Dear NHLI Friends,

Six months into 2009, the National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI) has much to celebrate with respect to theaccomplishments of its alums. Many graduates have risen to positions of leadership within the new administration and corporate America, been appointed as executive directors of important non-profits, launched their own businesses, and have graduated from college and embarked in exciting careers.

While the graduates are making significant headway, NHLI’s newest family members — the 2009 Executive Leadership Program Fellows — have completed the first three weeks of the program, and the Latinas Learning to Lead (LLL) fellows graduated from their week-long leadership journey in Washington, DC. Additionally, hundreds of Latinas across the country have participated in NHLI’s leadership conferences and hundreds more will be attending upcoming ones.

Though there has been a lot of exciting activity at the organization, NHLI has not been exempt from the financial challenges affecting the non-profit and other sectors brought about by the economic downturn. We’ve had to put on hold some of our plans for new initiatives, especially the Speakers Bureau, the Emerging Latina Professionals Institute — our newest leadership training program for Latinas 24-34 years old — and some online activities.

Nevertheless, we continue to see great enthusiasm among our loyal sponsors and supporters who believe in the organization’s mission and continue to support our programs. (We will be highlighting some of these examples in this and upcoming newsletters).

We are also seeing many friends stepping up to ensure we have the resources that allow us to continue offering our unique leadership experience to Latinas across the country. One of our 2009 fellows (Michelle Minguez-Moore) has launched a “pay it forward campaign” and is enlisting the help of her classmates to reach out to the NHLI alumnae network and invite them to pay it forward and invest in Latina leadership development. To find out more about this initiative contact Michelle@ibarraassociates.com.

NHLI is translating these economic “challenges” into opportunities. Now more than ever our community members need professional development and networking opportunities that will help them remain marketable in the workforce and make connections to advance in their careers. In that spirit, this year NHLI extended its regional trainings from half-day events to day-long conferences to provide more professional development opportunities to its participants and offer great value. A webinar training series is underway for late summer, as well as initiatives to connect job seekers with employers (an online JobBank).

There is a lot of excitement about the 2009 Conference in Albuquerque, NM. Our conference theme (selected by the Host Committee) is “OUR TIME IN HISTORY” to reflect both the times we are living in with so many Latinas advancing to leadership positions (including the first Hispanic woman Supreme Court Justice), and the historical richness of our host state (New Mexico). We anticipate this year's conference to be a smashing success. We already feel the energy with early registrations, excitement about workshops, and reunion plans of various classes. This year we will be having a series of contests to win free registration and/or airfare to the Conference (courtesy of some of our sponsors). NHLI will soon unveil the Mujer Awards recipients, conference artist winners, and more. Click here to get the latest conference updates.

Thank you for your continued support and for your commitment to NHLI. Enjoy this edition of our newsletter.

Cristina Lopez