The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) is the non-partisan, 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1989 by then Colorado State Senator, Larry Trujillo. NHCSL represents over 450 elected

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

State legislators throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

. Since its founding, the NHCSL's primary mission has been development of policies and procedures that enhance quality of life for Hispanic Communities across the country. NHCSL works on behalf of State Legislators with

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

and the national

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

groups. The NHCSL is an organization serving and representing the interests of Hispanic state legislators from all states, commonwealths, and territories of the United States. The organization's mission is to serve as a catalyst for joint action on issues of common concern to all segments of the Hispanic community; a forum for

information exchange Information exchange or information sharing means that people or other entities pass information from one to another. This could be done electronically or through certain systems. These are terms that can either refer to bidirectional '' inform ...

and member

networking Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

; an institute for

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

training; a liaison with sister U.S. Hispanic organizations throughout the country; a promoter of public/private partnerships with business and labor; and a partner with Hispanic state or provincial legislators and their associations representing Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

NHCSL leadership 2024-2025

Source: *President: Representative Angela Romero (UT) *President-Elect: Representative Juan Candelaria (UT) *Immediate Past President: Senator

Nellie Pou Nelida "Nellie" Avila Pou ( ; born May 20, 1956) is an American civil servant and politician currently serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 9th congressional district since 2025. A Democrat, she previously served in the New Jer ...

(NJ) *Vice President for Membership: Representative Victoria Neave (TX) *Vice President for Public Policy: Senator Cristina Castro (IL) *Secretary: Representative

Lillian Ortiz-Self Lillian Ortiz-Self (born 1960) is an American politician serving as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 21st District. Ortiz-Self was appointed to the state legislature on January 21, 2014 by the Snohomish County Counci ...

(WA) *Treasurer: Representative Angel Matos (PR) *East Region Chair: Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (NY) *Midwest Region Chair: Senator Celina Villanueva (IL) *South Region Chair: Senator Jason Esteves (GA) *West Region Chair: Representative

Marcelino Quiñonez Marcelino Quiñonez is an American politician, playwright, activist and former member of the Arizona House of Representatives from the Arizona's 11th legislative district, 11th district. He assumed office on December 16, 2021 after being appointed ...

(AZ) In addition to the leadership team, NHCSL is governed by a 17-member

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

NHCSL staff

Source: *Kenneth Romero, Executive Director *Guillermo L. Mena-Irizarry, Director of Legislation, Policy and Advocacy *Gabriela Benazar Acosta, Director of Communications *Carolina García, Director of Meetings and Membership Services

References

{{Reflist

External links

*http://www.nhcsl.org Hispanic and Latino American organizations