Cleveland's Young Latino Network Hires First Ever Executive Director

The Young Latino Network is dedicated to serving Cleveland's Latinx communities through leadership, development, and civic engagement, as its mission statement states.

It was created in 2002 and since then has been almost entirely a volunteer organization.

Last month, the Young Latino Network hired its first ever Executive Director in Selina Pagan. 

"It's a pretty awesome feeling," Pagan said. "It's a lot of weight to carry."

Pagan previously served as the network's board president, but in this new role can focus her time with the organization in a nine-to-five capacity. 

"We know that YLN was able to do some pretty phenomenal things on just a volunteer basis," Pagan said. "We proved ourselves, that we could do some much more if given the opportunity and we definitely earned the opporunity of investment."

Pagan joined the Sound of Ideas Tuesday morning to talk about the goals of the Young Latino Network and what kind of progress the network expects to make with a dedicated executive director.

Also during this hour, a preview of the Clevelands mayoral primary election and Ideastream Public Media's Mary Fecteau discussed the 86th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards special, which airs Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on WVIZ-PBS.

• Nick Castele, Senior Reporter & Host, After Jackson Podcast, Ideastream Public Media 
• Selina Pagan, Executive Director, Young Latino Network 
• Mary Fecteau, Senior Producer, Ideastream Public Media 
• Carrie Wise, Managing Producer of Arts & Culture, Ideastream Public Media
• Jan Mitchell, Author, "My Ticket To Ride"