[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1709-E1710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

THE DOMINICAN AMERICAN NATIONAL ROUNDTABLE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE:
INSPIRATION AND LESSONS

______

HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

of new york

in the house of representatives

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with my colleagues a
wonderful meeting I had this morning with a group of bright, engaged,
and active young Dominican Americans from the Dominican American
National Roundtable, an organization which is becoming increasingly
recognized for its advocacy on behalf of the Dominican American
community. Today, the inaugural group of its Dominican Leadership
Institute--all young men and women attending some of the best colleges
in this Nation--visited my office to discuss their views on a variety
of important issues facing this country today. From immigration to
education, we had a lively thoughtful exchange about the future and
direction of this Nation and ways that they can get involved and make
an impact on this country.
In 2005, the Dominican American National Roundtable joined with the
Coca-Cola Bottling Company and the Bert Corona Leadership Institute to
host the Dominican Leadership Institute. The program is designed to
expose college students to the range of opportunities and skills needed
for the next generation of Dominican American leaders. The Leadership
Institute trains, empowers, and motivates these future leaders in the
research, command and advocacy of important issues facing the Nation
and, specifically, Dominican Americans.
This inaugural class of the Dominican Leadership Institute includes
Edwin Zambrano, Nassar Fand Mufdi Ruiz, Pablo Rodriguez, Ysaira C.
Paulino F., Bethsaida George John A. Meche, Amaris Guzman, Evelyn Ng
Duran, Suhaly Bautista, Natalie C. Archibald, Karla Acevedo, and
Arlenis Almonte. These students and future leaders have been exposed to
the challenges of leadership, the need for innovation and creativity,
and the importance of civil engagement in the political system.
During their visit to my office, we spoke about the need for a more
humane and effective immigration policy, the challenges in integrating
new citizens into the country, the problems of the modem family in
major urban communities, and the need for a really fair trade policy.
They were thoroughly knowledgeable of the topics and presented ideas
and suggestions that would be quite useful to this chamber.

I was impressed by the civility, awareness and thoughtfulness of this
group. They approach each issue with a determination for justice and an
ear for understanding. They were articulate about their views and
thoughts and shared with me their life experiences and their reasons
for wanting change. While we seldom disagreed on the policy
implications of the concerns they raised, I was also impressed by their
willingness to hear and sympathetically comprehend all sides on each
issue. This group clearly represents a promising future for the
leadership of the Dominican American community and our Nation.
However, I was a bit disappointed to hear about a disturbing
experience of these bright champions of change in the offices of the
House. As intelligent young Americans of Dominican origin concerned
about the welfare of their families and other citizens of the Dominican
Republic, they rightfully were opposed to CAFTA and met another group
of people who supported the bill in the Longworth Cafeteria where they
were having lunch yesterday. When they initially asked the supporters
about their support, they received information about the background of
CAFTA. When they expressed their awareness of the trade bill and
opposition to it, the supporters became rude and hostile to them and
would no longer explain their rationale. This was a grand opportunity
for an exchange of ideas, a meeting of the minds, but it failed, and it
failed shamefully.

[[Page E1710]]

While unsettling, this experience did not deter these young Dominican
Americans from their commitment to highlight the issues of importance
to them. It is a shame, Mr. Speaker, when students cannot come to their
House and freely, comfortably, debate the issues of the day. This
should be a place for open debate, a free exchange of ideas, and a
respect for different and diverse opinions. I am glad these young men
and women were not deterred by this instance; this is another example
of their considerable maturity, comprehension of the issues, and
respect for their fellow Americans.
I am grateful to have had such an opportunity to exchange views with
such young outstanding Americans. I encourage them to continue in their
diligence, dedication, and search for the truth. I look forward to
seeing them in the future and to knowing of their success and the great
contributions they will make in their professional careers to this
Nation. I urge my colleagues to find ways to reach out to the Dominican
American National Roundtable and obtain information on how you can
recruit members of this group for internships in your congressional
office. These students are bright, motivated, and promising. All they
need to reach their great potential is opportunities for exposure to
the policymaking and legislative process. And you will find that your
exposure to this fine group of Americans will be thoroughly rewarding
and insightful.
I submit to the Record a copy of the statement that this group
presented to me on their policy recommehdations for this Congress. It
is important that we carefully consider the thoughts of our young
people.
We represent the Dominican community as members of the
Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR), and we are
before you today to discuss issues that affect our community
and to propose a number of solutions.

Education

In order to allow the United States' economy to prosper, we
propose that Congress pass the Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act due to its potential
to increase the country's economy by the work of those future
taxpayers.
In order to decrease the poverty level, we propose that
Congress pass the DREAM Act so that it may increase the
quality of life for those who are young and undocumented in
the United States.
In addition, we support the Equal and High Quality
Educational Amendment to the Constitution because the law
would create and sustain high standards in all the schools
within the Nation.

Health Care

We propose that Congress provide programs and services that
may educate people on obtaining healthcare and create
reasonable qualifications for those who are underprivileged.
We recommend that Congress provide free, complete, and
quality healthcare for children under the age of eighteen
(18). Furthermore, we request that adequate health
information be provided by local clinics and health
professionals regarding issues of teen pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases to their communities.
We propose that Congress internally restructure and
organize Medicaid and Medicare so that private specialists
will accept public healthcare.

Quality of Life

We propose that Congress counter the inevitable effects of
gentrification (i.e., displacement due to the higher priced
housing in our neighborhoods) by establishing Community Land
Trusts, where the residents would own the buildings they live
in and a non-profit neighborhood membership organization
would own the land under the buildings. These Trusts would
uphold living and maintenance standards and, more
importantly, would safeguard low-income communities.
We propose that Congress provide ample funding to Community
Centers within these neighborhoods in order to educate the
residents as to this new protection, and to provide
educational and extracurricular opportunities.

DR-CAFTA

We propose that Congress vote against the DR-CAFTA, because
both countries' economies cannot collectively prosper under
the current agreement and only big corporations will benefit.
DR-CAFTA will eliminate tariffs on imported goods forcing
out local competition and increase prices on basic
commodities, which will increase the percentage of poverty-
stricken households.
DR-CAFTA was modeled after NAFTA, which did not accomplish
its goals of decreasing poverty and immigration to the United
States. Furthermore, like NAFTA, DR-CAFTA allows foreign
companies to sue national governments, therefore having a
negative financial impact on developing countries' economies.
We thank you on behalf of our community for giving us the
opportunity to speak with you regarding these issues and our
proposed solutions affecting its development. Please send a
written response.

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