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and firefighting academies. Both the chief of police and fire chief spoke about their departmental needs and
opportunities for Latino public safety officers (Cooney 2004).
A number of positive initiatives resulted from the May meeting. As a result of that meeting, a key Latino
leader met with the police chief to develop a recruiting team whose membership reflected the area’s
diversity. El Latino, a local Spanish-language press publication, ran a front page article about the city’s
recruitment drive to hire Latino officers for the police force. The two local Spanish-language radio stations
also ran recruitment spots for the city.
One of the key issues that surfaced as a result of the meeting was the need for increased numbers of
citizenship classes. Lack of citizenship was cited as a major barrier to employment for Latinos. Through the
initiative of a local volunteer, the city cable television managers developed a 30-minute civics education
program that aired in both Spanish and English. Included in the video was basic civics education,
citizenship class information, contact names for assistance in obtaining citizenship, including local
immigration attorneys, and a brief city hiring promotional.
The key goal embraced by the West Palm Beach human relations department was inclusiveness, which they
pursued by making information and hiring opportunities available to all interested community members.
The consistent message they communicated to key Latino community, business, and religious leaders was,
“West Palm Beach wants to be the role model for diversity in Florida” (Cooney 2004).
In other communities, the employment of Latinos in key organizational positions was an important
strategy. By valuing both the intellectual and cultural capital of Latino hires, cities in effect “jump start”
organizational learning (Harvey and Denton 1999). This knowledge can result in proactive organizational
change that may give a community a competitive advantage as a new Latino destination. In January 2004,
Atlanta officials, the city hired a former Latino-serving non-profit executive director to serve as deputy
chief operating officer (Borrero 2004). Likewise, the newly-hired neighborhood services director in Tampa
told me he was the highest ranking Latino official in city or county government (Corrada 2004). Even
Convention