Two Western North Carolina non-profit leaders have been appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Latino Affairs.
The council, first established in 1998, has been renewed by every administration since. Gov. Josh Stein reestablished it this year through Executive Order 27, tasking the group with advising his office on issues that affect Latino residents — from education and workforce development to health care access.
Over a million Latinos call North Carolina home, contributing over $36 million in gross domestic product, according to a 2023 Metro Latino GDP report.
Gabriel Esparza, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Administration, says it's important to have the council, especially now when the national discourse around Latino issues, inclusion, and immigration has taken a different tone. The governor’s council is housed in the NCDOA.
“It's important that this governor's (Stein) values continues to uphold the interest of the Latino community,” Esparza said. “ The issue specific items that this council will tackle: education, workforce development, healthcare, all of the important issues that you can imagine would be relevant to the Latino community.”
He added that members will play a key role in providing feedback and helping shape policy recommendations for the governor.
The 30 appointees come from a range of sectors — from health care and education to nonprofits — and represent communities across the state. From the mountains, Ricardo Bello-Ball of Bryson City and Zurilma Anuel of Asheville will serve as voices for their region.
Originally from Chilpancingo, Guerrero, México, Bello-Ball has called Western North Carolina home for 25 years. He is the executive director of Unidxs WNC, a non-profit based in Sylva that works to address social, economic, educational and cultural inequities in the Latino Community.
Bello-Ball previously served as an advisor to the council as an advisor but was not officially part of it. Bello-Ball says he sees a lack of Latino representatives in more rural parts of the region.
“You go to a school, you go to an office around here, there isn't a person you can identify with,” Bello-Ball told BPR in Spanish. “We want that identification to exist, not just for the Latinx community, but for everyone.”
He said he's happy to serve alongside Anuel on the council, but feels that there should be more representatives from Western North Carolina.
“We're not enough,” Bello-Ball told BPR in Spanish. “There should be more because two voices aren't enough. We can't say everything that's going on. I want there to be more representation, I want there to be young people, I want there to be other voices that are heard.”
That sentiment is shared by Zurilma Anuel - director of the Western Women's Business Center in Asheville. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, she has called Asheville home since 1998.
Anuel said she hopes to be the voice for small Latino business owners in the region – a role she sees as especially important in a post-Helene landscape.
"I always joke, saying tissues were not part of our office supplies, but now they are because we have so many businesses that come in saying, ‘I lost my business, I lost my house, I lost my car,’" Anuel told BPR. "Even a year later, there are still so many resources that aren't there. At least what I can do now is be that person who communicates to the governor and says, ‘This is what I see, this is what's happening and this is what I'm hearing.’"
The first meeting for the council has not yet been announced.
