Wright State officials meet with Governor Kasich on Latino issues

Tony Ortiz

A statewide meeting convened by Gov. John Kasich and his wife, Karen, to discuss issues affecting the state’s Latino community included two Wright State University officials.

The group of 25 members of the Latino community met with Kasich and officials from various state agencies for about 90 minutes at the Riffe Center in Columbus on Dec. 12.

Among members of the delegation were Grace Ramos, Wright State trustee; and Tony Ortiz, Latino community liaison for the university.

“It was a good talk with him,” Ortiz said following the meeting. “He told us about his economic plan, about trying to get more jobs, start up more businesses, increase the tax base and improve the quality of life in the state.”

Ortiz said it was the first time in his memory that an Ohio governor met with such a cross-section of people from the Latino community.

“He knows that in the future there are going to be a lot of Latinos, and he knows he needs to include us,” Ortiz said. “And we know we need him as well.”

Ortiz heads the Latino Dream Team, a proactive group of Dayton-area Latino organizations whose mission is to preserve the culture of Latinos and assimilate them into the fabric of the community. The group has taken the lead in addressing education, health care, economic and quality-of-life issues relating to the Latino community.

Ramos, former commissioner of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, currently serves on the Wright-Patterson AFB Minority Outreach Committee, is chair of Greene County Children Services, and is chair of the Greene County Republican Party.