Albany, New York – Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo, the Chair of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, today released the following statement on his new leadership appointment.

“Today, I am most grateful to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, for the trust he has placed in me through my appointment to lead the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force. Through a period that covers my entire life, New York has moved slowly toward policies that both respect the contributions of our newest residents and ease their transition into a new society. However, much work remains unfinished and new problems need the immediate attention of policymakers at all levels of our government.

I am the son of Puerto Rican and Peruvian parents; one an American citizen by birth, the other through immigration and naturalization. Their hardships and hard work has given me the opportunity to serve our State and nation as an elected official. The values they instilled in me are the cornerstone of my work as a public official for the people of New York State.

It is with humbleness and eagerness that I accept my post as Chairman of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.

Our nation is in the midst of long overdue immigration reform; Latino children are now the largest group of children living in poverty in the nation; and economic hardships continue to plague our communities. As the state with the third largest Latino population, New York can ill afford to ignore these issues.

The past decade has witnessed thousands of families torn apart, wholesale civil rights violations, and systematic attempts to stigmatize entire communities. The past decade has also left many Latino families behind as the collapse of the housing market wiped out billions of dollars of combined wealth from households, increased unemployment and underemployment to staggering numbers, while stagnant wages erode their ability to pay for their basic needs such as housing, proper nutrition, access to health care, and financing of their children’s college education.

The tremendous growth of Latino communities in New York has brought with it substantial economic gains for our State, but considerable challenges as well. The members of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force are committed to tackling these problems. I am confident that we have the talent and determination to achieve the greater good for all our communities and look forward to our collaborative efforts on all these fronts.

Working with all our colleagues in the New York State Legislature and under the leadership of Speaker Heastie, I am overwhelmingly optimistic that the road ahead will create great opportunities for all the families, children and communities that call the Empire State their home.