During a recent discussion held at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) shared personal lessons and political insights from her book Dream in Color: How the Sanchez Sisters Are Making History in Congress (Grand Central Publishing, 2008).

The book is a joint memoir Sanchez co-authored with her sister, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.).

The Feb. 18 event at Lewis Hall was hosted by the Latino Association of Policy, Planning, and Development, a student organization at SPPD. Senior fellow Sherry Bebitch Jeffe served as the moderator. The Latino Association also invited a group of female students from Pioneer High School in Whittier and nearby John Adams Middle School in Los Angeles.

Since 2003, Sanchez has represented California’s 39th congressional district, which includes the cities of Artesia, Cerritos, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Lynwood, Paramount and South Gate, along with segments of Whittier, Long Beach and Los Angeles.

She is the first Hispanic woman to sit on the House Judiciary Committee and the first woman to serve as chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law – a position she currently holds. In January, Sanchez was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee, which plays a vital role in federal policies involving taxes and health care.

“Throughout her career in government, Congresswoman Sanchez has demonstrated a deep concern for the public welfare,” said Jack H. Knott, dean of SPPD. “She has helped address some of our country’s most pressing issues such as education, labor, trade and international relations.”

Sanchez explained how her experiences growing up in a large family, raised by parents who were Mexican immigrants, shaped her to be “as motivated as I am now.”

“The values my parents had as we grew up – hard work, creating opportunities for yourself and accessing the (resources) available to you that many people take for granted – those aren’t just unique to my parents, they’re not unique to Latino immigrants,” she said.

“Every immigrant family that comes here with a dream is looking for those opportunities and working hard to make the most of them.”

Sanchez also spoke about the unique difficulties of public service as a member of the House.

She said that bringing about change – particularly with regard to legislation – is an incremental process. Yet, often the focus is placed on accomplishing short-term goals rather than on important long-term initiatives and investments.

“One of the major challenges for an elected official is running for office every two years,” Sanchez said. “We have a very short term, and people want to know, ‘What are we going to do about fixing (problems) today?’ They don’t want to hear your 10-year plans to fix the schools or 15-year plan to get us to be energy independent. They want to know what you are going to do tomorrow.

“You could be working on short-term improvements, but thinking about long-term strategy. Unfortunately, we don’t do enough of that.”

In addition, Sanchez discussed how women currently account for less than 20 percent of the seats in Congress.

“I feel like you get underestimated by being female more than you do being a minority in this country,” she said.

However, the congresswoman noted that progress is being made toward diversifying representation on Capitol Hill.

“It’s gotten a lot better – because through fellowships and internships, we’ve seen a lot more diversity,” she said. “Congress still has a long way to go before it looks like the America that it’s elected to represent. So we keep pushing for more diversity, and it’s slowly coming.”

At the end of the discussion, Sanchez met with the high school and middle school students, and she signed copies of her book for each of them.

Joey Zamora, a history teacher at Pioneer High, said the discussion was as an “inspiring” opportunity for his class.

“Students can have a better awareness of what opportunities they have, other than just graduating from high school, like going to college and doing bigger things,” he said.

The students seemed to agree.

“I definitely want to go to college,” said Elizabeth Ibarra, a junior at Pioneer High. “I find it a real honor being able to come and attend an event like this. For me, it means that anything is possible.”