Meeting-at-a Glance | Conference Highlights | Conference Workshops | Keynote Speakers

Richard Klarberg's Conference Introductions and Comments
Marcia Robinson Lowry Introduction
Juan Sanchez Introduction
Conference Closing Remarks

Juan Sanchez Introduction

One of the great things about my job is that I get to travel around the US and Canada and meet amazing people who are doing amazing things for young people.

So recently I had the pleasure of participating in an accreditation celebration in Austin, Texas of South West Key – a incredibly fast growing organization that focuses on tackling the root causes of youth crime, unemployment and school failure.

While there I met Dr. Juan Sanchez. On hearing him speak, I immediately knew that we had to invite him to speak at this conference. Having grown up in a barrio in a South Texas border town, he received a BA from St Mary’s College and a PhD from Harvard.

He could have gone anywhere and done anything. But he chose to return to Texas and there he founded Southwest Key. Today it is one of the largest Hispanic-led nonprofit organizations of any kind in the country. In fact, it was recently ranked #4 among the Top 25 Hispanic Nonprofits in America by Hispanic Business Magazine in May 2009.

But as amazing as that is, it really doesn’t explain why Juan Sanchez is so special. That can be explained in one word: visionary.

In 12 years, he has built an organization that provides transformative education, innovative safe shelters and alternatives to incarceration for over 6,000 youth each day, while creating opportunities for their families to become self-sufficient.

Because of Southwest Key’s work, thousands of youth have been diverted from prisons, jails, and institutions, enabling them to stay at home with their families and out of trouble. Southwest Key has reunified thousands of immigrant children with their families and provided these unaccompanied minors with 24-hour care and education. As Dr. Sanchez has said, "At Southwest Key, we simply open the doors to opportunity so they can achieve their dreams."

One of the truly unique aspects of Southwest Key is that they employ a creative and incredibly diverse workforce of over 1,100 dedicated staff in 7 states. This has enabled them to adopt as a cornerstone of all of their programs culturally-relevant education.

But Juan didn’t stop there, just as he is committed to helping families to become self-sufficient, he is also committed to making Southwest Key self-sufficient. They now operate two small businesses that serve a double bottom line creating jobs for low income residents while bringing in funds to support the nonprofit mission.

I am extremely pleased to welcome a friend and a member of our allianza para excellencia.

Dr. Juan Sanchez.