National Council of La Raza conference will be July 10-13

Janet Murguía, the council's president and CEO, was in town Friday to preview the conference and announce that Toyota will be the title sponsor.

“I think San Antonio is emblematic of not only our past, but our future,” Murguía said. “And we want to showcase the tremendous success we've seen in the Latino community.”

The conference will be July 10-13 at the Convention Center.

It'll be “a large gathering and an opportunity for folks to come together and learn about the challenges, opportunities and issues facing the Latino community,” Murguía said.

One of the chief issues to be addressed is job creation, she said.

The conference will feature nationally renowned speakers as well as entertainment, Murguía said, and will showcase the services offered by the council's affiliates, including health care and literacy, citizenship and work force development programs. Such services are increasingly important in the current economic climate, Murguía said.

The conference also will feature the National Latino Family Expo, with this year's version featuring health, job and housing fairs, she said.

The council has set a goal of topping the 25,000 attendees at last year's conference in Chicago. That event brought about $7 million to the city's economy there, Murguía said.