Rio de Janeiro. She is inter- loan industry. Consumers will follow ested in exploring how public, private, the one-loan mandate and cannot get and non-profit partnerships can cre- multiple loans from multiple lenders ate innovative approaches to address simultaneously. The deferred trans- prevalent issues within social policy. action database will track repeat bor- Andrea currently works for the USC rowers and flags the borrower if they Price Office of Global Engagement: are ineligible to take out another loan Latin American task force initiative. from any payday lender. The cost of Briana M. Calleros is a master of implementing the database and pass- public policy student at the Univer- ing new regulations may become sity of Southern California and is ex- barriers to implementation even if pected to graduate in May 2018. Her stakeholder support is present. Given previous experiences include working the importance of upholding payday as a Capital fellow in the California loan laws and creating a sustainable State Senate and a summer associate payday loan market, a database is rec- at the White House Office of Presi- ommended in conjunction with new dential Correspondence. She is the regulation. primary author of Rebuilding the Cal- ifornia Dream, a Right Start Commis- Author Bios: sion Report on early childhood. Most Andrea C. Ávila is a graduate student recently, Briana managed a summer at the University of Southern Cali- internship program at mitú, created fornia pursuing a master’s degree in to help address the media and tech public policy. She transferred from industry’s leaky pipeline. Briana grad- Santa Monica College to the Uni- uated magna cum laude from Welles- versity of California, Los Angeles, ley College in 2012. where she received her bachelor’s Gilbert Felix has a passion for eco- and master’s degrees in Latin Amer- nomic and social justice that drives ican studies. Upon graduation, she his work in progressive politics, com- served as a fiscal coordinator for munity organizing, and legislative Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s advocacy. Gilbert’s professional back- Summer Night Lights Program. Her ground includes political consulting, immigrant background and academic campaign management, and serving and professional experiences have led as staff for elected officials in local her to work on Latino issues in the governments and the California State United States and Latin American Legislature. He is a Maddy Institute policy. Her research has focused on Wonderful Company Public Service domestic household workers in Los fellow pursuing a master’s degree in

Volume 30 | 2018 87 public policy degree at the Univer- DC: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2012). 3 Bourke et al., Payday Lending in America. sity of Southern California. A native 4 Bourke et al., Payday Lending in America. of California’s Central Valley, Gil- 5 Bourke et al., Payday Lending in America. bert is dedicated to helping build 6 Bourke et al., Payday Lending in America. 7 the political leadership and power of Bhutta et al., “Payday Loan Choices and Consequences.” women, youth, people of color, immi- 8 Bhutta et al., “Payday Loan Choices and grants, and LGBTQ people in rural Consequences.” 9 communities. Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products: A White Paper of Initial Data Findings Danielle Guillen is passionate (Washington, DC: Consumer Financial about creating communities that are Protection Bureau, 2013). the best version of themselves. As a 10 Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products. 11 master’s of public policy candidate at Kevin Wack, “California Lawmakers Mull Payday Lending Crackdown,” American the University of Southern California, Banker, published 16 April 2013, https:// Danielle aspires to understand the ho- www.americanbanker.com/news/california- listic needs of a community and how lawmakers-mull-payday-lending-crackdown. 12 policy affects families. Danielle spe- Jan Lynn Owen, Summary Report: California Deferred Deposit Transaction Law Annual cializes in education policy with expe- Report and Industry Survey (Sacramento: State rience teaching and working within of California, 2016). 13 the education sector. She currently Owen, Summary Report. 14 Owen, Summary Report. serves on the MacArthur Park Neigh- 15 Owen, Summary Report. borhood Council in Los Angeles. 16 Owen, Summary Report. 17 Paul Leonard and Graciela Aponte, This paper was originally written in the fall Analysis: New State Data Show California of 2016. In the fall of 2017, the Consumer Payday Lenders Continue to Rely on Trapping Financial Protection Bureau released tougher Borrowers in Debt (Oakland, CA: Center for regulations on payday lending. As of January Responsible Lending, 2014). 2018, the fate of the regulations are up for de- 18 Kelly D. Edmiston, Could Restrictions on bate in Congress and by the new director of the Payday Lending Hurt Consumers? (Kansas City, CFPB. Payday lending regulations could be MO: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, rolled back by either The Financial Choice Act 2011): 63. currently under consideration or the revision 19 Owen, Summary Report. of CFPB rules.62,63 The state of affairs in Cal- 20 Kelly Griffith, Linda Hilton, and Lynn ifornia prior to the 2017 CFPB actions should Drysdale, Controlling the Growth of Payday serve as a cautionary tale of the impact that Lending Through Local Ordinances and deregulation can have on Latino communities. Resolutions: A Guide for Advocacy Groups and Government Officials (2007). 21 Applied Management and Planning Group End Notes and Analytic Focus, 2007 Department of 1 Neil Bhutta, Paige Marta Skiba, and Jeremy Corporations Payday Loan Study (Los Angeles: Tobacman, “Payday Loan Choices and California Department of Corporations, 2008). Consequences,” Journal of Money, Credit and 22 Christopher Lewis Peterson and Steve Banking 47, no. 2–3 (2015): 223–260. Graves, “Predatory Lending and the Military: 2 Nick Bourke, Alex Horowitz, and Tara Roche, The Law and Geography of Payday Loans in Payday Lending in America: Who Borrows, Military Towns,” Ohio State Law Journal 66 Where They Borrow, and Why (Washington, (2005): 653.

88 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy 23 Peterson and Graves, “Predatory Lending and 47 Edmiston, Could Restrictions on Payday the Military.” Lending Hurt Consumers? 24 Griffith et al., Controlling the Growth of 48 Roger Dickinson, Mark Farouk, Payday Lending. Kathleen O’Malley, and Tiffany Morrison, 25 Griffith et al., Controlling the Growth of California Deferred Deposit Transaction Payday Lending. Law (Sacramento: Assembly Committee on 26 The Demographics of California Payday Banking & Finance, 2013). Lending: A Zip Code Analysis of Storefront 49“California Financial Literacy Month,” State Locations (Sacramento: California Department of California, pubished 2013, http://www.caflm. of Business Oversight, 2016). ca.gov/. 27,28,29,3031,32 The Demographics of California 50 “California Financial Literacy Month.” Payday Lending. 51 “About Veritec Solutions,” Veritec Solutions, 33 Wei Li, Leslie Parrish, Keith Ernst, and n.d., http://www.veritecs.com/about/. Delvin Davis, Predatory Profiling: The Role of 52. “About Veritec Solutions.” Race and Ethnicity in the Location of Payday 53 “About Veritec Solutions.” Lenders in California (Oakland, CA: Center for 54 Hayes, “A Noose Around the Neck,” 10. Responsible Lending, 2009). 55 Hayes, “A Noose Around the Neck,” 10. 34 Patrick L. Hayes, “A Noose Around the Neck: 56 “Governor Rick Scott’s Florida State Budget Preventing Abusive Payday Lending Practices 2016–2017: Securing Florida’s Future,” and Promoting Lower Cost Alternatives,” State of Florida, published 2016, http://www. William Mitchell Law Review 35, no. 3 (2009): floridafirstbudget.com/web%20forms/Budget/ 10. BudgetAgency.aspx. 35 Mary Spector, “Taming the Beast: Payday 57 New Mexico Payday Loan Transaction System Loans, Regulatory Efforts, and Unintended Welcome Package (Jacksonville, FL: Veritec Consequences,” DePaul Law Review 57, no. 4 Solutions, 2007). (2007): 961. 58 Hayes, “A Noose Around the Neck,” 10. 36 What You Need to Know About Payday 59 New Mexico Payday Loan Transaction System Loans (Sacramento: California Department of Welcome Package. Business Oversight, 2013). 60 New Mexico Payday Loan Transaction System 37 Hayes, “A Noose Around the Neck,” 10. Welcome Package. 38 Leslie Cook, Kyra Kazantzis, Melissa Morris, 61 “Governor Rick Scott’s Florida State Budget James Zahradka, and Public Interest Law 2016–2017.” Firm, Report on the Status of Payday Lending 62 Ari Shapiro and David Lazarus, “Dodd- in California (San Mateo, CA: Silicon Valley Frank Replacement Bill Gives 'Free Pass' To Community Foundation, 2009). Payday Lenders,” 30 May 2017, in All Things 39 What You Need to Know About Payday Loans. Considered, produced by NPR, podcast, 40 What You Need to Know About Payday https://www.npr.org/2017/05/30/530769777/ Loans. dodd-frank-replacement-bill-gives-free-pass-to- 41 Cook et al., Report on the Status of Payday payday-lenders. Lending in California. 63. Sylvan Lane, “New CFPB director puts 42 What You Need to Know About Payday Loans. target on payday loan rules,” The Hill, 43 Neil Bhutta, Jacob Goldin, and Tatiana published 17 January 2018, http://thehill.com/ Homonoff, “Consumer Borrowing after policy/finance/369465-new-cfpb-director-puts- Payday Loan Bans,” The Journal of Law and target-on-payday-loan-rules. Economics 59, no. 1 (2016): 225–259. 44 Wack, “California Lawmakers Mull Payday Lending Crackdown.” 45 Bhutta et al., “Payday Loan Choices and Consequences.” 46 Bhutta et al., “Payday Loan Choices and Consequences.”

Volume 30 | 2018 89 In Memoriam

Jeanette Marie Acosta September 25, 1985–December 18, 2017

Jeanette Marie Acosta’s memory will live on as someone who dedicated her life to the service of others and who constantly sought to cham- pion for the rights of those most in need. Her contributions to the cause of social justice, especially among Latino communities, started at a young age and continued until she passed away on 18 December 2017, after a long battle with cervical cancer. She was 32. Jeanette began her work in public service interning for mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa as a freshman at the University of Southern California. After completing a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Fellowship in the office of Congressman Xavier Becerra, Jeanette graduated cum laude in 2008 as a presidential scholar with a BA in political science and psychology. Following her work establishing a learning center for Mexican immigrant children in California as an AmeriCorps VISTA fellow and doing research on education policy in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar, Jeanette decided to advance her own education by enrolling in the Master in Public Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. While there, she made valuable contributions to the work of the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy as the director of board relations and, later, as managing editor. During this time, Jeanette also led many advocacy initiatives in support of civil rights, especially among immigrants and DREAMers, co-founding the Ivy League Immigrant Rights Coalition and interning with the White House Domestic Policy Council's Immigration Policy team and the US Department of Education’s Office of Migrant Education. Jeanette later went on to earn a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 2016. She continued her work in the field of social justice as a judicial law clerk for Hon. Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Even after her cancer diagnosis, Jeanette remained the positive, determined, and up- lifting person her family and friends always knew her to be. Apart from fighting fiercely for her life in her personal battle, Jeanette sought to inform and empower other women by authoring numerous articles on her treatment for different online platforms and building communities that she hoped would help other women going through her same struggles. We will miss Jeanette dearly, but the memory of all that she did for others and all that she was to so many will live on in our hearts.

90 Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy Call for Submissions The Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy (HJHP) invites established and emerging scholars, including students, researchers, journalists, artists, and policy practitioners, to submit their work for HJHP’s Volume 31 print publication. The HJHP is accepting research articles, book/film reviews, commentaries, and artwork submissions relevant to the Latina/o community in the United States for print publication consideration. The priority deadline for print publication submissions is 1 September 2018. HJHP also accepts Op-Ed/Blogs and artwork for web publication consideration on a rolling basis. All submissions must be the author’s original work. Submission Guidelines Print submissions must adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style formatting guidelines. • Research articles must be between 4,000 and 7,000 words and must include an abstract of no more than 100 words; • Book/film reviews must be between 1,500 and 3,000 words and must include the full citation, including publisher/director and year of publication/original release date; • Commentaries must be between 1,500 and 3,000 words and include references where appropriate; • Artwork should comment on the US Latina/o community’s political, social, and/ or economic condition and must be submitted as high-resolution files (300+ dpi, JPEG format). Each submission must include artwork title, artist name, medium, and year of creation (Print & Web); and • Op-Eds/Blogs should be between 750 and 900 words and include references where appropriate (Web only)

How to Submit Prospective contributors must submit their works electronically via our website: www. hjhp.hkspublications.org. Each submission should include a cover letter with author’s (1) full name, (2) mailing address, (3) e-mail address, (4) phone number, (5) abridged biography of no more than 300 words, and (6) a professional headshot. Any supporting graphics, charts, and tables must be included as separate attachments. The priority deadline for submissions for the print publication is 1 September 2018. Digital submissions will be selected on a rolling basis and do not adhere to the print publication deadline. Selected authors for both print and digital submissions may be asked to perform additional fact-checking or editing before publication, and compliance with these procedures is required for publication. For questions/concerns, send an e-mail to [email protected].

Volume 30 | 2018 91 The Harvard Kennedy School Journal of Hispanic Policy (HJHP) is a non-partisan academic review that publishes interdisciplinary works on US Latina/o politics and public policy. HJHP is published annually by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Volume 30 - Order Form DESCRIPTION Quantity* Price TOTAL

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