October 15, 2025

During Latinx Heritage Month, we went to Tulsa and had that conversation.

The 2025 NLC Summit brought together leaders who’ve been navigating broken systems long enough to know exactly how to fix them. The conversation bridged Texas and Oklahoma, languages and lived experiences, policy and personal truth, exploring immigration, identity, and the ways Latiné leaders are reshaping narratives of community power.

Juan Livas (NLC South TX Frontera 2020) doesn’t wait for institutions to serve his community. As Community Partnership Officer for United ISD and founding leader of the Laredo Immigrant Alliance, he builds the infrastructure that should already exist.

At United ISD, Juan coordinates services that actually improve students’ lives, social, emotional, health, and educational supports that go beyond checking boxes. His work proves solutions stick when communities design them.

But Laredo Immigrant Alliance is where the real work happens. In a region facing relentless border militarization and anti-immigrant policy, LIA exists because the people most affected built it themselves. Larger organizations overlook Laredo. LIA doesn’t have that luxury.

Know Your Rights workshops teach families how to protect themselves. DACA clinics provide free legal support and cover renewal costs that would otherwise be impossible. Mental health sessions address the trauma of living under constant threat.

“I didn’t know I had rights,” one LIA member said. “Today, I know I have rights as an employee. I’m learning in every workshop.”

Another member: “At LIA, I found belonging. People who share my obstacles. With LIA’s help, we learned to find solutions.”

That’s what community-led power looks like. Juan’s Master’s in Sociology helps him identify needs and coordinate stakeholders, but his real expertise is knowing that temporary fixes don’t cut it. Build programs the community needs. Let local knowledge drive the work.

Juan’s Jefferson Award and recognition as 2021 Laredo Film Society Volunteer of the Year matter less than what LIA members say: they found belonging, learned their rights, discovered they don’t face obstacles alone.

NLC National Board Member Joel Alvarado (NLC Atlanta 2016) pushed the conversation deeper. As an Afro-Puerto Rican leader, he challenged attendees to think beyond borders about what Latiné identity actually means. Race, citizenship, heritage – it all intersects.

Edgar Villasenor (NLC South TX Frontera 2024), this year’s Capstone Clash runner-up, showed what reclamation looks like. Southside Kayaking Adventures brings Latiné families to the Rio Grande – transforming the river from a line of division into a place of connection. Environmental awareness meets cultural pride on the water.

From Texas to Tulsa, these leaders proved that policy conversations mean nothing without human stories. Immigration isn’t a debate. It’s families, communities, futures.

NLC elevates Latiné leadership because every story, from the borderlands to Black Wall Street, belongs in rooms where decisions get mad