Naki Osutei, vice president of strategy at the Toronto City Summit Alliance, will be the guest speaker at Lipscomb University’s third annual Hispanic Forum, to be held Dec. 8 at 7:30 a.m.
The Hispanic Forum was created in the wake of Nashville’s January 2009 “English only” referendum. The proposal to declare English the only language to be used for city government operations was rejected, but the public controversy surrounding the measure sparked Lipscomb to hold an annual forum to bring together leaders from business, government, education, health care, advocacy and non-profit organizations to find common ground on the challenges facing Nashville’s growing Hispanic community.
This year’s forum, with the theme “Abriendo Puertas – Opening Doors for All,” will focus on the region’s diverse populations and seek to understand, recognize and build on the strength that diversity brings to our communities.
As the state with the third fastest-growing population of Hispanics since 2000, Tennessee is undergoing major population shifts. Hispanics make up 4.6 percent of the state’s population and 7.2 percent of the state’s population of children under 18.
Osutei’s career experience gives her a unique insight into ways Nashville’s leaders can address diversity issues. As the strategy and fundraising officer for the Toronto City Summit Alliance, Osutei works with a unique coalition of senior business, non-profit, government and community leaders who come together to address challenges to the Toronto region’s social and economic future.
She has also helped to develop rising civic leaders through the Alliance’s Emerging Leaders Network and DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project and served on the board of directors for St. Christopher House, one of Canada’s leading multiservice community agencies.
The Dec. 8 Hispanic Forum is co-sponsored by Lipscomb University’s Nelson and Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership, Conexión Américas and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, three groups also interested in collaborative decision-making, developing emerging civic leaders and strengthening links between business and civic engagement.
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean was the speaker at the first Hispanic Forum in 2009, which focused on collaborative solutions to individual and community needs. The forum resulted in at least one major collaboration that is in operation today – a partnership between Southern Hills Medical Center and the United Neighborhood Health Service to provide additional health services to the Hispanic and immigrant community.
Dr. Stella Flores, assistant professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilt University and a nationally known expert on the impact of state and federal policies on college access and completion, spoke at the second forum in 2010, which focused on ways to increase the number of Hispanic youth entering college.
In addition to establishing the Hispanic Forum, Lipscomb University has established several scholarships and a strong relationship with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Latino Achievers program in order to make a college education more accessible and affordable to Nashville’s Latino youth.
