Jose Enrique, CEO and founder of Latinos in Action, described the group’s 24-year high-school leadership course and asked the Economic and Community Development Appropriations Subcommittee to consider funding support during a Feb. 7 RFA presentation.

Enrique said Latinos in Action runs a leadership, service-learning and college-readiness course that now operates statewide: "We're 24 years, that we've been here since 02/2001… We are a course across the state from Bear River all the way to Saint George." He said 165 schools participate and that roughly 98 percent of program seniors graduate from high school and go on to college.

Enrique described so-called micro-credential programming the organization began during the COVID pandemic in 2020. He said Latinos in Action partnered with Intermountain Healthcare to train students to screen parents for social determinants of health — including diabetes, high blood pressure and mental-health indicators — and to document evidence of learning so the students earn a health-screener credential. "Not only are young people gonna teach their parents about, the social determinants of health, but now they're gonna be impacting their community and learn about the health field," Enrique said.

He said the micro-credential model has expanded to include finance, par-education (career preparation) and other workforce pathways; the course is taught in-school and linked to colleges and conferences (Weber State, University of Utah, Snow College) to prepare students for postsecondary education and employment.

Committee chairs thanked the presenters and moved to the next item; no committee-level questions requested immediate follow-up during the meeting. Enrique requested consideration of funding as part of the RFA process; the transcript did not specify a dollar amount or a formal motion tied to this presentation.