Latinos Unrepresented on Capitol Hill: New Report Shows Latinos Shut out of Key Positions.
PRESS RELEASE
March 5, 2020
Contact: Valeria Sandoval (CHSA President) 714-944-5656
Washington D.C. — Today, the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association (CHSA) released a new report showing how Latinos are shut out of key positions on Capitol Hill and calling on both Democrats and Republicans to take steps to address this diversity crisis.
The report, Still Unrepresented: A Ten Year Look at the Diversity Crisis on Capitol Hill, finds that while more Latinos than ever are working on Capitol Hill, very few are advancing to key senior positions. In the Senate there are only three Latino Chiefs of Staff and not a single Latino among Committee Staff Directors. In the House of Representatives, there would need to be a five fold increase in both Chiefs of Staff and Legislative Directors to match the Latino percentage of the population.
“Congress’s greatest task is to represent the interests of the American people. It cannot do that if its ranks fail to reflect the diversity of this nation — both at the Member and the staffer level,” said Valeria Sandoval, President of CHSA. “While the 116th Congress might be the most diverse in history, it’s time for Members themselves to step up and hire staff — especially senior staff — who look like the constituents they were elected to represent. This report is a wake-up call and reminder of that fact.”
CHSA makes several recommendations for Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate to adopt, including ramping up diversity offices, improving data collection, and creating individual diversity plans within each office. CHSA also recommends leadership take a more active role ensuring Latinos are not shut out of key committee staff positions.
The 2020 report is a follow up to the 2010 CHSA report, Unrepresented: A Blueprint for Solving the Capitol Hill Diversity Crisis, and examines how the Latino composition of Congressional Staff has changed over the past decade.
The new report can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j0If5sha-a8BwqMpZ24Y7pLhwViG8H5f/view?usp=sharing
The 2010 CHSA report can be found here: http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/diversity_on_the_hill_report.pdf
March 5, 2020
Contact: Valeria Sandoval (CHSA President) 714-944-5656
Washington D.C. — Today, the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association (CHSA) released a new report showing how Latinos are shut out of key positions on Capitol Hill and calling on both Democrats and Republicans to take steps to address this diversity crisis.
The report, Still Unrepresented: A Ten Year Look at the Diversity Crisis on Capitol Hill, finds that while more Latinos than ever are working on Capitol Hill, very few are advancing to key senior positions. In the Senate there are only three Latino Chiefs of Staff and not a single Latino among Committee Staff Directors. In the House of Representatives, there would need to be a five fold increase in both Chiefs of Staff and Legislative Directors to match the Latino percentage of the population.
“Congress’s greatest task is to represent the interests of the American people. It cannot do that if its ranks fail to reflect the diversity of this nation — both at the Member and the staffer level,” said Valeria Sandoval, President of CHSA. “While the 116th Congress might be the most diverse in history, it’s time for Members themselves to step up and hire staff — especially senior staff — who look like the constituents they were elected to represent. This report is a wake-up call and reminder of that fact.”
CHSA makes several recommendations for Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate to adopt, including ramping up diversity offices, improving data collection, and creating individual diversity plans within each office. CHSA also recommends leadership take a more active role ensuring Latinos are not shut out of key committee staff positions.
The 2020 report is a follow up to the 2010 CHSA report, Unrepresented: A Blueprint for Solving the Capitol Hill Diversity Crisis, and examines how the Latino composition of Congressional Staff has changed over the past decade.
The new report can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j0If5sha-a8BwqMpZ24Y7pLhwViG8H5f/view?usp=sharing
The 2010 CHSA report can be found here: http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/diversity_on_the_hill_report.pdf
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