On February 28, 2013, Hostos Community College presented a conference called Dominican Americans of the Diaspora that wanted way to honor Dominican Heritage Month. The conference was split into four different topics and featured community leaders, government officials, and scholars. These topics included women in government positions, scholar, private sectors, and business. The conference include panel discussions, individual presentation, as well as a key note address. After each presentation of presenters, were presented with certificates of appreciation.
The first panel was the women in government panel hit on role of what each panelist’s position was and immigration. The take away from this particular panel was that, the ends are better than the means and you can’t please everyone. The second panel talked about several theories and talked a lot about the successes and challenges that face the Dominican community today.
In the business, government and private sector panel was about how to interact with people in the real world, making connections, and various challenges about getting internships, entry-level positions, mentorships and fellowships. One highlight from this panel was that you need to be the most determined person, but not necessarily the smartest person in the room.
The fourth panel was all about the breakdown of Dominicans through age, education, household income, naturalized or U.S. born citizen, and health insurance coverage based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau. This was a panel where the attendees got to see where the numbers were divided among commonly calculated statistics. Lastly, the takeaway from it was celebrated what Dominicans should be thinking about for the future.
Overall, having the conference was a success because it gave insight to the attendees about what was going on in their community, what actions could be taken on their own to become active and how to spread the word to other people that are not necessarily knowledgeable about the Dominican community.
