Remarks by Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves at the Department of Commerce Hispanic Heritage Month Reception

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Welcome to the Department of Commerce. I’m so pleased to welcome you all.

Secretary Raimondo and I view our partnership with Latino leaders in the public and private sectors as critical to ensuring Departmental programs and initiatives to promote growth and opportunities for all people.

Make no mistake: America’s road to economic prosperity runs through our ALL of our communities, including our minority communities, and having the opportunity to do this work is an honor.

In addition to my role as Deputy Secretary of Commerce, I also serve as President Biden’s Puerto Rico Economic Growth Coordinator. In that role, I have had the opportunity to deliver transformative results for communities across the archipelago.

And I’ve seen the impact up close.

Just two weeks ago, I visited Puerto Rico for the fifth time since taking this role, to celebrate critical investments being made to promote recovery and growth across the archipelago, and to speak with government officials, community leaders, and local stakeholders about how Commerce’s work is touching the lives of Puerto Ricans of all walks of life.

I consider this work a symbol of what’s at the core of our mission at the Commerce Department: equity.

We understand that to build a brighter future, we have to confront our past. We understand that while economic opportunity is available for some, it’s not accessible to all. And we understand that if we want to outcompete the rest of the world, we have to include everyone in our country.

As we all know, the Biden-Harris Administration has been historic and productive for the American people. We’re making major investments in infrastructure. We’re boosting domestic manufacturing. We’re taking meaningful action to combat the climate crisis. And through it all, we’re focused on ensuring everyone can share in our prosperity. All of this was made possible thanks to the work of members of the CBC, who do an incredible job delivering for the American people.

Through MBDA’s $125 million Capital Readiness Program, we’re funding incubators and accelerators with expertise to get minority and other underserved entrepreneurs the resources, tools, and technical assistance they need to start or scale their businesses.

We’re investing $50 billion to connect everyone in America to quality reliable and affordable high-speed Internet service, with about $3 billion of that going towards equity focused programs, and more than $250 million going to HBCUs and other Minority-Serving Institutions.

 We’re investing $50 billion to make America a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, with a focus and requirement of the companies in which we are investing that they develop pathways into the industry for communities that all too often have been left behind and that they make minority and other underserved businesses a key part of these ecosystems.

I am so proud to be the current Chair of the Interagency Community Investment Committee, launched by Vice President Harris 3 years ago, with a focus on ensuring that the billions of dollars of investment that we are making flows to and through communities that are often left behind instead of around them.  And the committee is continuing the Vice President’s Economic Opportunity Tour, making certain that our communities know about these investments and have direct access to the resources, tools and technical assistance they will need to participate and thrive in this Opportunity Economy.

But our priority is ensuring that we are a Department that puts its money where its mouth is at home.

Here at Commerce, its critical that our leadership and our workforce reflect the diversity of this nation. So I’d like to take a moment to mention just a few of the folks across the Department who have been filling Brown jobs:

• Rob Santos, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau
• Marisa Lago, Undersecretary for International Trade
• Alan Estevez, Undersecretary for Industry and Security
• Suzie Feliz, Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs
• Luis Jimenez, Counselor to the Secretary and Former Deputy Chief of Staff
• Alejandra Castillo, (former) Assistant Secretary for Economic Development
• Miguel Estien, my Senior Advisor for Puerto Rico and Director of the Economic Dialogue, former National Director of the MBDA
• Cynthia Aragon, Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs for our CHIPS program and the former Director of our Advocacy Center
• Andres Chong-Qui Torres, Director of our Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

They embody this simple principle: that people drive policy. And our policies need to be about uplifting people. 

When you think about how our major investment programs like CHIPS, Broadband, and climate resiliency play out. 

When you think about the ways we drive and protect innovation, about how we enhance and grow our local and regional economies. 

When you think about the ways we support the risk takers who start and grow new businesses.

When you think about employing people in all of our country’s communities.

How we do that is determined by people and their diversity of thought, their experience, their capabilities.

And that doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s no accident that for decades policy makers systemically discriminated against our communities. 

It’s no accident that policies of the past have left our entrepreneurs and our companies out of the equation.

It’s no accident that latino families’ median wealth is just a fraction of their white counterparts, or that latinos struggle every day to access the same opportunities – capital, contracts, careers – as their white counterparts.

But because of the leadership of our President and our Vice President and the hard work of this Department and many others across this Administration, as well as industry leaders and community stakeholders, we’re being intentional about righting these wrongs.

That’s why it’s also no accident that this President and Vice President have prioritized Puerto Rico in a way that no other Administration has, ensuring that we can deliver for people that have consistently been left behind.

Its no accident that we have awarded nearly $300M to 91 Minority-serving institutions to expand remote learning opportunities and spur economic development in their communities and that just last week we signed an MOU with HACU to increase our partnership with HSIs.  Ensuring that students and recent grads have direct pathways to opportunities within the Department of Commerce and that we have been holding a series of workforce roundtables with HACU, UnidosUS and the CHC focused on students at HSIs.

And it’s certainly no accident that we are all here with this evening. All of these achievements, and more, represent the conscious decision we have all made to do something – to take action.  

And that, my friends, is why it is so important to make the choice of who we put in these positions – to whom we give a seat at the table – a priority. 

Because we know that a seat at the table is about more than affecting policy, it’s about making the type of change that will impact the lives of latino families across the country, and making our economy more dynamic and stronger. So, once again, thank you again for everything you’ve done. I’m excited to continue working with the CHC and all of you to support our community.