PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Amid a teacher shortage in Pennsylvania, statewide efforts to hire more educators of color was a key discussion point at the Pennsylvania Latino Convention held this week.
The convention at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown included conversations on the emerging Latino population in rural areas, diversity in the arts, LGBTQ+ rights, disparities in health care and the role of Black and Latino voters in next month's presidential election.
Now in its seventh year, the Pennsylvania Latino Convention, or PALC, draws Latino leaders from the commonwealth to share ideas and network. About 700 people attended.
As organizers of the convention noted, the Latino population is one of the fastest-growing in the state — and also the youngest (the median age among Latinos is 27, versus 44 among whites).
Committee members include PALC President Norman Bristol Colon, Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez, Debra M. Martinez, Victor Salicetti, Jael Conde, Edith Gutierrez-Hawbaker and Olga Negrón, the former Bethlehem councilwoman.
"Latinos represent 50 percent of the population growth in the last two decades, growing to 1.1 million residents," said Negron, who serves as executive director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs. "If the trends continue, Latinos will not only remain as the nation's largest minority group, but will continue to grow by 2030."
The convention started Sunday and featured events with author and activist Luis Miranda Jr. and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who is seeking re-election.
The convention wraps up Tuesday.
"There's research that shows that when students of color see people of color teaching them, then their chances and the percentage of them graduating increases."Debora Borges-Carrera, chief education officer, city of Philadelphia
'Representation matters'
During a discussion on education Monday — progreso y oportunidades — five leaders led an hour-long talk about the high cost of college and the state's teacher shortage.
According to Teach Plus, a nonprofit education advocacygroup, school districts in the state reported 2,000 teacher vacancies and another 6,500 are teaching on emergency certificates.
Among the speakers were Marcus Delgado, deputy secretary for administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Education; Philadelphia schools Superintendent Tony Watlington; Debora Borges-Carrera, chief education officer for Philadelphia; Sandra González, principal of the Antonia Pantoja Charter School in Philadelphia; and Javier Suárez, board member of Children First, an advocacy group.
Borges-Carrera, who worked for the state Department of Education from 2021 before moving to her current role in March, spoke about representation in schools.
"There's research that shows that when students of color see people of color teaching them, then their chances and the percentage of them graduating increases," Borges-Carrera said.
"When we look at Philadelphia, 27 percent of our students are Latinos, or Hispanics. But only 3 percent of the teaching population is Latino. So that's a place where we have to start doing something. It's very crucial that our students see people that look like them in these roles."
Affording college
Watlington added he would like to see the school district set up a vendor table at next year's convention in an effort to recruit more teachers.
"There's a lot of students that are coming up that don't want to do this," he said. "Even with all the efforts we have currently in the school district. Quite frankly, Pennsylvania is not producing enough teachers. In fact, there's a decline in the number of people who are graduating from a public or private university."
Panelists also talked about efforts to help economically-challenged students attend college.
According to thelatest U.S. Census Bureau data, 23.9 percent of Latinos in Pennsylvania lived in poverty in 2022.
Eighteen percent of Latinos in Pennsylvania, ages 18 to 34, were enrolled in higher education — compared to 23 percent of the white population, a study by Ed Excelencia shows.
Delgado noted Pennsylvania is also one of the most expensive states for college tuition.
He said the state is looking into ways to make college more affordable, especially for low-income families.
"There's community colleges around the commonwealth that are also financially struggling and then kids lose their credits. We at the state level are looking at putting supports in place for colleges to make it more affordable," he said. "So that way our smart kids stay here, thus creating a better workforce. And not just Latino kids, all our kids."
Power in voting
Delgado continued to stress the importance of voting in both primary and general elections.
"There's a belief that the Department of Education runs school districts and colleges, and it's not true, we don't do it," Delgado said.
"What you can do is you can vote. Because the people with real power in Harrisburg are the people who sit in the House, the people who sit in the Senate."
Another PALC-organized event, the PA Latina Women conference, will be held in March.
