Communities Leading Change with Gina Plata-Nino
In our final episode of our Latino Advisory Commission mini-season, Josh talks with Gina Plata-Nino, a staff attorney at the Central West Justice Center of Community Legal Aid, and a leader in both the Worcester Together effort and the Latino Empowerment and Organizing Network (LEON). Josh and Gina continue discussing our topic and the importance of Latinx representation and community involvement in furthering issues of equity. We talk about youth voice being essential for creating equity within the city and how crucial it is for groups, like the commission, to be held accountable to ensure that progress is being made and equity is being promoted.
Learn more about Worcester Together and how to get involved in the community on their website!
Public Hearing is a podcast from Action! by Design about our home city of Worcester, Massachusetts and the people we should be listening to—residents, artists, activists, community leaders, storytellers, and those most impacted by issues facing our city. Our mission is to cultivate community through equity, inclusion, and design, and that work starts at home.
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Transcript for this episode
Joshua Croke (00:01):
Hello Worcester and the world. This is Public Hearing, our podcast and radio show from Action! By Design about our home city of Worcester, Massachusetts, and the people we should be listening to. As we participate in change work, residents, artists, activists, community leaders, storytellers, and those most impacted by issues facing our city on Public Hearing, we engage community members addressing social problems in ways that center equity justice and the pursuit of joyfilled futures for everyone. I am your host Joshua Croke, and this is the Public Hearing podcast.
Joshua Croke (00:34):
We are back with our third and final episode of our mini-season about the formation of the Latino Advisory Commission here in the city of Worcester. As a recap for listeners, the Latino Advisory Commission will be responsible for encouraging, promoting and monitoring policies in the city that impact Latinos and hopes to ensure Latinos in the city have equal access to public services and the full enjoyment and exercise of their civil rights. Additional recap we started our con conversation with Hilda Ramirez, the outgoing executive director of the Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University, who spoke to us about some of the history of the work that has been done in the Latino community to advocate for more representation and to be leaders in decisions that impact their lives. After speaking with Hilda, we talked to Luis Pedraja the president of Quinsigamond Community College about some of his hopes for the Latino Advisory Commission, where we spend a good amount of time talking about acknowledging broken systems, having the wrong voices at the right tables and the need to distribute power across our communities so that our residents are driving the decisions related to issues that impact their lives.
Joshua Croke (01:41):
Today, we're here with Gina Plata-Nino, Central West Justice Center of Community Legal Aid, a leader in the Worcester Together effort and the Latino Empowerment and Organizing Network (LEON), and a strong advocate and active advocate addressing food security and other issues here in the city of Worcester. As listeners of Public Hearing know, I always invite guests to add to their introductions since we're much more complex and nuanced as beings than one might read on a LinkedIn bio or a resume. So Gina welcome, and thank you for being here. I'll invite you to share any parts of your background affiliations or social location that you'd like to bring into this space today that you feel are relevant for folx to know and might connect to the conversation that we're having.
Gina Plata-Nino (02:25):
Absolutely, Josh and thank you so much for inviting me and asking me to be here. I thank you for the many titles you added, but really if I wanted someone to just know who I am, I am a connector of people. I really care about this community and I will say that those would be the two things that I would need for this introduction.
Joshua Croke (02:44):
Fantastic. So we talked to Hilda, we talked to Luis about some of their hopes for the commission, so maybe let's start there. I know you have done a lot of work in kind of championing advocacy for the formation of the Latino Advisory Commission. What are some of the things that really catalyze that for you? And what are you hoping that the commission will achieve here in the city?
Gina Plata-Nino (03:05):
You know, Josh, you set that a little bit in our introduction, right? Very active within the Worcester Together. And what is this Worcester Together model? Right? It was a group of individuals who came together in March 2020 when the pandemic began through that, but prior to that, the same group of people had gotten together when the disasters in Puerto Rico made many of our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters come to Massachusetts and evacuate, many of us created a wonderful system. And we said, we did such a good job providing a safety net making sure that people were housed, but our busy lives didn't allow us to sort of continue this effort. Come March 2020 we sort of build upon that. We identify what the issues were. And as we kept thinking, like you said, with security, right? People don't choose to be food insecure.
Gina Plata-Nino (03:52):
It's stemming from inequities, systemic and structural racism, non-living wages. There are so many things we started seeing that again. Who COVID was hitting the hardest was our Latino community and our black community. I can't speak for the black community, and I can't speak for the Latino community, I don't wanna generalize, but that's what the data showed. And instead of thinking, how can we help these individuals? How can we make sure that they have a voice in the positions of power? Because throughout all these times, funding was being allocated, laws were being passed, ordinances were being passed, but those most affected, and those were a majority-minority were not being consulted. And we kept doing things the wrong way. And we came together, like you said, LEON, just stemmed from Latino community members, so we're like, what can we do differently?
Gina Plata-Nino (04:45):
We are frustrated. Our people are dying. We're not exaggerating. People are dying. And this didn't come because of COVID. What were these systemic and structural issues that brought us here? So with that mindset, we came together and a group of us, and I need to make sure I do this because a lot of the research was made possible by a little subcommittee that we formed, which was Civic Engagement. Hermon Chivoga, Maritza Cruz, Laura Rodriguez-Parker, Bibien Abru, and myself, met for hours researching what other states were doing, what others cities were doing. We read their websites, we contacted their commissions and said, has this been working for you? Tell us the good things, tell us the bad things. And then based on that, we drafted a document that will be not the solution. And I want us to be aware of that because I think, yes, thank you, city manager.
Gina Plata-Nino (05:38):
And thank you, for city leadership for listening and addressing this, but it's just the first step, right? Our hope is that it will be an engagement in conversation that as we're thinking at ARPA funding, as we're thinking about budget allocation, as we're thinking about city planning, we're not thinking of like, “oh, who am I going to consult at a consulting firm? No, no, no. I have a commission right here who are experts on these issues and who bring the voices of the community and they can tell me, and I don't have to drive to Boston or call California, but I can walk down the hall or I can call everyone in.” So that's really the hope to really have a voice and the presence and to let our Latino community come together so that they can express their needs. But more importantly, be actually heard.
Joshua Croke (06:25):
We had a conversation with Etel who recently was elected to the District Five City Council seat in an earlier season of Public Hearing and one thing that really resonated from the conversation and other conversations with guests that we've had on the show and as we talk about like budgeting and ARPA funding and like resource allocation it was articulated that like a budget is a moral document and like Tracy O'Connell Novick who's a school committee member also talks about the budget as like a moral document. And it's like a responsibility of our leadership. You not only speak to what should be prioritized, but show in the line items, what are priorities in our communities and as someone who is so passionate about and does community engagement work, participatory models for governance, I think are so critical as actually like a participatory budgeting process. Like how can we move the city of Worcester to a participatory budgeting process where residents and people in the city are involved in the process of how that money is allocated and spent. And so I love the way that you articulated the role of this commission being a contact point and it can be a connection to the community. And one of the things that we talked about with Hilda is also how much work has been done with like LEON and Adelante Worcester and other efforts throughout Worcester's history to now, look at this as an achievement in that continuing work. And so related to some of the actions and priorities that you hope are set and really focused on what are some of the things that our listeners can tune into or get involved in, or be supportive of in this work.
Gina Plata-Nino (08:11):
I would say, number one, you and I were just talking about this earlier. There's ARPA. I don't know when this will air, but there's ad hoc communities where they will ask for community member input, right. Applications are due February 22nd. So just even thinking about the system in place, that's something where once the Latino Commission is in place, once they're creating an RFP process, when they're creating a funding process, they can say, is this accessible will these to be okay for individuals who may not be native speakers? Will this be okay for individuals who are over 60 or will this be okay for individuals who may not have technology access, which we know it's a privilege, and I think some of us think is a right, but it really is a privilege within our community to have it. So those are the sort of conversations that we want to engage in sort of doing this like access to resources and funding in conversation are really such a big part of it.
Gina Plata-Nino (09:07):
But even more, we talked about education. We know that that's separate, but we hope that within our kids unfortunately Worcester has a really bad history of the way that Latino kids particularly are treated, whether it be access to ESL education, where they are disciplined more, and I'll include our black brothers and sisters in part of that, or the way that they are disciplined higher than other races. So Worcester is part of the Commonwealth, and I really hope we can get to a point where we are recognized for the positive things because it's not enough to call it out. We wanna see action steps. And so that's really what we hope to see you know, the Latino Commission so constantly in your face without people having to say, oh, should we consult? Should we do a community assessment, which are all very important, but again, you don't need to consult when you have individuals representing the community, which ideally will be talking to their neighbors and bringing those issues.
Joshua Croke (10:03):
And so related to that as well, like what are the accountability processes look like? So that this commission is really continuing to connect with the community voices? Because I think one of the challenges that we've seen in many tables and things that we set at is like the tokenization of individual groups and represented by the same folx or individuals who might be extremely like well-intended in the work that they're doing, but also needing to remember that we, none of us in the minoritized groups speak as a monolith or for that entire group. So how can folx in the Latino community hold this commission accountable to make sure that there is that constant connection between the broader community voice and how that's articulated on the commission.
Gina Plata-Nino (10:52):
I love what you just said. I think that's what we want to see because I think with any new movement and I don't wanna go forward without acknowledging that this wouldn't have been possible without all the other work that you mentioned, right? Like Adelante Worcester and all these people who have worked really hard for it. But you're right, the danger is that we can get historical and we can sort of get stuck without allowing new voices in and within ourselves think that we are speaking for a broad majority when we're just speaking for ourselves. So even in recruiting individuals, we make sure that we had young people and by young people, I don't mean to say that 30 is not young, but young people, you know, college age students because they play you a big part.
Gina Plata-Nino (11:40):
I mean, just look at Worcester how many colleges and universities they have, right. We've looked for people who were also over 60, people who were, you know, who had kids. We try to make it as diverse so that not one voice is louder. Is it going to be perfect? Absolutely not. Is there going to be obstacles? Yes. And we just hope that people call it out. These are public meetings. People can attend them publicly. February 28th is when individuals can officially apply. I know that as parallel, we have contacted many individuals and said, “these are the requirements we strongly encourage you. It has to be district representation. And at large representation, there is going to be one, two, and three-year terms so that there's constant a rotating basis,” but I call this out to everyone. Again, they're Public Hearings, if we don't like what they're saying, if we're not looking at removing, this is not infallible, things only work as long as we keep them accountable. And then ideally they're going to report and hold accountable city council and the city officials.
Joshua Croke (12:44):
And once those folx are selected, I also just wanna name for listeners, the importance of not only holding accountable but supporting the people in those roles because those people play a very difficult role in both, how do you hold our city governance accountable while also being able to still really engage and like be at the table and like move forward, productive conversation? So as we look at mechanisms to support folx in the community who are stepping into these roles and for maybe for listeners who are thinking, “oh, I might be interested in applying for this, but I'm actually really like hesitant or nervous or fearful about like what the requirement might be or what the support might look like.” So could you speak a little bit to that as to how community can really come together to support these folx?
Gina Plata-Nino (13:32):
Absolutely. And I'm so glad you said it because it's not enough to have individuals there. This is a volunteer project. People have full time jobs and they're taking this time out of their time. Let's be compassionate when we speak to one another and let's ask, “what do you mean” instead of, “I can't believe you said that,” right. I just think if we just communicate with one another, in a compassionate manner, we're able to just clear the air, right? So I would say that I think compassion is one of my favorite words. Lets be compassionate to one another. The second part is if you want to get involved, like I mentioned we have committed in a mentorship way. The reason why the initial committee that we're hoping that would apply has so many different ages is that ideally those who have been doing this work for 30, 40 years, whose, you know, work we're standing on, who have we've had the privilege to be here because of things they have done in the past, you will be able to talk to them and will be able to learn.
Gina Plata-Nino (14:28):
And also those who have been doing this for a year can be refreshed with new ideas by those, with younger voices. So regardless of where you are in age, there's a concept and responsibility, particularly within, I don't wanna say the elders of our community because they're not, I'm just, I utilize the term elder by wisdom and experience that they're willing to mentor and support individuals. And so if people are interested you know, they can also go on the website of the city, but if they want more of a one on one and that support system, they can contact LEON.
Joshua Croke (15:02):
Fantastic. And, in that, you're talking about like the beauty and challenge of change, right? The change process. And I am a hard Octavia Butler fan, if you're familiar with Octavia Butler's work. And by way of, I was introduced to Octavia Butler by way of adrienne maree brown who's like a facilitator and mediator and Octavia Butler talks about how everything is change, right. We have to build relationship with change and look at how change impacts us, how things that we change, impact others and really coming into a relationship with change. And I think one of the things that I've seen in a lot of spaces and meetings, especially for folx who have been doing the work for so long, is it is sometimes really hard when younger folx and new folx are coming in with ideas that they're excited about, but also are things that you're like, oh, we tried that five years ago.
Joshua Croke (16:00):
Right? And like, how do you build those relationships to not suppress or dismiss these ideas that are coming up from our youth and folx in the community about ways we can really manifest change that is impactful. While also continuing a line of like education for folx in the community who might be more recently learning about some of these things from kind of the structural level, right? We have a lot of lived experience Oak spring, which is invaluable in, in this work. And then also connecting to the broader, like structural challenges. Like when we talk about the statistics of Latino and our black students disproportionately disciplined and suspended from school, and like the impact of that from like a structural level, the solutions lie within the community being most impacted and harmed by these, these issues. And I like, I truly believe that, but the community really needs to come together to listen to those voices and say we are going to make these, these changes, and we are going to further that work. So speaking on the subject of, of change, what are some of the hopes that you have for some of the, the changes that we will see and some of the priorities that we set as a community and led by this commission and the Latino community at large.
Gina Plata-Nino (17:25):
Yeah. Before we get that, I, I, I would wanna just sort of echo what you said, changes are hard, but every new day's change. And I think if we can just focus on the broader picture and find unity in that I think that's the first step. And I, I think the second step, if, if we can acknowledge our policies and if we can acknowledge and take ego out of the way, because I feel like that's sort of like the destroyer of things. And like, it's not about me. It's about the greater work include respect. And I go back to compassion and humility, but not in like a subservient way, but in a powerful way. Cause there's so much power and humility in a, allows us to open the avenues to new conversations. And I agree with you, maybe they, you did try that five years ago, but things have within the last two years have changed dramatically.
Gina Plata-Nino (18:19):
And maybe it wasn't the right time and maybe we could do it now. So I think it's, we're, we're as human beings, we're so complex. And so our, our issues as well, and that constantly changed. So it, I just look at fashion, I say, that's a perfect example. You just revisit things that people like, and you thought like, yikes, like I should have never thrown my eighties clothes away because now they're worth, you know, this is what's on, I'm not gonna go pay for that. Right. so similarly with some ideas that some of them are good, some of them should really have stayed in the closet, right? Like why do we take those things out? So similarly, I would say in terms of, of articulating it and working with people, and again, our, our hope really is that we're not thinking, oh, there's a Latino commission.
Gina Plata-Nino (19:03):
It's just one of our commissions. As you said, there's not being tokenized. Our hope is that you know, when the city manager or the mayor, they do their agenda to counsel, they usually put who they have consulted with, or they have said, and we will make sure that we're guided by. So, and so that it happens automatically that as they're thinking like, oh, it's not like, oh, we should do a focus group for individuals that they have already spoken to. That it's not, we plan this, let us know what you think is we're in the planning process. Please give us your thoughts. That's really the hope. And you know, it's a little bit difficult within the, you know, the, the commission, because the way our, our government structure is with the school is very different than, than the city. This is really more around like city government.
Gina Plata-Nino (19:51):
So it really, that's why LEON is so important in that way and all these other groups, because they can really focus on the education piece because as folx who may be listening may not understand, like, what do you mean can't, doesn't the mayor or the city manager sort of tell the superintendent what to do. And, you know, it's, you know, school committee, like, it's, it's just, we're very different here. And wor which is good and sometimes a frustrating process because there just means that there are more parties to work with which could be challenging. So that that's really the hope that they're part of the engagement process from beginning economic development, you know, who are the, who are the permits being given out to? Are we looking from an equity point of view? What does equity mean? Are they taking the lead language and just putting it on paper? Or are we applying it? Do we have benchmarks? That's one of the things that we're pushing the commission to do in five years, things are different because, and really call it out and hold each other accountable. So sort of think about as you're listening to this, what do you wanna see in five years? Because it's not gonna happen in one, it's not gonna happen in two. This is a long term process, and it would allow the commission to set those benchmarks, to see if it's working and also hold the city leadership accountable.
Joshua Croke (21:01):
And I, I love what you're saying there around like equity and accountability, cuz you can't have equity without accountability. And I think so many people will say like, oh, we are now committed to equity. But then I ask like, so where are the things that people can point to, to hold you accountable to the things that you're saying, right. And you know, as a, as an attorney, I'm sure you appreciate like policy and like legislation and things that you can point to, to say again, these are like moral documents. These are commitments to the community. And so what are we asking the city to, to write down and to allow us to hold them accountable to so that this commission can be successful. Other commissions can be successful. What is like the equity process that you're seeing in the city that kind of gives you hope for, for the future of this work?
Gina Plata-Nino (21:51):
I had to tell you the, the fact that we're having a conversation about encouraging people to sign up for an aha committee in ARPA. I know of many cities who have view, you know, automatically used the money for infrastructure or things that had been on the budget for many years, but didn't have the resources. That's not what the American rescue plan act funds were for. They were for the hardest hit communities. So how do we address that? So the fact that the community is going to decide how they're going to do this bucket of money is huge. Is it going to be per perfect? Absolutely not. It's going to have its challenges, but the fact that we're having this conversation and say, well, this is a citing that an organization even like yours, right? Like any organization or even a community member may be able to say, I have an idea.
Gina Plata-Nino (22:38):
This can benefit my organization, my community, and I can apply. I think that's great because I think sometimes community members feel intimidated sort of larger funders and sort of the process. And that's another conversation that we can have. But so that gives me hope. I think the fact that they hire a chief diversity officer, right? I think the fact that she's part of those ARPA conversations. I think the fact that the city manager called out and, and his agenda said, we're going to consult with the, was the logistics committee because they've really been working on this and we acknowledge equity and I listen and he did, he met with many advocates for a couple of days and was like, I heard you, and this is what I'm willing to do. Considering how we started at the beginning when we were told like, yeah, about 3 million or maybe 10 million, right.
Gina Plata-Nino (23:29):
And all these community, listen, listen sessions where people feel very frustrated. So I think the fact that you have, like, this is how much we're allocating. We have committees and we're recruiting. People gives me hope that we're in the right direction. And I guess you and I will talk about it in a year to see how it'll turn out. But it's the first step. I mean, this hasn't been done in wor before. So I think it's the first step. And they're really trying to be intentional. That again, me person who I'm not a 5 0 1 [inaudible] [inaudible] or I, I don't know what the requirements are gonna be, but if I'm not associated with a big, large organic that I'm gonna have an equal chance, even though I don't have a development officer, even though I didn't pay a grant maker to write a beautiful item, but I have the lived experience of my community. So that's why that's the sort of hope.
Joshua Croke (24:22):
Another thing you said that I, I really appreciate eight and want to underline and kind of highlight is you talk about kind of the separation and also connection of like focuses that people and individuals and groups take to move this work forward. And I think when you talk about the value of like Worcester together, part of that is the relationships that are built in that space that recognize like, oh, we might be focusing on ARPA dollars or ARPA funding, and we know that education and these other issues are equally as important. And so we need to bring people into this space who we trust are stewarding that work forward. And I think in our own personal lives and as, as listeners and as community members listening to the show, I always like to try and extend some kind of thoughts about how folx can get like more involved in these processes, because we talk about such nuanced things in these episodes and try and kind of showcase the intersections between the conversation, you know, education and the criminal legal system and food security and health equity.
Joshua Croke (25:32):
And like there's so many interweaving connection points between all of this work. I'd like to extend to listeners the importance of building like trust networks with folx that are in alignment with your passion area, as well as also are leading and involved in things that are maybe disconnected from some of your individual passions, but, you know, are so connected and important to to moving forward. Right? And so I have some trusted folx when elections come up and I'm like, oh, what's this candidate's position on housing. Right? And like someone in my friend group who, or my network who is a staunch, like housing advocate, who I know we are aligned in values and things can really help to connect these very complex, complex dots. So appreciate you coming on the show any other parting thoughts or things you'd like to share with our guests in our, in our last minute year,
Gina Plata-Nino (26:33):
You don't have to be an expert on all things. Reach out to those who may have more time capacity, and just start small. Maybe it's one letter, maybe it's holding a sign, maybe he's making a phone call, but just know that you have equal power as the next person sitting next to you when it comes to voting, which is really, this is what it comes out when we talk about equity and decision making.
Joshua Croke (26:56):
Awesome. Well, Gina, thank you so much for being here and for listeners, thank you to listening for, to you Public Hearing our podcast and radio show that airs Wednesdays at 6:00 PM on WICN 90.5 FM Worcester's only NPR affiliate station and can be heard wherever you listen to podcast. I am your host, Joshua Croke. If you have ideas for the show or would like to become a supporter or have idea for other mini seasons for Public Hearing, reach out to our team@publichearing.co. Our audio producer is Giuliano D'Orazio, who also made our show music also, thanks to Molly Gammon and Anh Dao who also support the production of this show. Public Hearing is created and produced by Action! By Design a social innovation and change agency working to further equity justice, and the pursuit of joy filled futures for everyone. Learn more about our work@actionbydesign.co and as always, thanks for listening.
