The Aspen Institute

Hector M. Mendoza is a national youth leader that resides in Oakland, California. His parents first came to the United States looking for a better life. He lived in Mexico with his grandparents during his childhood while his parents were adapting to the new life in the US. He was 15 years old when his mother, now was a single mother, brought him to the US. He started his education in high school. He felt really scared about going to school in US because it was a completely different system of education as he was used to, different rules, and more importantly a different language he had to get accustomed to. He learned the language in half a year in school and buy teaching himself. He has a passion for school and learning new things. He completed high school in 2012. His undocumented and financial status prevented him from attending college. A year ago, he and his mother finally received their legal residency. He is currently in the process of applying to a coding boot camp to eventually become a software engineer. He ls passionate about helping his community. After he finishes his studies, he wants to encourage more youth of color from his community to join the tech industry. When he was in high school in 2012 he worked with Unity Council (Latino Men & Boys program ). Since 2013, he has been working in collaboration with Urban Strategies Council. He loves to help youth of color succeed in educational and career goals. He believes that if you make an effort to help give education and access jobs for the youth of color, it would build a strong and better community for everyone. Participated in the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions