BOSTON - Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order Wednesday to establish the Governor's Council on Latino Empowerment. 

More than 40 Latino leaders were appointed to the new council. The goal is to advise the governor on strategies to expand opportunities and improve the overall well being of the state’s large Latino community.

The council has people from all over the state representing their communities. Since Latino is a broad term, it can include many different countries, so the council wanted diverse representation.

The first meeting was closed to the press, but Spectrum News 1 was able to catch up with council chair Josiane Martinez and vice chair Gladys Vega after the meeitng let out.

"People think about the Latino community as one, but we are really multiple countries coming together," Martinez said. "And here we are also very diverse. The Latinos that live in one part of the state are not the same Latinos that live in a different part of the state." 

This was the first meeting of the council, and they will be bringing their ideas to the governor quarterly. Vega said the first meeting felt like a productive one.  

"I’m feeling optimistic because the governor said here in our first meeting that she wants this to be a working group," Vega said. "We want to be able to work on these issues immediately. This group is very sophisticated and has lots of experience there. We want to do whatever it takes to move our commonwealth forward."

The council will have sub committies as well, with a goal to dive into solution based suggestions right away.