Giving minorities a political primer

Since immigrating to the United States from Colombia 16 years ago, Jany Finkelstein has sought ways to aid other minority residents.

She put aside pursuing a PhD to teach science, then scaled back that responsibility to become minority outreach coordinator at the Framingham Community Charter School.

Earlier this year, she took the next step, becoming one of the first 100 graduates of a new six-week training session, the Commonwealth Legislative Seminar, that aims to make state government accessible to a more diverse population.

Getting help from a government official was unthinkable to most people in her native country, Finkelstein said. Here, her primer on Beacon Hill has buttressed a conviction that education is the best way for immigrants and minorities to succeed.

"Perhaps [the seminar] reinforced to me the importance of educating minorities, whether on political issues or the education of their children," said Finkelstein, of Newton.

The grant-funded seminar program is run by Natick resident Joel Barrera, an eight-year veteran of state politics who was an aide to then-state senator Cheryl Jacques.

When he arrived in Massachusetts in 1996, Barrera, a Mexican-American, remembers being one of only two nonwhites at a State House orientation for more than 60 new employees. Despite a growing minority population in Massachusetts, the State House continues to be dominated by white men, he said.

"Several cities and towns are very diverse, but the fact that it is not yet reflected in the establishment or in political stakeholders is shocking to me," he said.

Last year, Barrera -- who also works as a project director at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional planning agency -- teamed up with state Senator Jarrett Barrios, who has spent six years in the State House as one of only a handful of minority legislators. Together, they launched the nonpartisan, twice-a-year seminar program, following a challenge by Boston Foundation president Paul Grogan, who provided start-up funding.

"He challenged me to think about ways to use my position as a bully pulpit to invite new groups into the State House, to have their values and interests reflected in public policy that is made on Beacon Hill," Barrios said of Grogan.

Barrios said simple knowledge of the political process was the most common obstacle to minority involvement, so he sought to create an educational program that could lead to any sort of participation -- from minority employment at the State House to more effective lobbying by advocacy groups devoted to everything from housing to health care.

"We hope this will be an entry point for minority residents to become legislative staffers and board members of organizations, to be welcomed into state-level politics," Barrera said. "We want them to take the feeling that the State House belongs to them and is not an intimidating place that is not accessible."

To that end, the State House seminar program opens up state politics by introducing participants to legislators, detailing how the budget works, and exposing them to the legislative process. At the end of the six-week session, graduates are invited to networking luncheons, where they connect with other advocates and continue to learn about issues that affect minority residents.

A similar program, called the Citizen Legislative Seminar, already exists, but Barrera said it presupposes involvement because it requires a senator's recommendation to attend. To take part in the Commonwealth Legislative Seminar, anyone can apply via the website (www.masscls.org).

A session planned for September is already filling; Barrera hopes to get more applicants from the western suburbs.

Ron Butler, a Hudson resident who has been involved in the Greater Framingham Community Church's Concerned Parents of Color Ministry, said the African-American community could use a program like this to help in the struggle to get the equal education mandated by the Brown v. Board of Education decision 50 years ago.

Butler keeps in contact with local legislators on a regular basis and was invited to testify about MCAS testing this year before the Legislature's Joint Education Committee.

"In that sense, I feel that's access," Butler said.

But Butler noted that he hadn't even heard of the new seminar program, which he said only proves that the minority community needs to be better connected.

"I also think there's a need for access to be improved," he said.

Finkelstein, a new board member at the MetroWest Latin American Center, said she is still digesting all of the information she gained. But she said her exposure to many other advocacy groups from around the state has introduced her to potential partners in the future. And she wants to apply the seminar model locally: The Framingham charter school plans to bring local minority leaders together in the fall.

"Part of what they're doing in the seminars, and what we're doing at the school, is helping minorities to realize what it means to be part of society and to understand all of the rights we have," Finkelstein said. "With this, people feel the political process is open to everybody."

Finkelstein also said she plans to use Barrera and Barrios as role models for her students, to show minority children that there are some in the State House who hail from backgrounds similar to their own.

Alison O'Leary Murray can be reached at amurray@globe.com.