Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana is my home and where my “American Dream” happened.
I came to Indiana as a school kid. But I initially grew up in Laredo, Texas—a predominantly Latino border town and a gateway to the United States for people searching for the American Dream. I believed a quality education would help provide me with my American Dream.
And it did. I’ve been fortunate enough to work in politics and public service—serving in the Obama administration and Obama Foundation, where I focused on civil rights issues, community policing and criminal justice reform; working on presidential campaigns for leaders I believe in, including Indiana’s very own Pete Buttigieg; and, from the private sector, helping communities secure hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for economic development programs, infrastructure projects and climate-resilience efforts.
Fundamentally, everyone is in search of their own American Dream. I believe the government—at every level—has the power and duty to improve people’s lives. Everyone shares some core needs—to feel safe and secure, to feel seen and heard, and to feel like they belong.
But right now, folks all over the country—including here in Indianapolis—don’t feel safe or financially secure, don’t feel seen or heard by our elected leaders, and don’t feel like they belong in our political process.
To me, the single most shameful policy failure is poverty. And while it’s not unique to Indianapolis, the fact that one in four children in Indianapolis lives in poverty is as striking as it is unacceptable.
Frankly, the poverty rate is far higher than the official measure. The United States has not updated how we measure poverty in more than 60 years. We’re using outdated numbers and leaving people behind as more and more families fall through the cracks.
Despite that, our elected leaders—even within the Democratic Party—rarely talk about poverty. Instead, we talk about the middle class—getting people into and preventing them from falling out of the middle class. We say all this without recognizing that the middle class is struggling so much because it doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
Bobby Kennedy—the great crusader against poverty struck down far too early—understood that poverty is a lens through which to view all of these issue areas that we too often treat in silos when they’re really interrelated. Economic development and job creation. Educational and health outcomes and disparities. Housing and urban development. Environmental justice.
Poverty affects all of us regardless of where one falls on the socioeconomic ladder. The vision and leadership Kennedy exhibited—bringing people from a vast array of social and economic backgrounds together to address the scourge of poverty—is something our politics is sorely lacking.
Indianapolis can and must do better by and for its people. But to achieve that, our city needs fresh and effective leaders with a real vision for a better Indianapolis and the work ethic to get stuff done.
I’m here today in Indiana because my American Dream was made here. I started Next Gen Hoosiers to help elect leaders who will ensure every kid has the same chance I did.
If we have the vision to see beyond where we are today and fight for a better future for all of us, I’m living proof that we can—together.•
__________
Hornedo is an attorney, national political strategist and the founder of Next Gen Hoosiers. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
Click here for more Forefront columns.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.