Ethnic Affairs chief vows openness

As Utah's new director of the Utah Office of Ethnic Affairs, Jesse M. Soriano wants to make one thing clear: "I want people to feel comfortable calling me up and just coming over and talking to me."

Soriano's pledge to lead an approachable office was welcome news to ethnic community leaders contacted Friday by the Deseret Morning News, who say they'll hold him to his word.

The office oversees the Hispanic/Latino, Asian, black and Pacific Islander affairs offices, which have been criticized by many as out-of-touch under Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who reorganized the offices and shifted their roles away from direct community involvement to work more with state agencies.

AnnaJane Arroyo, an Ogden community advocate, had seen the offices as lacking relevancy even before the Huntsman administration but says she's already been "pleasantly surprised" by the outreach to northern Utah since Soriano has been there.

Soriano had been serving in the post on an interim basis since September and before that had been director of the Office of Hispanic/Latino Affairs for just under a year.

"I have been extremely pleased with the work I've seen coming out and the effort coming out of that office since Jesse took over," she said. "He needs to keep it up."

Soriano, 74, has a long history as a community advocate. Before joining Ethnic Affairs, he was director of the Health Sciences Ethnic Minority Affairs Office at the University of Utah, and he's been a member of the U. School of Medicine Admissions Committee.

Soriano holds master's degrees in foreign languages and school administration from Michigan State University, where he also earned a bachelor's degree in political science.

As director of Ethnic Affairs, Soriano says he wants to expand the office's community outreach efforts beyond the Wasatch Front and also wants to do more to get the state's ethnic communities working together. It's key, he says, to enhance the office's work with state agencies.

"We haven't been able to work as well as we'd like with other state agencies, but we've started to," Soriano said, pointing to recent conferences on underage drinking hosted in collaboration with the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. "That's what we're here for primarily, is to ensure that other state agencies serve the ethnic communities."

Palmer DePaulis, executive director of the Department of Community and Culture, which oversees Ethnic Affairs, says Soriano is a "proven leader." DePaulis says Soriano has the right vision of bolstering community outreach, while continuing to work with state agencies.