When it comes to a kid's television-viewing habits, the mom's language can matter.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine surveyed 1,347 women who had children ages 35 months to 4 years to assess just how much time the kids spent in front on the tube. They knew that young children of white mothers and young children of Hispanic mothers watched similar amounts of TV (we’ll go out on a limb here and say “too much”), but they seemed to think there might be some variables to be explored within those numbers and perhaps, down the road, interventions to be found.

They were right on the former. The latter remains to be seen. The researchers found that kids of English-speaking Hispanic moms and kids of Spanish-speaking Hispanic moms watched about the same amount of TV during their first year (yes, yes, infants watching any TV…). But by the second and third years, children of the English-speaking moms watched more, a lot more.

The abstract was published online Monday in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Maybe TV simply is less important to Spanish-speaking moms, the researchers speculated, or maybe there are fewer Spanish-language shows for toddlers.

Regardless, they conclude: “These findings highlight the need to further understand sociocultural factors that influence television viewing habits in young Hispanic children. Interventionists should consider such factors when designing interventions targeting television viewing in young Hispanic children. Additionally, these findings emphasize the need for researchers to appreciate the heterogeneity of the Hispanic population when describing health behaviors and outcomes in this population.”

And if you’re wondering why this is relevant, the researchers point out in the study’s introduction: “Excessive television viewing in early childhood is associated with a multitude of negative health outcomes, including obesity, attention problems, and sleep troubles. … Additionally, Hispanic children face disparities in many health outcomes,18 some of which may be associated with early television habits.”

Source: Tami Dennis, Los Angeles Times – Orlando Sentinel

Winner of the Publisher’s Multicultural Award Category: Best Multicultural Awareness Article

What is life like in America for Hispanic Americans?  What are their thoughts and concerns about family, employment, education, religion, opportunities, and healthcare?  We asked Claudia Goffan, founder of Target Latino, an Atlanta based marketing and consulting firm specializing in the Hispanic market, to provide “The College World Reporter” readers with her own views from inside Hispanic America. Here is our interview:

Claudia "Havi" Goffan - Hispanic Marketing Expert and CEO of Target Latino

Q. Could you give us an inside look at Hispanic or Latino life?

A. To fully understand the Hispanic market, you need to analyze it by country of origin, level of acculturation, age, sex, marital status and educational level. Although some generalizations can be made, they have to be understood as such and not as an answer to comprehending the culture.

Let’s talk about some of the generalizations about the Hispanic culture. The very first one that comes to mind is about family being the first priority, the children are celebrated and sheltered and the wife usually fulfills a domestic role. Hispanics have a long Roman Catholic tradition and this usually implies quite a fatalistic outlook where destiny is in the hands of God. Latin American educational system is based on emphasis on the theoretical, memorization and a rigid and very broad curriculum. It follows the French schooling system and it translates into people who are generalists and look at the big picture as opposed to specialists, like in the U.S. Hispanics are highly nationalistic, very proud of long history and traditions.

Hispanics have difficulty separating work and personal relationships and are sensitive to differences of opinion. Hispanics fear loss of face, especially publicly and shun confrontation, where truth is tempered by the need for diplomacy. Title and position are more important than money in the eyes of Hispanic society. Etiquette and manners are seen as a measure of breeding and it follows an “old world” formality. Dress and grooming are status symbols whereas in the U.S. appearance is secondary to performance. The aesthetic side of life is important even at work.

Q. Tell us about the purchasing power of the U.S. Hispanics?

A. According to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth in 2004 the nation’s largest minority group controlled $686 billion in spending. The community’s purchasing power comprises the world’s ninth biggest economy and it’s larger than the GNP of Brazil, Spain or Mexico. Hispanic purchasing power is projected to reach as much as $1 trillion by next year (2010) being the main drivers of the surge in Hispanic consumer influence the increasing education levels, labor force composition, household characteristics and accumulation of wealth. The fastest-growing occupational categories for Hispanics are higher paying managerial and professional jobs.

Q. What about Hispanics’ Healthcare Access?

A. I will quote a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center that indicates that six-in-ten Hispanic adults living in the United States who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents lack health insurance. According to this same study, the share of uninsured among this group (60%) is much higher than the share of uninsured among Latino adults who are legal permanent residents or citizens (28%), or among the adult population of the United States (17%). Hispanic adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents tend to be younger and healthier than the adult U.S. population and are less likely than other groups to have a regular health care provider. Just 57% say there is a place they usually go when they are sick or need advice about their health, compared with 76% of Latino adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 83% of the adult U.S. population.

Overall, four-in-ten (41%) non-citizen, non-legal permanent resident Hispanics state that their usual provider is a community clinic or health center. These centers are designed primarily as “safety nets” for vulnerable populations and are funded by a variety of sources, including the federal government, state governments and private foundations, as well as reimbursements from patients, based upon a sliding scale (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008).

The study also reports that some 37% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents have no usual health care provider. More than one-fourth (28%) of the people in this group indicate that financial limitations prevent them from having a usual provider – 17% report that their lack of insurance is the primary reason, while 12% cite high medical costs in general. However, a majority (56%) say they do not have a usual provider because they simply do not need one. An additional 5% state that difficulty in navigating the U.S. health care system prevents them from having a usual provider. According to Pew Hispanic Center estimates, 11.9 million undocumented immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2008. Three-quarters (76%) of these undocumented immigrants were Latinos.

Regarding health status, the study reports that the Latino population in the U.S. is relatively young, and Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are younger still. Some 43% of adult Latinos who are not citizens or legal permanent residents are younger than age 30, compared with 27% of Hispanic adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 22% of the adult U.S. population.  The youthfulness of this population contributes to its relative healthiness.

About the Hispanic experiences in the Health Care System, the Pew reports that three-fourths (76%) of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that the quality of medical care they received in the past year was excellent or good. This is similar to the proportion of adult Latino citizens and legal permanent residents (78%) who express satisfaction with their recent health care. However, when asked a separate question – whether they had received any poor medical treatment in the past five years – adult Latinos who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are less likely (16%) to report any problems than are Latinos who are citizens or legal permanent residents (24%).

Among those Latinos who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents who report receiving poor medical treatment in the past five years, a plurality (46%) state that they believed their accent or the way they spoke English contributed to that poor care. A similar share (43%) believed that their inability to pay for care contributed to their poor treatment. More than one-third (37%) felt that their race or ethnicity played a part in their poor care, and one-fourth (25%) attributed the unsatisfactory treatment to something in their medical history.

Q. What is the difference in viewpoint between young Hispanics or Latinos born and raised in the United States, and their older parents or grandparents who migrated to the U.S. from other countries?

A. The one difference that applies to all Latinos existent between non and semi-acculturated Hispanics and fully-acculturated or U.S. born Hispanics (young or old) is that whereas the non and semi-acculturated Latinos are trying to learn how to navigate the American culture, the U.S. born Hispanics or fully-acculturated know how to navigate the American culture and “learn” to navigate the Hispanic one from their family.

Q. Who are people on the rise in the Hispanic or Latino community that may become corporate leaders, or the next Sonia Sotomayor?

A. There are many Hispanics on the rise in every walk of life in the United States. Some people may not even notice of their Hispanic background because it usually comes to light when there are political issues at stake. For example, a currently retired doctor that was the Director of Cardiology of the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta was originally from Argentina. The creative that many years ago came up with the successful campaign for a drug that put the country to sleep is a Nuyorican (Puerto Rican born in New York).

Regarding known Latinos on the rise, you may want to keep an eye on Christine Arguello, Judge, U.S. District Court, Colorado; Emiliano Calemzuk, President, Fox Television Studios; Ignacia Moreno, Counsel, Corporate Environmental Programs, General Electric Company; Esther Salas, U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of New Jersey; Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF); Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor; Rosa Gumatatotao Rios, United States Treasurer; Elena Rios, President & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Foundation; Enrique Conterno; President, Eli Lilly, USA and Edward Chavez, Justice, the State of New Mexico Supreme Court, among many others.

Q. What should everyone know about Hispanics or Latinos?

A. The first thing that comes to mind is the very little known fact that 6 out of 10 Latinos are U.S. born.  The second one is that the younger the generation, the higher the percentage of Hispanics in it. It is imperative to understand the new U.S. demographics when developing business strategies, city planning, new products, etc.

About Claudia Goffan: Recognized as an expert in Latino Marketing by CNN en Español, Claudia has been featured in Adweek, Hispanic Business, Univision, Telemundo and other national and international media.

A motivator, strategic and hands-on, innovative, creative and resourceful. It has been said that her humor and presence immediately captivate audiences. She has an MBA from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and more than 20 years specializing in Marketing and Strategic Planning both internationally and domestically. She is bilingual and bicultural in English and Spanish and fluent in Portuguese, French, and Italian.

About Target Latino: Target Latino was founded in 2003, with a vision unparalleled at the time – to show American companies the importance of the U.S. Hispanic market – not by preaching but by acting. Target Latino is a marketing consulting firm specializing in the Hispanic market.  Target Latino increases the effectiveness of its clients marketing and advertising dollars by creating innovative approaches to acquire and retain Hispanic customers.  Target Latino has a long standing experience of driving results in tough economic times.  Target Latino is minority owned, and a percentage of its proceeds go to different charity causes.

Fannie Mae Launches New HomePath.com in Spanish Aimed at Helping More Hispanics Buy Homes

Fannie Mae announced the company launched a Spanish version of its HomePath.com website designed to help more potential homeowners who speak Spanish purchase Fannie Mae-owned properties.

The new website in Spanish mirrors the English version of HomePath.com featuring an interactive search tool of Fannie Mae-owned properties nationwide, details about HomePath® financing, a mortgage payment calculator, property alerts, as well as information on foreclosure prevention and the Making Home Affordable((SM)) program.

Through HomePath.com, potential homeowners can access a database that includes a wide selection of homes from around the country – including the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico – which can be purchased directly from Fannie Mae. Properties include detailed information and photographs of single-family homes, condominiums, and town houses located in a variety of neighborhoods.

“HomePath.com is a great resource that can help people find a lifelong home for themselves and their families,” said Fannie Mae Executive Vice President, Terry W. Edwards. “The website has a wealth of information to inform and guide potential homeowners through the process of buying a Fannie Mae-owned property.”

The new release of HomePath.com in Spanish is part of a continuous effort aimed at improving access to information and resources which play a vital role in aiding both English and Spanish-speaking populations in the U.S. purchase homes, while helping minimize the impact on communities hit by foreclosures.

For more information about HomePath, please visit www.HomePath.com and click “En Espanol”, or for direct access to the website in Spanish, visit www.es.HomePath.com.

Fannie Mae exists to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market. Fannie Mae has a federal charter and operates in America’s secondary mortgage market to enhance the liquidity of the mortgage market by providing funds to mortgage bankers and other lenders so that they may lend to home buyers. Our job is to help those who house America.

Making Home Affordable is a trademark of the United States Department of the Treasury and is used under license.

SOURCE Fannie Mae

Hispanics Minding Money in Downturn Without Sacrificing Pleasures, Research Finds

C&R Research recently polled its LatinoEyes panel to assess behaviors by the “majority minority” during the recession, and found that “the recession has forced Hispanics to rethink what’s luxury and what’s necessity,” explained Angelina Villarreal, a C&R vice president. ”What we’re seeing is that while this group is budget-conscious, its members don’t want to give up their quality of life.”

C&R, in its sample of 825 panel participants, found that the most recession-impacted segments were Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Central Americans; 58 percent reported that the recession had a significant impact on their lives.

However, a majority of Hispanics, particularly the young, was unwilling to relinquish cell phones (69 percent), and 81 percent (notably Mexicans) couldn’t do without driving their cars. Paid television services remain important to 67 percent, mostly the older generation, and the home Internet connection, particularly among fluent bicultural Hispanics, is maintained by 65 percent.

While nearly half of those polled said they were clipping coupons and buying clearance clothing, over three-fourths of Latinos are still spending on dining out or ordering in and going out for entertainment or to the movies, but with less frequency. And nearly three-fourths of the women in this sector haven’t let the downturn affect their purchasing of personal care products.

“Hispanics are trying to make do — maybe better than make do — if they can without abandoning their favorite products, entertainment, restaurants, and services,” Villarreal said. “And it looks like they’re succeeding.”

Chicago-based C&R Research is one of the nation’s largest, independent full-service research firms. Since 1959, it has provided custom-designed qualitative and quantitative research for a wide variety of business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. Their specialty research expertise includes youth, boomers, parents and shoppers. In addition,( )C&R’s consultancy division, LatinoEyes, specializes in the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. Its research team has a deep understanding of both the U.S. and Latino cultures.

SOURCE C&R Research

Understanding Latino Boomers

Focalyst, a reseach firm specialized in seniors and boomers, presented the results of a new study that provides valuable insights on one of the most complex segments of the U.S. Hispanic population: seniors

Hispanic Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) represent approximately 10% of the US Boomer segment – over 7 million consumers – but cannot be segmented by language alone, a Focalyst study concludes.

“Marketers need to look beyond language and understand the demographic, attitudinal and behavioral differences within the Hispanic Boomer market in order to reach this target,” said Jack Lett, executive director of Focalyst.

Two in three Hispanic Boomers are “more acculturated,” considered either “Bicultural” or “Acculturated” :

•Bicultural Hispanics – 24% of Hispanic Boomers – are US-born or foreign-born and have lived many years in the US; they are bilingual and consume both English and Spanish media; they identify with aspects of both cultures.

•Acculturated Hispanics - 41% – are US-born and English-dominant; they consume English media; and they identify strongly with American culture, but still keep ties with their Hispanic culture.

•Unacculturated Hispanics – 35% – are foreign-born and speak Spanish in the home; they consume more Spanish than non-Spanish media; and they identify strongly with their native culture.

Demographic Profile

The study found that Bicultural Hispanic Boomers…

•Earn 23% less income on average than General Market Boomers ($56,607 compared with $73,921) – though they are equally likely to be employed (77%).

•Are slightly more likely to be married or partnered (75%) than both Acculturated (64%) and General Market Boomers (69%).

•Are less likely to be college educated – 55% of them have a college education, compared with 69% of Acculturated Boomers and 73% of General Market Boomers.

Family

Hispanic Boomers live in larger households (3.3 people per household vs. 2.9 for the General Market), often made up of younger children, adult children, or older relatives. Bicultural households have the largest household composition (3.6 people):

In addition…

•Acculturated Boomers are the most likely to be a caregiver for a family member, with 14% recently taking on this role.

•Besides supporting larger households, one in four Hispanic Boomers are providing substantial financial support to someone outside of their homes.

Future Plans

Acculturated Hispanic Boomers are more likely to aspire to continue their education (28%), whereas Bicultural Hispanics have more entrepreneurial desires – 32% said they want to start a new business, compared with 17% of General Market Boomers:

More findings:

•More than half (51%) of Bicultural Hispanic Boomers said it is important that their family think they are doing well

•86% of Bicultural Hispanic Boomers agreed that they have been fortunate in life, and 80% said they have accomplished a great deal – more so than General Market (77%) and Acculturated (76%) Boomers.

Source: Marketing Charts

Ingenio’s bilingual product line ranges from electronic learning toys and puzzles to educational games. All products emphasize English and Spanish equally to enable the child to learn a second language easily. The light-weight, travel-friendly products offer children dynamic, “unplugged” playtime, free from the chain-and-drain of a computer or television.

Unlocking a world of opportunities, Ingenio helps preschool and grade school children (ages 3-8 years) learn both languages in the context of fun. Smart Play’s products are bilingual by design(TM) to facilitate learning at an early age, which research indicates is the prime time for language acquisition.

The proven benefits of bilingualism include greater cognitive flexibility, improved powers of concept formation and enhanced creativity. Spanish is the second-most prominent language in the country, and nearly 25 percent of all U.S. children between the ages of 3 and 6 are of Hispanic origin (a number that is quickly on the rise). This makes Ingenio an ingenious tool to form future leaders.

“Finally, a foreign-language educational toy company!” said Liza Sanchez, founder of Escuela Bilingüe Internacional, in response to Ingenio. “As a parent, I am thrilled to finally be able to provide toys that represent our home language. As a teacher, I have been looking for years for products that can help my young students advance their Spanish education both in and outside of the classroom. The cognitive and social benefits of becoming bilingual have made many parents realize the importance of learning a second language.”

In addition to recognition from educational leaders, Ingenio has already garnered accolades from the toy industry. Ingenio recently received the 2009 Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Product and Creative Child Magazine 2009 Top Toy of the Year.

Not only is Ingenio innovative and educational but also budget-friendly. Eight of the 10 products are less than $ 15 and all products are available at Amazon.com and will soon be available at Toys “R” Us.com.

About Smart Play

Smart Play provides safe, affordable, innovative and educational products to enrich your child’s mind. Play is the perfect way to reinforce and extend the skills children learn at home and at school. Many of our products are designed to grow with your child by offering age-appropriate activities with progressive levels of difficulty.

For more information about Ingenio products, please visit our bilingual site: www.smartplay.us.

Source: Smart Play, LLC

Claudia Goffan

Here is the article:

The children of Hispanic immigrants tend to be born healthy and start life on an intellectual par with other American children, but by the age of 2 they begin to lag in linguistic and cognitive skills, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, shows.

Hispanic Immigrants’ Children Fall Behind Peers Early, Study Finds

The study highlights a paradox that has bedeviled educators and Hispanic families for some time. By and large, mothers from Latin American countries take care of their health during their pregnancies and give birth to robust children, but those children fall behind their peers in mental development by the time they reach grade school, and the gap tends to widen as they get older.

The new Berkeley study suggests the shortfall may start even before the children enter preschool, supporting calls in Washington to spend more on programs that coach parents to stimulate their children with books, drills and games earlier in their lives.

“Our results show a very significant gap even at age 3,” said Bruce Fuller, one of the study’s authors and a professor of education at Berkeley. “If we don’t attack this disparity early on, these kids are headed quickly for a pretty dismal future in elementary school.”

Professor Fuller said blacks and poor whites also lagged behind the curve, suggesting that poverty remained a factor in predicting how well a young mind develops. But the drop-off in the cognitive scores of Hispanic toddlers, especially those from Mexican backgrounds, was steeper than for other groups and could not be explained by economic status alone, he said.

One possible explanation is that a high percentage of Mexican and Latin American immigrant mothers have less formal schooling than the average American mother, white or black, the study’s authors said. These mothers also tend to have more children than middle-class American families, which means the toddlers get less one-on-one attention from their parents.

“The reading activities, educational games and performing the ABCs for Grandma — so often witnessed in middle-class homes — are less consistently seen in poor Latino households,” Professor Fuller said.

The study is based on data collected on 8,114 infants born in 2001 and tracked through the first two years of life by the National Center for Education Statistics. The findings will be published this week in Maternal and Child Health Journal, and a companion report will appear this fall in the medical journal Pediatrics.

The analysis showed that at 9 to 15 months, Hispanic and white children performed equally on tests of basic cognitive skills, like understanding their mother’s speech and using words and gestures. But from 24 to 36 months, the Hispanic children fell about six months behind their white peers on measures like word comprehension, more complex speech and working with their mothers on simple tasks.

The study comes as the Obama administration has been pushing for more money to help prepare infants and toddlers for school. In September, the House passed an initiative that would channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve programs serving young children.

In addition, the economic stimulus package included $3 billion for Head Start preschools and for the Early Head Start program, which helps young parents stimulate their children’s mental development.

Eugene Garcia, an education professor at Arizona State University, said the Berkeley-led study confirmed findings by others that the children of Hispanic immigrants, for reasons that remain unclear, tend to fall behind white students by as much as a grade level by the third grade.

“It seems like what might be the most helpful with Latino kids is early intervention,” Dr. Garcia said.

Carmen Rodriguez, the director of the Columbia University Head Start in New York City, said there was a waiting list of parents, most of them Hispanic, who want to take Early Head Start classes with their children.

Dr. Rodriguez said the study’s findings might reflect a surge in interest in early childhood education on the part of middle-class Americans, rather than any deficiency in the immigrant homes.

“Any low-income toddler is disadvantaged if they don’t get this kind of stimulation,” she said.

Source: The New York Times – By James McKinley Jr.

Crown Imports today announced the launch of new Corona Extra and Corona Light 24-ounce can packages aimed at the $3.2 billion single-serve segment of the beer business.

Demand for single-serve business drives Corona Extra and Corona Light brand offerings

“This occasion based business already represents nearly 13 percent of dollar share in the off-premise channel. Based on the growing demand from consumers and retailers for single-serve options, we see a great opportunity for Corona in this space,” said Jim Sabia, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Crown Imports, Corona’s exclusive U.S. importer.

According to IRI data, over the past four years import brands in the 24-ounce single-serve segment have averaged 13.3 percent case sales growth versus 4.7 percent for domestics, accelerating faster than the category case trend by nearly seven fold.

The Corona Extra 24-oz can will arrive at retail in 26 initial markets* this month with the Corona Light can to follow shortly thereafter. The Corona Extra and Corona Light 24-ounce cans are targeted to 21-44 year-old General Market and Hispanic drinkers from the service and manufacturing trades. “Our consumer research indicates these consumers see Corona as a reward. Our 24-ounce cans offer a new trade-up option for drinkers looking for a premium beer experience,” Sabia said. The previously introduced Corona Extra 24-ounce single-serve bottle is currently a top ten package amongst all 24-ounce packages according to IRI.

Primary channels of distribution for the new Corona Extra and Corona Light 24-ounce cans are convenience, drug, liquor and grocery stores. “Convenience stores especially may benefit from the incremental purchase occasions and additional traffic the Corona Extra and Corona Light 24-ounce cans would deliver,” reports Bruce Jacobson, Executive Vice President of Sales for Crown Imports. IRI reports indicate that single-serve 24-ounce packages represents close to 11 percent of the case volume sold in the convenience store channel, making it a key package in a channel designed around convenience and immediate consumption.

Crown continues to invest in new packages and options suitable for the off-premise channel and at-home consumption opportunities. According to the Beer Institute, the off-premise channel currently delivers 82 percent of beer industry volume and may lead category resurgence in the year ahead.

*Editor’s note: 26 initial markets include AZ, CA, CO, CT, D.C., FL, GA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA.

Source: IRI InfoScan, Total US Fs/Dg/Cv, 52 weeks ending 9/2/09

About Crown Imports

Crown Imports LLC is a joint venture that imports, distributes and markets the Modelo portfolio and other fine beer brands across the entire U.S. The Modelo portfolio includes Corona Extra, the #1 imported beer in the U.S. and #6 beer overall, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo and Pacifico beer brands. For more information, visit www.crownimportsllc.com. Crown Imports is a 50-50 joint venture between Grupo Modelo, S.A. de C.V. (MX: GMODELOC), Mexico’s leading company in the brewing, distribution and sale of beer, and Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ, ASX: CBR), a leading international beverage alcohol producer, importer and marketer.

SOURCE Crown Imports LLC

Hispanic consumers now have even more options when it comes to their everyday banking. Citibank has just launched Citi Mobile en Espanol to enable customers who prefer to bank in Spanish to do so from their smartphones. The Spanish-language service lets customers manage their accounts, pay bills, locate Citibank branches and more – all from the convenience of their cell phones. Citibank is the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish.

“Citi Mobile en Espanol offers our Spanish speaking customers the ability to bank anywhere, anytime on their smartphones,” said Liza Landsman, Executive Vice President, North America Internet & Mobile, Citi. “With Hispanic customers making up almost one-quarter of our customer base, the service makes banking even easier for this important and growing audience.”

Hispanics are among the most active mobile Web users in the United States. According to a recent independent report on Wireless Internet Use from Pew Research, nearly one-half of English-speaking Hispanic consumers reported accessing the Internet via a handheld device in 2009.(i) Of these consumers, about 29 percent reported going online “on a typical day” through a mobile device.(ii)

Citi Mobile en Espanol mirrors the functionality of the English-language Citi Mobile for Smartphones. It is accessed via the same convenient URL as the English version, www.citi.com, from any mobile device. Using Citi Mobile en Espanol, users of web-enabled mobile devices including BlackBerry® smartphones, Palm® devices and iPhone(TM) devices can easily do all of the following in Spanish:

• View Citi account balances and account activity
• Pay bills and set up recurring payments
• Make transfers between Citi accounts
• Locate Citi branches and ATMs
• Connect to Customer Service

Citi Mobile en Espanol provides easy navigation on virtually any recent device that has a mobile browser and an internet connection. And signing in is easy — customers enter the same personal User ID and password they would use on their home computer.

Citibank was also the first major U.S. bank to offer Spanish-language online banking, in 2004. Today, with the introduction of Citi Mobile for Smartphones en Espanol, Citibank’s fastest-growing customer segment gains even greater access to quick, easy and highly secure banking.

(i) Horrigan, John, Wireless Internet Use, Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 2009,http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/Wireless-Internet-Use.pdf., accessed Sept. 30, 2009. Page 14.

(ii) Horrigan, John, “Going online with a handheld by race,” Wireless Internet Use, Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 2009, http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/Wireless-Internet-Use.pdf., accessed Sept. 30, 2009. Page 18.

About Citi Mobile and Citibank

Citi Mobile for Smartphones is a mobile banking application built by Citibank with support from Mobile Money Ventures, a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom that provides mobile financial services applications globally. Citibank was the first major U.S. bank to launch a downloadable mobile banking application in 2007.

Citibank is a member of Citi, the leading global financial services company, which has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

Citi, Citibank and Citi Mobile are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc.

Palm is among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Palm, Inc. The Trademark BlackBerry is owned by Research In Motion Limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Citibank is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by Research in Motion Limited. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.

SOURCE Citibank

How Attached Are Latino Immigrants to Their Native Country?

Most Latino immigrants maintain some kind of connection to their native country by sending remittances, traveling back or telephoning relatives, but the extent of their attachment varies considerably. Only one-in-ten (9%) do all three of these so-called transnational activities; these immigrants can be considered highly attached to their home country. A much larger minority (28%) of foreign-born Latinos is involved in none of these activities and can be considered to have a low level of engagement with the country of origin. Most Latino immigrants (63%) show moderate attachment to their home country; they engage in one or two of these activities.

Latino immigrants who have been in the U.S. for decades and those who arrived as children are less connected than those who arrived more recently or migrated as adults. There are also significant differences by country of origin, with Colombians and Dominicans maintaining more active connections than Mexicans, and with Cubans having the least contact.

Whether Latino immigrants maintain active, moderate or limited connections is an important marker of their attitudes toward the U.S., their native country and their own lives as migrants. Those with the highest levels of engagement have deeper attachments to their country of origin than immigrants whose connections are less robust. They also have more favorable views of their native country in comparisons with the U.S. Nonetheless, a clear majority of even these immigrants see their future in the U.S. rather than in the countries from which they come.

Most Latino immigrants reveal moderate levels of engagement with the home country–both in the extent of their transnational activities and in their attitudes. They maintain some connections to the country of their birth through such activities as sending money or phoning regularly. And their opinions blend optimism about life in the U.S. and positive evaluations of some aspects of American society (notably political traditions) with less favorable comparisons to their native land on other aspects (such as morals). Their attachments and identities are a mix of views that might be expected of people navigating an emotional terrain that encompasses two nations. That mix differs in several important respects, with people who have been in the U.S. longer being more ready than recent arrivals to declare this country their homeland and to describe themselves as Americans.

The Pew Hispanic Center’s 2006 National Survey of Latinos collected data on a variety of transnational activities and a wide range of attitudes and beliefs. This report is based on a new analysis of that survey data, which for the first time examines the extent to which Latino immigrants with different characteristics maintain connections to their native lands and assesses how different levels of transnational activities are associated with an immigrant’s views on key subjects. The analysis thus explores the question of whether maintaining connections to a country of origin is associated with more positive or negative views of the U.S., a greater or lesser sense of attachment to this country and a stronger or weaker sense of identity as an American.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center – Roger Waldinger, University of California, Los Angeles