By Program Manager Samuel Aguilar

In 2012, as an undergraduate intern for GALEO, I wrote a thesis on the topic of bipartisan immigration reform and proposed my own policy solution.  Based off the strength of my writing and GALEO’s network, it gained some attention and I presented my proposal at various southeastern public policy and immigration conferences.  Now, after almost two years of working full time at GALEO, I’ll be heading to Florida to work on federal immigration reform with FWD.us – quite literally a dream come true.  It’s a bittersweet moment for me as I prepare to take my career to the next level while leaving behind the organization and state that gave me countless opportunities to prove myself.

When I began working full time at GALEO, I took on the role of leadership development coordinator – a field that I had almost no experience in.  I was passionate about giving a political voice to the Latino community and working to create good public policy.  Jerry Gonzalez gave me the opportunity to not only learn and work with our leadership programs but to tackle the organization’s public policy work as well.  From the beginning, he was nothing but supportive.  Always there when I had questions or needed supervision while simultaneously entrusting me with the autonomy to move our agenda and programs forward.

I’m a fast learner, it wasn’t long before I took charge of our leadership programs and began tweaking them to my style and what I thought would be beneficial.  Throughout all of this, I knew I had the full support of Jerry, our directors and program facilitators.  I was able to get to know them on a personal basis, which made our professional relations more genuine and efficient.  I learned to take the lead and make executive decisions on certain things while also allowing opportunities for feedback and collaborative construction at times.  By the time the 2016 class rolled around, I had completely revamped our application and interview process and added relevant workshops and well-known speakers to the GALEO Institute for Leadership (GIL) curriculum.  Our application rates in the past two years have been the highest ever and the GIL continues to be the flagship Latino leadership development initiative in the state.

Now the fun part: While at GALEO I was also entrusted to work side by side with Jerry in creating and lobbying for our legislative agenda.  When I began working at GALEO, I knew close to nothing about our state legislature… two years later, I’ve grown into one of the leading Latino and immigrant advocates under the Gold Dome.  None of this would be possible without the help and support of GALEO’s staff and network.  I hit the ground running by meeting as many people as I could; from general assembly staff to elected officials, interest groups and the passionate volunteers that make this entire system work.  I had great mentors that showed me the ins and outs of lobbying, advocacy, and the high-school lunch room style drama that is state politics.  I observed carefully and spoke up when needed and by my second year, I felt like I knew what I was doing and how to get it done.

2016 was a make-or-break year for GALEO and I at the state legislature.  In a year when Donald Trump won the primary in our state by a decent margin, when “sanctuary city” and Syrian refugee backlash was all the rage and when our mostly Republican state legislature was up for re-election… it was up to us to make sure that the Latino and immigrant communities of our state were well represented at the capitol.  Before the session even started, several anti-immigrant bills were pre-filed and began gaining attention.  I learned from my colleagues that these measures were very common in election years as Republicans attempted to “out-conservative” each-other in order to have successful campaigns back in their district.  Nonetheless, GALEO along with the LAA and other groups were able to create a winning coalition of advocates and bipartisan support to stop all the anti-immigrant bills from passing.  It was far from an easy task, especially for a young group of lobbyists still trying to learn their way, but we were able to get it done.  I hope the day soon comes when our organizations can work to move forward proactive legislation rather than celebrating the defeat of hateful and ignorant bills.

All in all, my work at the legislative session and with GALEO allowed me the opportunity to gain hands-on experiences uncommon for a recent college graduate.  It was GALEO that opened the door of opportunities for me to continue working in the public policy space and take my skills up to the federal level.  GALEO taught me the reality of state and local politics and how to move forward, slowly but surely, with bipartisan coalitions.  There are not enough great things that I can say about my time here, the staff and network, and the potential for limitless growth that I stumbled upon.  I will never forget the memories and accomplishments of my time with this amazing organization.  Moving forward, I hope to make a lasting impact in the fight for federal immigration reform.  I’ll be working with Florida’s congressional delegation to strategically advance FWD.US’ political agenda.  I have a lot more to learn and am looking forward to the great experiences that lie ahead.

Thank you to the entire GALEO Familia for your dedication, support and trust in us to represent you.  Finally, I’d also like to thank each and every student intern I had the pleasure of working with in my time here: Crystal, Jessica, Elizabeth, Genesis, Abril, Diana, Andy, Monica, Vanessa, Brenda, Andres.  You guys have been awesome and I wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors.  Same goes to the GIL and Goizueta classes that I had the honor of facilitating, thank you all!