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Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform: ASPIRA Applauds Verizon for Courageous Stand

The ASPIRA Association applauds Verizon and its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lowell McAdam, for strongly supporting comprehensive immigration reform. In a letter dated March 4, 2013 addressed to all the members of the bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who are working on immigration reform legislation, McAdam indicated that the need for comprehensive immigration reform is “a critical step in re-igniting economic growth in America…More fundamentally, however, the genius of America lies in the fact that we are a nation of immigrants bound together by national values of economic opportunity, rewarding hard work and providing access to education. Throughout our history, immigrants have come here and have created the American Dream.” added McAdam in urging senators to continue to work in a bipartisan fashion to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Immigration Reform 2013

Immigration Reform 2013

“Verizon has always recognized the importance of the Latino community to the nation’s economy and how critical it is to our country’s future. It has been a leader in supporting our community, whether in education, jobs, helping build businesses, or providing access to technology. However, to rise to take such a public position on an issue that has been so controversial and divisive in recent years shows great courage, and how deep Verizon’s commitment to our community truly is. We urge other major corporate leaders to follow Verizon’s lead so that we can finally bring millions of Latinos, especially Latino youth, out from the shadows.” said Ronald Blackburn Moreno, President and CEO of ASPIRA.

McAdam’s letter was sent to Senators Bennet (D-CO), Durbin (D), Flake (R-AZ), Graham (R-SC), McCain (R-AZ), Menéndez (D-NJ), and Rubio (R-FL), who are leading the effort in the U.S. Senate to craft legislation on immigration reform.

“For the first time in over a decade, there is a real opportunity for congress to pass bipartisan legislation that will grant legal status and a path to citizenship to millions of Latinos. Corporate America should lend its powerful voice in support of comprehensive immigration reform.” said Blackburn Moreno.

About ASPIRA
Founded in New York in 1961, ASIPIRA is the only national Latino organization dedicated exclusively to the education and leadership development of Latino youth. For over 50 years, ASPIRA has fostered educational excellence and civic engagement among Latino youth and to build a new generation of Latino leaders.

CONTACT:

Ronald Blackburn Moreno
rblackburn@aspira.org

A lack of boundaries invites a lack of respect - Lesson learned and how

A lack of boundaries invites a lack of respect – Lesson learned and how

Next Quote? funny inspirational quotes on every post! | The 36 Rules of Social Media

The Latino Vote

When comparing the Press Releases the Pew Hispanic sent out on October 5, 2010 and on November 3, 2010, one cannot but wonder. What is exactly the Latino vote? And do people really understand this Latino vote?

The Pew announced prior to the Congressional Elections that their research indicated that “65% of Latino registered voters say they plan to support the Democratic candidate in their local congressional district.” The findings pointed towards the prediction that in a year when support for Democratic candidates has eroded, the party’s standing among one key voting group—Latinos—appeared as strong as ever.

The latino vote and immigration reform principles. Photo Credit: www.truthdig.com

The latino vote and immigration reform principles. Photo Credit: www.truthdig.com

One month later, for Tuesday’s midterm elections, Hispanic vote makes history. For the first time ever, three Latino  candidates – all of them Republicans – won top statewide offices. In New Mexico, voters elected the nation’s first Latina governor, Republican Susana Martinez. In Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval won the governor’s race and became Nevada’s first Hispanic governor. And in Florida, Republican Marco Rubio won the U.S. Senate race.

How much does this research predict what Latinos think in politics or who they will support? Everybody seems to believe that immigration is at the forefront in the Hispanic agenda. This survey shows that immigration does not rank as a top voting issue for Hispanics. Rather, they rank education, jobs and health care as their top three issues of concern for this year’s congressional campaign. Immigration ranks as the fifth most important issue for Latino registered voters and as the fourth most important issue for all Latinos.

Among the report’s other findings:

-Majorities of almost all demographic groups of Latino registered voters say they will vote for the Democratic Party candidate in their local congressional election Nov. 2. Only among Republican Latino registered voters does a majority (74%) say they will support the Republican congressional candidate.

-Some groups of Latino registered voters are more motivated than others to vote this year. More than six-in-ten (62%) of those who are ages 50 to 64 are absolutely certain they will vote, as are 61% of those who have at least some college education, 58% of those who are English dominant and 58% of Latino registered voters ages 65 or older.

-Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) of Latino registered voters who are Spanish dominant say they are absolutely certain to vote this year. This is lower than any other demographic group of Latino registered voters.

-Some six-in-ten (59%) Latino registered voters are dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed, down from 70% in July 2008 (Lopez and Minushkin, 2008a).

-Two-thirds (66%) of Latino registered voters say they talked about the immigration policy debate in the past year with someone they know. The report, based on a national survey of 1,375 Hispanic adults, including 618 registered voters, looks at Latinos’ partisan preferences in the congressional elections; their party identification; their level of voter motivation; and the issues they identify as important in the upcoming elections.

I believe that people should stop looking at Hispanics as one whole block where they all vote the same. Latinos are as varied as they come and their political preferences match their upbringing, the current situation, their education level, their country of origin’s political history and how it affected them and their acculturation levels.

by Claudia “Havi” Goffan

leadership

leadership

U.S. Illegal Immigrant Population Down

The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. declined by one million since its peak in 2007
The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. dropped by one million people in two years, according to new estimates by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Government officials believe 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in Jan. 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007. If the official estimates are correct, not since 2005 has the population of illegal immigrants been as low as it was last year. The report, produced annually since 2005, is the government’s official tabulation of immigrants living here illegally.

Source: Poder360

Inside Hispanic America

by Claudia “Havi” Goffan

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

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).

Six out of 10 Hispanics are U.S.-born - Inside Hispanic America

Six out of 10 Hispanics are U.S.-born – Inside Hispanic America

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 native from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Claudia has been very influential in the Hispanic markets in the U.S. and Latin America – both from a business and a community standpoint – always with outstanding results. Claudia has contributed to companies such as, The Occasions Group, The Taylor Corporation, El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad (A division of SunTrust Bank), XEROX, AT&T, BellSouth, Citibank, Papa John’s, Liberty Mutual, British Telecom, Gold’s Gym, Sherwin Williams, and Verizon, among others.

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 and inbound strategies.  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.

So true. Great Quotes

Great quote

Hispanic Immigrants’ Children Fall Behind Peers Early, Study Finds

A great example of a study (or its interpretation) that misleads readers. This is a problem that stems from poverty and parents with a low educational level. This is definitely not related to the parent’s immigration status. Children from Hispanic immigrants whose parents have a very high level of education do even better than their American counterpart. Feel free to comment.

Havi 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

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