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Charting civil rights' courseBy Henry Sanders Jr.
Nu�ez received an undergraduate degree in political science and Hispanic studies from Connecticut College and a graduate degree in international education from the University of Massachusetts. She came to Madison to take a job as executive director of Centro Hispano in 1999 and was later appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle to be deputy secretary of the Department of Workforce Development as well as a division administrator for equal rights. She has also been a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, a volunteer teacher for pregnant and parenting teens in Massachusetts, and has worked on writing curriculum at Stanford. She came to Madison to take a job as executive director of Centro Hispano in 1999 and was later appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle to be deputy secretary of the Depart-ment of Workforce Development as well as a division administrator for equal rights. Nu�ez brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the newly formed Department of Civil Rights. Here, she comments on the mission of the department, and what it means for minority-owned businesses, diversity and the entrepreneurial spirit in Madison. Q. What is the mission of the Department of Civil Rights (DOCR)? What is your role as director? A. The DOCR brings together two existing agencies (divisions) … affirmative action and equal opportunities. The DOCR brings the missions of these two entities together. The five existing ordinances that link these two divisions will remain the same. We will continue to enforce equal opportunities in employment and public accommodation in housing (those are the equal opportunities ordinances that are on the books) and in terms of affirmative action, we will look at internal city process in terms of hiring and recruiting and making sure that people are being hired and retained in jobs and that people are offered the same opportunities there. So nothing is going to change regarding the missions of those two separate divisions. What the DOCR will do is bring together a team to look at broader issues of civil rights and evaluate what the role is in those terms. The department as a whole will be brought to a higher status and will bring the issues into a new light in a sense. We will work together as a staff to come up with a new and focused mission and vision. I think it will be important that everyone is involved in that. The staff in both divisions must be a part of that process. In that sense we are a department in the making. Q. How would you describe the entrepreneurial spirit in the minority community in the Greater Madison Area? A. There is a great entrepreneurial spirit in the minority community here. I recently saw some statistics (national and state level statistics) that the largest number of small businesses were being opened by Latinos as well as women. In terms of the United States, it is these groups that are not necessarily thought of as small business owners. I think that the spirit is present here in Madison. In terms of the Madison community one of the things we have discussed is a city initiative to increase the amount of work here in Madison with contractors that want to do work with the city. There is presumably a small group of people that are involved in and interested in small business development relating to city contracts. However, this doesn't quite cover the entire community. So I think some of our policies in the work we do with affirmative action don't take into consideration all the people attempting to start their own businesses. There's a great spirit here. Specifically, I have been working with the Latino community since 1999. Since I arrived here, the number of businesses, small grocery stores, the number of restaurants that have emerged, etc. have been quite numerous. Just take a drive down Park Street and you'll see that. It's kind of an interesting thing that the entrepreneurial spirit is coming into Madison. Q. Some people would say Madison is anti-business. Would you say that the policies of the city help or hinder the entrepreneurial spirit? A. I was looking at the city Web site earlier to look at some of the resources the city has available. There is the Office of Bus-iness Resources and a couple of other sites that are geared mostly toward businesses. I know some of the recent policy proposals in terms of minimum wage and now the proposed mandatory sick leave ordinance are fairly controversial and are being perceived as anti-business. That is a difficult question to answer. It seems obvious, without statistics in front of me, that Madison is a place where businesses are growing. Do they last, how do they prosper, are they able to access loans, etc. may be found in research at a city or state level in terms of how minority businesses do in comparison to other businesses. Q. What are some of the qualities that attract and retain people of color and encourage them to settle down and build businesses here? A. I think about things like Richard Florida's "The Creative Class." What is it that we need to do to attract all people and grow a community or grow Madison or grow Wisconsin in some way? Those important qualities are an openness and inclusion, which are important to many businesses and to many people. You must start thinking globally … someone said that the job marketplace is no longer local, it's global. And that's something we need to think about - how do we deal with that as a society and how do we start thinking about how to compete at a global level? Technology has really pushed us in that direction. For example. we can do business with Bombay, India, today and have conversations and communication in an instant because of the Internet, telephones and other technological innovations that we have access to. We can sell products to China in no time at all. Understanding that global place, languages and different cultures is something that we need if we are going to succeed in be-coming a strong economic power. That means from a city level to a state level to the country. Having that kind of openness in thinking about different cultures is going to be important. And having people that reflect that global place is going to be important as well. Q. How do small, locally owned minority businesses contribute to the economy and the culture of this community? A. They contribute on so many levels. Madison is a place where many small business owners can be very responsive. That is something that is helpful to both clients and customers on a number of levels. It builds trust with customers who want to go back again and again or recommend that people go back there. This will build a synergy between the community and that business that works in terms of responding to needs of the population. It is exciting in that it provides employment opportunities for people and growth opportunities for people. There is even a greater spirit in terms of having, for example, a small grocery store that is so responsive to so many different cultural groups in terms of the products they offer to so many cultural communities. It's exciting that there are contributions that are even greater than the number of jobs that a small store might provide. Q. Today many people talk about diversity as the politically correct thing to do. From your perspective, how does diversity help the bottom line of a business? A. It's interesting because I remember going to a national conference a number of years ago, and there was a workshop put on by a major car company. The discussion among the top level management was that the company's advertising needed to appeal to the Latino market. This was before diversity was a politically correct gesture. They decided that they needed someone to create ads for the Latino community. They recognized that this group of people liked cars and wanted to explore ways to appeal to them. It's interesting because I think businesses are more willing to think about that than the nonprofits and the city and governments who are sometimes behind the times. Businesses know that the bottom line is, for example, we want to sell cars. They ask themselves, "Who can we sell cars to?" and " Who likes to buy cars?" and "Who are our potential consumers?" They are thinking about advertising and image and making sure that people see people on commercials that look like them and will appeal to them. It is the for-profit world, who unfortunately not because of their values and ideals, are moving forward in terms of their bottom line to make sure they appeal to a wider audience. There are a number of major companies that will demonstrate their diversity in their TV commercials or ads in magazines. They have gotten past the "political correctness" and have realized the value to their bottom line in reaching out to a diverse population, even though their motives may be different. Q. There is an old civil rights model that fights for equal rights for all. The Department of Civil Rights is historic for this area, and having a Department of Civil Rights brings a new mission and new edge to the civil rights movement. Is there an old version versus a new version of civil rights, in your opinion? If so, do economic development and jobs fit into this new focused version of civil rights? A. That is a great question. There is the civil rights movement that (was) the historic movement that really set the foundation for all of this. If you talk about civil rights in the 21st century, you do have to talk about jobs and economic development. You need to talk about economic justice as well as social justice and political justice. Related to that, you cannot separate out education. If our kids are dropping out, they will not get advanced degrees and they will not get those higher paying jobs if they do not even have high school degrees. That education piece feeds into the economic piece which feeds into who is making decisions. If I am a business owner and we are discussing the development of a certain portion of the city, am I a part of those discussions? These pieces are all linked and all have to be part of the ongoing discussion of civil rights and the ongoing struggle that we have. This is a small department, and it cannot fall solely on us. All of these issues - especially education and economic development - do not relate just to the Department of Civil Rights. A lot of different city departments must work together on these goals. madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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