LOS ANGELES (By Jonathan J. Higuera, Hispanic Business) October 2004 - As the nation's premier Hispanic legal-advocacy group, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has been at the forefront of advancing Hispanic civil rights for nearly four decades. Now, with a new leader in charge, the $7 million organization is taking aim at flexing its long-earned influence and voice in a fight for advances on another front – economic rights.

"A lot of economic issues are civil-rights issues," says Ann Marie Tallman, who in April was named president and general counsel of the organization that has grown to include five regional offices and 75 employees. "We've been about economic empowerment from the beginning. We think the way to do it is through education, equal access, and issues related to fair employment."

Ms. Tallman, a former executive with mortgage banking giant Fannie Mae who has served on MALDEF's board for the past seven years, emphasizes that the group will not back off its mission of protecting civil rights, but now economic empowerment, wealth-building, and growing the Hispanic middle class through financial education will be a growing mandate. "This is about informing our community, at the individual level, how to build wealth," says Ms. Tallman. "It's arming them with information on how to utilize financial services and how to avoid being subject to predatory lenders and outrageous interest rates on secured loans."

The broadening dimension for MALDEF comes at a key time in the growth and evolution of the Hispanic economy. As the fastest-growing minority population in the country, Hispanics wield growing economic, political, social, and cultural clout, with purchasing power estimated to reach more than $1 trillion by 2010. And a growing number of leaders, nonprofits, and advocacy groups have begun to boost efforts to coalesce and translate that rapidly accelerating potential into concerted, broad-based economic advancement.

"[MALDEF's] been able to speak eloquently on our behalf in the courts and they've won a good number of cases," says Congressman Xavier Becerra, a Los Angeles Democrat who once clerked for MALDEF as a law student and dreamed of becoming its president. "Now it's a matter of training that voice to go beyond the courtroom and into the realm of public opinion: Be that voice to Corporate America, and show we're ready to fight for, and obtain, those economic rights."

Under longtime president Antonia Hernández, who now heads the California Community Foundation, MALDEF has been involved in the economic arena through partnerships with organizations including the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. But many say Ms. Tallman's corporate experience and acumen are expected to bring an even sharper focus to the organization.

MALDEF Chairman Joseph A. Stern calls Ms. Tallman a "compelling advocate and effective leader [with] proven ability to work with people from across a spectrum of views." And, says Herman Sillas, a founding member of MALDEF and a Los Angeles attorney, "[Ms. Tallman] certainly understands the corporate world. That makes a difference when you're sitting across the table from them and you're trying to get them to write a check for $50,000."

That ability to fundraise on the corporate side will be important for Ms. Tallman's vision of building upon, and expanding, MALDEF's reach even further beyond the courtroom, where its successes have included landmark cases such as Plyler vs. Doe, which assured undocumented immigrant students the right to a public education; Kirby vs. Edgewood, which forced Texas to deal with inequities between school districts with a majority of Hispanic students and Anglo-dominant school districts; and Gregorio T. vs. Wilson, which essentially dismantled California's Proposition 187 that denied basic services to undocumented immigrants.

MALDEF's case work also has opened political opportunities to Hispanics, whether by forcing authorities to redraw political boundaries to ensure equity for Hispanic voters or by revising at-large voting systems that essentially had kept Hispanics from holding office. Its work has helped Hispanics gain seats on school, city, and county boards, and helped lead to the election of such leaders as Gloria Molina of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio.

But removing legal obstacles hasn't always led to instant empowerment, and the group's work has slowly grown to encompass elements of education. MALDEF's Washington, D.C, regional office has been a voice in current policy debates of the day, and is the group's only regional office that does not directly engage in litigation because it is focused on influencing public policy.

"We try to work with both sides of the aisle to educate and shape what is needed for Latinos," says Jim Ferg-Cadima, the office's interim regional counsel. "And we try to fight what might be harmful for discrete populations of Latinos. The nature of the work is very challenging. Every policy debate needs a Latino voice. And when the threats arise, we have to respond."

Ms. Tallman, born and raised in Iowa and the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, now is hoping to increase MALDEF's presence and voice on a variety of fronts, including geographically and programmatically. So far in her first several months at the helm, Ms. Tallman has visited each of the group's five regional counsel offices – in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Atlanta – and met with financial and other supporters. As the group assesses where new laws may most be needed, she says the next office could likely be in the Pacific Northwest, and the issues of educational access and equity will become a priority, even as the group continues its work in voting, immigrant, and employment rights.

"These kids are our future labor market. They will support our Social Security system and make our economy viable. We need to make sure they get a quality education and are not pushed into poor learning environments," says Ms. Tallman. Ms. Tallman also notes that MALDEF's leadership programs and scholarships have created a broad group of alumni "that expands our reach so it is much broader and deeper," she says. "We need to cultivate that further."

Rufina Hernández, an attorney for the National Education Association and director of the association's human and civil rights department, received a MALDEF scholarship to attend law school. "As a Latina, and a community member and NEA employee, I have extreme pride that we have a strong relationship with MALDEF," she says. "Without MALDEF some of these landmark cases would not have been won. You need someone of their caliber to bring this litigation forward."

Says Congressman Becerra, "I don't think they will ever abandon the protection of civil rights because there is always someone willing to erode those rights. But [MALDEF] has matured and grown enough that it need not exclusively concentrate on those precepts of life. Now it can help us establish more of a presence in Corporate America."

For Ms. Tallman, who is aware of the demands on the organization, the challenge will be balancing both goals and staying focused on the group's mission of fostering sound public policies, laws, and programs to safeguard the civil rights of U.S. Hispanics. "Latinos have made a lot of progress because of MALDEF in the last 35 years, but there's still a lot to be done," says Ms. Tallman. "We take seriously our obligations. We'll continue to fight those fights important to the community and make friends along the way. There's a huge amount of goodwill towards MALDEF, and we intend to use it."