Latino Young Professionals of East End aims to build community, provide guidance

As a first-generation American, Daniela Chavez said she struggled to find her path.

Her parents, who grew up in Colombia and Mexico, were “lost” when it came to helping her prepare for college, recalled the East Hampton High School graduate. She remembers having to figure out on her own “what classes I should take, what colleges would be looking for, what were the valuable internships.”

She credits a free college prep program, along with the guidance of classmates and teachers, with helping her find her way. She’s now a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, with plans to pursue a career in neuroscience.

“I had a lot of challenges in high school . . . I don’t think I would have gotten into college without that help,” Chavez, 19, said.

She and two other first-generation Long Islanders — Nicole Velez and Jonathan Lopez — have partnered to form the Latino Young Professionals of the East End. The group, which is affiliated with the nonprofit OLA of Eastern Long Island, aims to extend a helping hand to the next generation of students coming up, as well as current college students and recent graduates entering the workforce.

“This group is our way of creating a gathering space for younger members of the Latino community, especially students in high school and college, to create new meaningful connections and uplift each other in pursuing our personal and professional goals,” said Lopez, 25.

‘You can’t do it alone’

At East Hampton High School, where more than half of the students are Latino, the director of the English as a New Language/Bilingual department said teens can run into difficulties as they navigate high school and beyond.

“They have to figure out how things work, what’s required to graduate in the U.S., how to prepare for college,” said Stephanie Dubois-Rivera.

The school employs bilingual counselors, teachers and social workers, and there is a community liaison to assist parents with navigating the school’s systems, said Principal Sarah Smith.

Some students, like Chavez, have benefited from organizations like the East Hampton Level Playing Field Foundation. The nonprofit offers scholarships to “financially challenged, high-achieving” juniors and seniors for standardized test preparation and college counseling.

“I was one of three in my class who were accepted,” Chavez said.

That experience highlights the importance of a group like the Latino Young Professionals, Chavez noted, as she had not known about the program until her Spanish teacher encouraged her to apply.

“First-generation Latinos tend not to be aware of opportunities; we stumble upon things,” she said.

Even with the help she received in high school, Chavez said her first year at college was difficult.

“I struggled academically the first semester. Everyone was so smart. The work did not compare to high school, to AP classes,” she said.

In her second semester, Chavez said she found her footing with the help of new friends and professors who became mentors. That, she said, taught her a valuable lesson that she hopes to impart to the group’s members: “You can’t do it alone,” she said.

Lucky to find mentor

Velez, Chavez’s East Hampton High classmate, said she was lucky enough to find a mentor in Daniel Hartnett, a now-retired counselor and social worker.

Hartnett mentored the Ecuadorian American, now a sophomore at Yale University, through high school. Velez, 19, said as a first-generation student, she felt like she wasn’t taken seriously or supported by teachers. Her AP classes were often not ethnically diverse and, she recalled, she felt isolated at times.

Velez was valedictorian of her 2023 class and is studying political science, with plans to possibly go on to law school. She said she’s grateful for her friendship with Chavez and a few other lifelong friends. But she singled out in particular the guidance she received from Hartnett — guidance, she said, that not everyone benefits from.

“I co-founded Latino Young Professionals to honor him, to continue his legacy of support and to provide mentorship to those who may not have a Mr. Hartnett in their lives,” Velez said.

Network for opportunities

The group got its start this past summer, when Velez and Chavez met with Lopez, an intervention advocate for OLA’s Youth Connect mental health support program, about internship or volunteer opportunities.

The three had long been acquainted — Lopez knew Velez’s brother through soccer and helped him with his college application and essay. “Jon was a big help in getting my brother into Johns Hopkins,” said Velez.

Lopez, whose parents are from Mexico, grew up in Sag Harbor. He graduated from the Suffield Academy in Connecticut in 2017 and was accepted to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He said he is on a sabbatical from school and plans to return for his senior year in 2025.

While his journey has been different from that of Velez and Chavez, he said he, too, benefited from counselors “guiding me every step of the way.”

So when Velez and Chavez approached him, he said he shared his vision for starting a Latino networking group. As recent high school graduates, the two young women suggested broadening the scope to include high schoolers.

The goal of the group, the co-founders say, is to provide guidance through mentorship and connections with peers; increase accessibility to opportunities such as internships, research positions and volunteer experiences; support professional development through resume and cover letter writing, networking events and workshops; and engage in advocacy and community-building for Latinos.

“We want [our group] to be a response to the worries about the job hunt, networking, finding internships, taking the SAT, filling out FAFSA. We want Latinos on the East End to have access to peer support groups, folks in industry,” Lopez said.

One way they hope they accomplish this is by creating a list of paid and unpaid career opportunities that will be shared with members through an email newsletter. The list will also be available on a Google Doc that members can access.

“We are reaching out to local businesses, nonprofits, doctor’s offices and more to research and discover if they have upcoming openings,” Lopez said. “By doing so, we can facilitate the application process and direct interns, volunteers and new hires to a known contact who is happy to support the Latino Young Professionals’ mission of uplifting young professionals from an underrepresented background.”

They said they will also seek out group members who can serve as mentors or volunteer their expertise in writing resumes and college essays.

“We have ideas of what we want to do, but we want to offer what members want,” said Velez. “We will find out this first year what they want and let that guide us.”

The group’s founders will receive support from the OLA of Eastern Long Island, a Latino advocacy organization based in East Hampton that provides programs and services such as connecting people to attorneys, rental assistance and driving patients to medical appointments.

“The work done by Latino Young Professionals will be important to the Latino community, offering mentoring as well as other means to navigate from high school to college or to other career choices,” said the organization’s executive director, Minerva Perez.

Finding community

The group held its kickoff event on Aug. 10 at LTV Studios in Wainscott. More than 65 people attended, the founders said, with a mix of high schoolers, college students and professionals from across the Island.

One of those attendees was Kayla Aristizabal, 23, of Levittown. The recent Stony Brook University alumna is a conservation land steward with The Nature Conservancy in Cold Spring Harbor.

“The night was revitalizing,” she said. “It was a space where I felt welcome. People were enthusiastic and driven. I felt grateful for a space to network with Latinas.”

She said she looks forward to giving guidance to high school and college students and being mentored by members who are more established in their careers. Of the group, she said, “I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

The founders said they plan to host a college application and essay writing workshop series, after receiving feedback from attendees at the event. They hope to launch it in mid-October.

More than just a networking group, Chavez envisions creating a community for young Latinos like herself as they pursue their academic and professional goals.

“We hope to build a strong Latino community that’s always there for our members,” Chavez said.

Lopez, who said he would like to continue working in the nonprofit sector or possibly run for political office, has even loftier goals.

“This group essentially represents the idea that Latinos, especially from my generation [Gen Z], millennials and Gen Alpha, are here to stay and make their mark on the world through academic excellence and career growth,” he said.