Henry Munoz III, chairman of the presidential commission that recommended the construction of a Latino museum, wrote that there must be “a living monument that recognizes that Latinos were here well before 1776 and that in this century, the future is increasingly Latino, more than 50 million people and growing.” READ MORE
Featured Posts (2889)
Sort by
Henry Munoz III, chairman of the presidential commission that recommended the construction of a Latino museum, wrote that there must be “a living monument that recognizes that Latinos were here well before 1776 and that in this century, the future is increasingly Latino, more than 50 million people and growing.” READ MORE
The spirit of the entrepreneur is the State Farm Agency opportunity. Our country was founded and grown by the American Dream of owning your own business! Over 17,000 agents throughout the United States have been living this dream for over 20, 30 and 40 years. For many of us, having our own business allows us to express our passion, help others and enjoy tremendous rewards.
Throughout the Chicago Metro area, suburbs and NW Indiana, we anticipate an increase in agent retirement but also a need for new agents to service growing communities. State Farm is committed to helping our prospective agents grow their agencies through ongoing training and development, marketing assistance, start-up allowances and office set-up.
State Farm was founded in 1922 and is the largest organically grown company in the history of the world! Over 80 million policies and accounts were grown one policy at a time, not through mergers or acquisitions. We have been through the Stock Market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, World War II, multiple recessions, several major Hurricanes and natural disasters, the dot.com bust and multiple legislative and regulatory challenges. State Farm is still here and stronger than ever! This is the legacy of State Farm!
My vision is to ensure Chicago communities are aware of this wonderful and rewarding career path and the opportunity that is present now and into the future.
If you or someone you know is exploring career endeavors, contact:
Sonia Avalos at 847-921-2473 or via email at sonia.avalos.ib9c@statefarm.com
Become a State Farm® Agent
statefarm.com/careers
Dr. Juan Andrade, Co-founder and President of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), will receive the Ohtli Award at 6:30 p.m. on May 4. The Ohtli, which means "path", is the highest honor presented by the government of Mexico to a civilian living outside the country for contributions made to the empowerment of the Mexican and the Mexican-American communities in the United States. The award will be presented at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC by the Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan.
Andrade, who was previously decorated at the White House by then President of the United States Bill Clinton "for the performance of exemplary deeds of service for the nation" and "excellence in promoting leadership and civic participation", will become one of only three Hispanics in history to be honored by both the government of Mexico and the government of the United States. He will share this distinction with the late Cesar Chavez and the late Mario Obledo.
As a child and later as a student, Andrade sold newspapers and washed dishes, pots and pans in restaurants. He hoed cotton, cabbage, peanuts, watermelons and cantaloupes and worked in factories, meatpacking plants, and as a custodian. He has earned five college degrees including a doctorate and received five honorary doctorates and three distinguished alumni awards.
Andrade represents USHLI on the Board of Directors of HACR (Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility) and NHLA (National Hispanic Leadership Agenda). Learn more about USHLI
The analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center says that the percentage of the Latino electorate was also larger in the 2010 midterm elections than in earlier midterm votes, totaling 6.9 percent of all registered voters, compared with 5.8 percent in 2006.
The rapid growth in the U.S. Latino population has favored ever greater participation by that community in elections, with the 2010 Census finding that 50.5 million Hispanics lived in the United States last year, up from 35.3 million in 2000.
During the same decade, the number of eligible Latino voters also rose, from 13.2 million to 21.3 million.
However, although there are more Latinos now who never participate in U.S. elections, their representation within the electorate continues to be less than their weight in the general population.
In 2010, 16.3 percent of the U.S. population was Hispanic, but Latinos constituted just 10.1 percent of those eligible to vote and less than 7 percent of actual voters.
Pew says this gap is due to two factors: the youth of the Latino population - nearly 35 percent are under 18 - and the high proportion of Hispanic adults, 22.4 percent, who lack U.S. citizenship.
Thus, just 42.7 percent of the U.S. Latino population may vote, while in the case of whites that percentage is 77.7 percent, in the black community it is 67.2 percent and among Asians 52.8 percent.
In 2010, 31.2 percent of Latinos said they had voted, while 48.6 percent of whites said the same thing and 44 percent of African Americans.
Roughly 31 percent of Latino eligible voters last year were between 18 and 29, while for whites that percentage was 19.2 percent, for blacks it was 25.6 percent and for Asians 20.7 percent.
Only 17.6 percent of young Hispanic voters cast ballots, whereas among those age 30 and up participation was 37.4 percent.
The difference in participation of Latinos in elections compared with other groups is also due to the rapid increase in the percentage of Latinos who could vote, but don't. READ MORE
Each participant is expected to complete at least one script by the end of the five-week session, which will then be read by network executives. Those writers whose scripts show promise will be interviewed and mentored by the network executives with the idea of placing them on a show. A stipend of $250 per week will be given to each participant. Flight, housing, and meals will be provided.
The NLMC Television Writers Program is an intensive scriptwriters workshop to prepare and place Latinos in writing jobs for the major television networks. This project is modeled after the previously successful Hispanic Film Project. The television scriptwriters workshop is designed to familiarize participants with the format, characters and storyline structure of specific shows that are currently on the air. This five-week, total immersion workshop is mentored and guided by former NBC V.P of Script Development, Geoff Harris.
The workshop is conducted in Burbank, CA and a total of 10 writers are recruited nationwide from established network of NHMC chapters, other non-profit agencies, schools, universities, guilds and media organizations. The goal is that the writers garner the skills necessary to obtain employment in the industry. The NLMC Writers Program was created in accordance to part of NHMC’s mission to improve the image of American Latinos as portrayed by the media and increase the number of American Latinos employed in all facets of the media industry. READ MORE
Most would think Americans do more unpaid work than the rest of the world -- wrong. According to the new report, Society at a Glance, by France-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD, in a survey of 34 OECD countries, there is one country that outperforms the rest of the world in doing unpaid work -- Mexico.
Mexicans spend about 4 1/2 hours a day on unpaid work. Who does the least? Korea, China and Japan. The United States falls a little below the middle.
When it comes to working the longest hours, whether for pay or not -- Mexico wins that as well by logging in ten hours a day with Japan close behind at nine hours a day. READ MORE
Water. Rest. Shade. These are three little words that make a big difference for those who work outdoors during the hot summer months.
When I was growing up in La Puente, just north of Orange County, my father worked in a battery recycling plant. He was the union shop steward there. He'd often tell me stories about workers who were injured on the job, doing grueling work at their hot facility. For him, preventing heat-related illnesses and injuries was common sense: "some water and a little time to rest to cool down every now and then."
I'll be thinking about him Tuesday, April 25, when I visit the Republic Services CVT Recycling Center in Anaheim, where workers spend hours, both indoors and outdoors, also doing very hard work. The good thing: The management and employees take heat safety very seriously.
There were nearly three dozen heat-related workplace deaths across the country last year, and thousands more suffer heat-related illnesses every year. Heat can be a real danger for workers in jobs ranging from agriculture and landscaping to construction, road repair, airport baggage handling, even car sales. And the percentage of Latino worker fatalities due to outdoor heat exposure was greater than that for white, non-Latino workers.
My father was right. Heat-related illnesses and injuries can be prevented. It just takes some common sense. The team at the recycling center in Anaheim gets that. So does California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Their efforts to address this issue have provided a valuable platform for federal OSHA – an agency at the U.S. Department of Labor – to launch a nationwide campaign to prevent heat illnesses, injury and death.
This campaign aims to educate workers and employers across the country on the hazards of working in the hot outdoors, and provides the steps necessary to prevent them. The campaign includes a website, public service announcements, and materials for both workers and their employers. We've partnered with scores of organizations to help us get the word out. Training for both workers and their employers is also a critical component. READ MORE
"If Illinois' 2 million-plus Latinos were proportionately represented, there would be 28 Latino-elected leaders in Springfield. There are just 12 such leaders today," Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum, said.
The policy forum is one of 49 organizations that make up the Illinois Latino Agenda coalition that wants to influence the current round of legislative redistricting based on the 2010 Census.
Currently, a great disparity exists in representation because Latinos are the second-largest racial and ethnic group in the state, Puente says.
Figures released by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights show that Latinos make up 15.8 percent of the state's population but only hold 6.8 percent of the seats in the Assembly.
In the face of the marked growth in Illinois' Latino population over the past 10 years, the Assembly has until June 30 to approve the redistricting.
In any case, Puente said at a press conference, given the geographic dispersion of the Hispanic community, the coalition is proposing the creation of 20 new districts, 16 for the House and 4 for the Senate.
In 13 of the proposed new districts, the Latino population would be 50 percent, and in the rest it would be 65 percent.
Michael Rodriguez, the executive director of Enlace Chicago, also said that almost 40 percent of the residents in those potential districts are under 18.
On the local level, residents of Chicago's main Mexican neighborhood, Little Village, asked that that community be included as a single House district.
The 90,000-resident community is currently divided into two congressional districts, four state House and three state Senate districts and five municipal wards.
"With just a single representative, we would have a single voice and greater political power," Rodriguez said.
In addition to proposing the new legislative map, the coalition asked for "transparency and inclusion" in the process. READ MORE
By Juanita Barajas
Hispanic Professional Network
“Suertuda” (lucky) is definitely a fitting word when used to describe Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo’s luck of late. Her current project “La Reina del Sur” has become an instant hit, making it the highest rated premier telenovela in the history of Telemundo. In the soap opera, Del Castillo portrays the lead character, Teresa Mendoza.
Del Castillo is not new to the acting business. She got her start in front of the cameras as a child and recently crossed over to the English market interpreting characters in “Under the Same Moon” and more recently Showtime’s hit series “Weeds,” to name a few.
This past weekend the actress was in Chicago to mingle with her fans and show her appreciation for the amazing support “La Reina del Sur” has received.
Hispanic Pro had an opportunity to briefly chat with Del Castillo amidst the madness. We learned what she thinks about the success of the telenovela, why she feels sadness for her country and what she really thinks about Mendoza’s whereabouts.
“I have been very lucky, it was marvelous that they wanted me to interpret Mendoza,” the actress said about her feelings toward the project adding that she feels fortunate for the opportunity. When addressing the success of the telenovela, she added that, “It’s a hit because, it has been a hit for I don’t know how many years. Anytime you have a good story, well, there are going to be [those] results." When the beautiful actress learned that she would be interpreting this role, she reread the book an additional three more times. She had initially read it when it was published.
“It was my bible,” she said because she wanted to ensure that she could engage the viewer and really connect them with Mendoza. Del Castillo stressed that this project is not meant to “glamorize” the narcotráfico lifestyle, a misconception that people have about the project.
“Anybody that has read the book or watched the novela can see that it’s the complete opposite. What Teresa Mendoza lives in is a hell.” This hell on Earth has caused Mexico to become one of the deadliest countries due to the ongoing drug cartel wars. “It makes me feel super sad. I have the desire to bring my family with me. I miss them and of course I fear for them, but I am also Mexican and I want to go back and do something for my country,” she said about the current situation.
In regards to the woman she brings to life, she had this to say: “Look, I think that we don’t even know if she exist or not. I know it’s based on true events. True events and that is it. Arturo Perez-Reverte [the author of the book] hasn’t even told me. I think we all have our fantasies about Mendoza. Maybe it’s one of you.”
So there you have it folks. Teresa Mendoza, can very well be any of us, but for now you can catch her weekdays on Telemundo at 9 p.m.
That puts Hispanics at No. 2 just behind whites demographically, and it means the nation’s diversity is rising. The eye-popping 43 percent growth in the Hispanic population over the last decade arose from an increase in U.S. births, and to a lesser extent, immigration, according to D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center, who told CNN that Hispanics now account for nearly one-quarter of children under the age of 18.
The other big growth demo? The Asian population, which also grew 43 percent. But the figures were less dramatic, with the population rising from 10.2 million in 2000 to 14.7 million in 2010, with Asians now accounting for 5 percent of Americans.
We won't know the full implications of America’s population shift right away, but here are some areas that are sure to be impacted.
Meet the New Bosses: The rise in population means that we can expect to see a growing number of Hispanic-owned businesses—and given the youthful population, entrepreneurs aplenty. To figure out who the next generation of big players will be, it’s helpful to look at which Hispanic-owned companies are burning the brightest right now.
HispanicBusiness magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies report, published in September 2010, shows that for U.S. businesses owned by Hispanics, the fastest growth is concentrated in three areas: the service sector, accounting for 56 percent of total revenues, and construction, making up 20.5 percent. The remaining 15 percent includes finance, manufacturing, energy, automotive, retail and transportation.
The fastest-growing company on the list is MicroTech, a Virginia-based information-technology firm that services more than 60 government agencies, including the Social Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the U.S. armed forces.
The number of Hispanic-owned U.S. businesses overall is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years, to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to estimates from HispanTelligence, released prior to the new Census figures coming out. READ MORE
A comprehensive look at voter behavior and demographics reveals a momentous prospect: A Hispanic electorate that votes en masse, allies itself with one political party and changes America’s political balance for decades.
The rapid growth in the U.S. Hispanic population over the last 40 years — both in terms of raw numbers and percentage of the population — is probably the most important emergent force in American politics today. The evidence is around us: In 2008, each party conducted an entire presidential primary debate in Spanish. In 2009, the first Hispanic judge, Sonia Sotomayor, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in 2010, for the first time ever in a single election, three Hispanic candidates won top statewide offices: Republican Brian Sandoval became Nevada’s first Hispanic governor; Republican Susana Martinez won in New Mexico to become the nation’s first Hispanic woman elected governor; and Republican Marco Rubio was elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate.
Despite these notable top-of-the-ticket wins by Hispanic Republicans in 2010, most political observers continue to assume there is significant and stable support for Democrats among Hispanics, similar to the support that African Americans have shown in recent decades. Indeed, new Hispanic voters have entered the electorate more often as Democrats than as Republicans in recent elections.
But the current degree of Hispanic attachment to the Democratic Party is by no means a future certainty. READ MORE
Fliers that read “casa abierta” — a literal translation of “open house” — won’t work because that translates to “vacant home” in Spanish, said the Rev. Joe Corpora, director of university-school partnership for University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.
Corpora is working with the Joliet Diocese to increase Hispanic student enrollment in Catholic schools. He spoke to principals, pastors and staff Tuesday and Wednesday at the Charles Borromeo Pastoral Center in Romeoville.
“Our schools are not culturally responsive. For the most part, our schools look like they did 35 years ago when Moira Kelly was every girl in kindergarten,” he said, using an example of an Irish name. “Now, Moira Kelly doesn’t live here anymore. Maria Gomez does and we really haven’t change how the school feels and acts like.”
Notre Dame has launched a campaign to double the percentage of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools — from 3 percent to 6 percent — in the next 10 years, raising the number of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools from 290,000 to 1 million by 2020.
Of 170 Catholic school systems in the U.S., the Joliet Diocese is the 21st largest, but less than 5 percent of the diocese’s 22,471 students are Hispanic.. The diocese is restructuring its oldest Catholic school so it remains open next school year, but only for students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. St. Patrick School in Joliet needs 200 students to survive but only has 126 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, said the Rev. John Belmonte, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Joliet.
That shortage prompted the restructuring of St. Pat’s as a multicultural school that is recruiting bilingual staff and Hispanic students for next school year.
Bishop J. Peter Sartain hired the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education to provide workshops and study initiatives that would better serve the Latino community here. Sartain also hired the Rev. Jeremiah Lynch to become the director of community outreach for catholic schools. Lynch has been developing relationships with the pastors in the diocese, the Latino community and the schools and has created a list of 100 Latinos who are potential Catholic school students. READ MORE
Google’s mission statement is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” yet when asked to disclose data about its internal hiring process, the company flatly refused.
Google has claimed that its hiring procedures are a trade secret, but other Silicon Valley heavy hitters like Intel, Cisco, and eBay have released their data.
“All we are asking is for Google to show us the numbers,” said Len Canty, chairman of the Black Economic Council. He was among several minority leaders who protested outside Google’s Mountain View headquarters on Feb. 10, rallying for Google to be more transparent about the minorities it hires.
“Cisco’s numbers are not so impressive, but they have been transparent,” Canty noted.
Picketers like Canty as well as Jorge Correlejo, Chairman of the Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles, are concerned that, while Google runs several diversity initiatives, blacks, Latinos, women and other minority groups continue to be underrepresented? However, Cany’s claim of underrepresentation remains speculative and is not founded in any data tied to or released by Google. READ MORE
Cuba Ron legal adviser Arian Remedios said Havana Club International, formed in 1993 as a partnership between Cuba's state-run rum monopoly and French wine and spirits maker Pernod Ricard, sold 3.8 million cases last year, Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported yesterday.
That is up from 3.3 million cases in 2009 and better than the previous high of 3.4 million in 2008. The company is projecting four million cases this year.
Remedios did not give a dollar figure for sales. Each case contains about nine litres of liquor. READ MORE
Speaking of the census numbers and other evidence of the growing Hispanic population in the US, I learned this morning that “Hispanic communities have one of the only girl populations in the country that is growing.” That’s from a press release from the Girl Scout Council of Northern Texas, which has just unveiled a program to create “Spanish-language recruitment materials, program collateral and Girl Scouting guides.”
It’s part of a national campaign focused on recruiting Hispanic girls using a broad range of traditional media and digital/social tech.
There are a couple of things about this campaign that I find noteworthy:
–the fact that Hispanics in fact represent one of the few “girl populations that is growing.” Not quite sure I fully understand that, and I’d like to dig deeper in a future blog post. – the fact that the Girl Scouts are using an integrated approach to reach a young population. It’s a complex project involving strategies for reaching both children and their parents (see the print ad to the left) in both English and Spanish. READ MORE
The number of Hispanic organ donors in the United States has increased thanks to educational campaigns in Spanish, but this effort is still not sufficient given the need.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, 110,667 patients in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are waiting for a transplant.
Getting an organ is almost a miracle, according to Martina Castañeda, who three years ago received a kidney transplant.
"They told me about (Atlanta's) Emory Hospital and said it had a gift from God for me, I was on a three-month waiting list. It was a blessing," she tells Efe.
In Georgia at least 3,000 patients are waiting for an organ donation, says Carlos Castro, coordinator of the LifeLink organization's link for Hispanic donors.
Researchers are using graphic novels to convey health information to Latinos.
"In 2006, for every 60 people who said they wanted to be donors in Georgia, four were Latinos, which increased in 2010 to eight (out of every 60)," Castro says, adding that the main reason for such a low percentage of Latino donors was the lack of information and religiously based misconceptions.
Castro says that many Hispanics wonder if organ donors can rise again for the Last Judgment since their bodies are incomplete, to which the coordinator answers that, as the Catholic Church tells us, resurrection is spiritual and not physical.
Castañeda says she also heard that some people think that if they sign up as donors and have an accident, they'll no doubt be killed to have their organs extracted.
But the lack of donors isn't the only reason why many patients die waiting for an organ - the high cost of transplants is another obstacle to staying alive.
A heart transplant, for example, can cost as much as $287,000 depending on the hospital. And a kidney transplant can cost $51,000. READ MORE
Gilbert Villegas Jr. was recently appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to the Chief of Staff position at the Illinois Capital Development Board. As the construction management agency for Illinois state government since 1972, the Capital Development Board (CDB) oversees the construction of new state facilities, such as prisons, colleges and university classroom buildings, mental health hospitals and state parks. In addition, CDB is responsible for renovation and rehabilitation projects at the State’s 8,441 state-owned buildings containing more than 96 million square-feet of floor space. Mr. Villegas oversees a staff of 124 State personnel and a $25 million dollar operating budget.
The agency also works with the Illinois State Board of Education to administer grants for school construction and renovation to local elementary and secondary school districts through the School Construction Program. In addition to its construction duties, CDB also is responsible for the removal of hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead from state-owned facilities, the replacement of leaking underground storage tanks on state property and the remodeling of state buildings to accommodate persons with disabilities.
As the Associate Director at the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA) Mr. Villegas oversaw Government Affairs for the organization, as well as administered a variety of programs which focused on business and workforce development, apprenticeship training, minority/woman certification, and a universal spectrum of diversity advocacy in the public and private sectors of the construction industry. Mr. Villegas was responsible for ensuring HACIA had a presence and a voice at all levels of Government within the State of Illinois. Mr. Villegas recently spearheaded the development and lobbying efforts behind passage of two instrumental Illinois Senate Bills (SB 351 and SB3249), ensuring minority and women owned businesses have a principal opportunity to participate on state funded projects. These two Illinois Senate Bills have the ability to account for approximately $3-6 billion dollars in contracting opportunities for minority and women owned businesses.
Mr. Villegas has been recognized as a leader in promoting small and disadvantaged contracting within the mainstream of their industries. Prior to joining HACIA in May of 2008, Mr. Villegas served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Business and Workforce Diversity at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for 5 years. As the Deputy Director he oversaw two departments: the Bureaus of Small Business Enterprises and the statewide District Equal Employment Opportunity Contract Compliance Officers. During his tenure at IDOT, he helped to establish innovative programs which increased minority and women business participation and created On-the-Job Training (OJT) initiatives.
Mr. Villegas is a former U.S. Marine and served during Operations Desert Shield/ Desert Storm. His responsibilities included coordination of logistics and deployment of equipments needed for daily operations during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Mr. Villegas was assigned to the 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Missile (LAAM) Battalion in Yuma, AZ prior to his deployment to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Mr. Villegas was honorably discharged after serving his country for four years. Mr. Villegas received numerous awards and honors while in the U.S. Marines.
Mr. Villegas’s career has been marked by service to others. Mr. Villegas is currently a board member on the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation, McCormick-Tribune YMCA and the Illinois Veterans Foundation. He also is a member of the Diversity Action Committee, Commissioner for the Village of Elmwood Park Zoning and Building Committee and Chairman of the Hispanic Political Action Committee of Illinois (HPAC).
Despite an active life and busy schedule, Mr. Villegas has found time to volunteer to a host of other nonprofit and grass root organizations providing technical assistance, guidance, training and mentoring. READ MORE
When the 2000 Census data was released, it was a wake-up for many advertisers, who had not been spending time or money targeting Hispanics. The Hispanic population was exploding, to the surprise of many. That prompted marketers to begin moving dollars into Hispanic media, if not at the clip the new numbers justified. Now, with the 2010 Census out, it seems we're poised to see the same sort of reaction. The latest numbers reveal that Hispanics now account for one out of every six Americans. Surprisingly, just 4 percent of overall media spending is targeted to them, according to Wing, WPP's multicultural agency. But already media companies are recognizing the opportunity and starting to up their Hispanic media presence. A few days ago Fox announced the launch of a new Hispanic network group, including a new channel, and NBCUniversal is rolling out a marketing effort aimed at Hispanics. Wing president and CEO Alain Groenendaal talks to Media Life about what media people can learn from the Census, what surprises came out of it, and where media could improve its targeting of Hispanics.
What are the three most important things that media people should take away from the recent Census?
One is I think in 2000 there was this important segment you needed to start addressing. But now you can't think of it as general market as separate and Hispanic as separate, you really need to think of all targets from the get-go. So there's a lot of clean-slate thinking.
Another important thing is how do you think about this combination? How do you look at an overall media plan, what are the overlaps and how do you plan for that in an efficient way?
And the other thing is, when you start thinking about specific targets—mothers, younger demos, etc.—how do you get out of your assumptions and see what's going on and how Hispanic could be a driver for business?
Was there anything that surprised you about the Census data in terms of Hispanics, how the population is growing and what it means for their buying power?
I think one is this idea of people being in unexpected places. That's pretty interesting. I mean like Georgia, Montana—in that state Hispanics are growing seven times faster than the non-Hispanic population. It's doubled in Kentucky—it's places you would never think. READ MORE
Businesses founded by Latinos are contributing hundreds of millions of dollars each year to the Iowa economy at the same time that they are training a new generation of community leaders, according to a report released Wednesday by Iowa State University.
The study reveals that an important factor in the growth of small businesses in Iowa are the state's "newest residents, enterprising Latino immigrants in small communities who are very diverse in age, skills and education."
During 2010, Iowa's Hispanic business community contributed $457 million to the local economy, with total sales of $288 million and a combined payroll of $54 million, according to figures from ISU Extension.
While the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs says the number of Hispanic firms grew from 1,343 in 1997 to 2,252 in 2007, they still comprise less than 1 percent of the total.
According to the 2010 Census, of Iowa's 3 million residents, about 4.5 percent are Hispanic, and of those almost 70 percent are immigrants.
In cities like Waterloo, the Latino population has doubled over the past 10 years with the concomitant growth in the number of Hispanic businesses. In other towns, including Columbus Junction and West Liberty, Hispanics now represent 40 percent of the population.
Because of this growth, ISU Extension and other organizations developed a business training plan focused on Latinos. READ MORE
Obviously the headline is a play on the well-known film "Real Women Have Curves," which became the battle cry for all other-than-skinny Latinas. But according to researchers at Arizona State University (ASU), more and more Latinos see a woman's curves as anything but sexy.
Researchers at the ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts collected data from 10 countries and territories, including the U.S., on their cultural attitudes towards fat and obesity.
The findings were disappointing.
Countries that at one time viewed obesity in a neutral or positive light were now found to view it negatively, to the point of stigmatizing obese individuals.
In "Body Norms and Fat Stigma in Global Perspective," researchers found that in countries like Puerto Rico, Paraguay and Mexico, where obesity used to be considered "normal," there was now an anti-fat attitude.
In fact, among all the countries, Mexico and Paraguay had the highest fat stigma scores. The researchers credit this global spread of stigmatizing overweight people with public health or fitness campaigns that target obese individuals as the ones at fault for gaining weight rather than including social or environmental factors that contribute to weight gain.
"Stigma causes prejudice and discrimination and a lot of emotional suffering. The spread of stigmatizing ideas has the potential to do enormous social damage," said Alexandra Brewis, executive director of the ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change and director of the Center for Global Health. READ MORE
