Blog

Over the last several years, two important economic trends in the United States have become intertwined. This first is the rise of the Latino community as an economic force, as the demographic rapidly expands across the country while still facing barriers to wealth-building and opportunity that other groups do not. The second is the exploding popularity of financial technology, or “fintech”.

Today, Latinos are embracing fintech at high rates compared to other groups, yet a stark absence of data and research is preventing policymakers and other stakeholders from understanding the technology’s impact on this critical segment of the population. READ MORE AT BROOKINGS

Hispanic or Latino/Latinx communities are vastly underrepresented in the tech industry. According to 2020 US Census data, Hispanics account for 19% of the US population, the nation's second largest racial or ethnic group after non-Hispanic whites. While they hold 17% of all jobs in the US, that number falls to just eight percent of STEM roles. READ MORE AT DIGINOMICA

From camps for girls to networking events for grownups, organizations all over the country are working to promote Latinos in tech. In 2021, Hispanics made up a small share of Google (8.8%), Netflix (8.6%), Apple (8%), Microsoft (7%) and Meta/Facebook (6.5%) tech workers.

The numbers of Latinos and Latinas in the industry has been rising gradually in the past few years, but they're still disproportionately low in most companies. READ MORE AT AXIOS

Latino workers remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforces, and a new Pew Research Center report found that more visible representation of successful Latinos in STEM would make those workforces more attractive to other Latinos.

While Hispanics make up 17 percent of the total workforce, only 8 percent work in a STEM field, according to a Pew Research Center report published last year. Meanwhile, white workers make up 63 percent of the workforce and 67 percent of STEM workers. Asians make up 6 percent of the total workforce but account for 13 percent of the country’s STEM workforce. READ MORE AT THE HILL

The tech industry is growing in Arizona and nationally, with net employment in 2018 bringing on more than 260,000 new jobs nationally. Since the employment shortage that followed the Great Recession a decade ago, net tech employment has increased by an estimated 1.9 million jobs. Yet, as the industry is growing, it’s leaving people of color and women behind. READ MORE AT CRONKITE NEWS

The rise of remote work during the pandemic led several Silicon Valley venture capitalists to escape California, with its wildfires and high taxes. Miami, with a large Latino population, and Atlanta, with a large Black population, have both seen higher interest.

Data from Crunchbase compiled for Reuters showed startups with a Black or Hispanic founder got 3.5% of the record $311 billion U.S. venture funding in the year to Dec. 16, up from an average 2.5% in the previous five years.

Florida and Georgia were the only states with significant deal flow that showed an increase in the number of deals for Black and Latino companies. READ MORE AT WHBL

SupplyHive™, an innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management Technology, announced today that it closed $2 million in seed funding by securing investors who believe in the power of diversity and inclusion: led by LOUD Capital with co-investors Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Cleveland Avenue-CAST US.

“Capital from this funding will allow the company to reach the next level of scale and impact by growing our sales and marketing resources and furthering product development and integrations,” says SupplyHive™ CEO and President Lou Sandoval. “We can expand our strong list of clients that include some of the FORTUNE 100’s most enviable brands.”

Sandoval added that “SupplyHive’s™ SPM solution offers much-needed transparency to companies’ efforts on DEI and ESG by creating pathways to identify ways to help suppliers grow. In doing this, it fosters inclusion that helps large corporations be better partners to diversity and all their suppliers.” READ MORE AT CISION

With more than half of all Hispanic and Latino Americans unable to set up a basic checking account or send and receive money, the pandemic has highlighted the deep divide between those who are able to access digital banking, and those who are not.

Cuentas (Nasdaq: CUEN), a Miami-based fintech company focused on serving the Hispanic and Latino communities, is looking to narrow that divide, if not eliminate it outright - one card and one app at a time. READ MORE AT THE STREET

Many organizations recently have looked to apply diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in their workplace. While diversity and inclusion in technology involves developing and nurturing these practices internally, companies should also consider the diversity of the people who use their products. READ MORE AT THE SERVER SIDE

Recent studies predict that by 2025 there may be as many as 100 billion internet of things (IoT) devices deployed worldwide. That's roughly 14 connected devices or sensors for every person on Earth.

IoT consists of almost everything you can attach to a network: computers, smartphones, robots, drones, printers, thermostats, and even consumer packaged goods with RFID tags. To create business value with IoT, you need the right combination of sensors, devices, software, and systems. READ MORE AT ADAGE

Since the early-2000s when cell phones evolved from mobile dialing devices to “smart” phones for checking email, playing games, work and watching entertainment, it became very clear through research that the Hispanic population in the U.S. was a demographic consisting of eager and early adopters.

While the research clearly showed Latin Americans taking to the newest gadgets – not all entertainment and telecom companies were spending the money to truly market to this important demographic. Or if they did, they took a “one-size-fits-all” approach and did not take cultural and generational differences into account. READ MORE AT TG DAILY

It should surprise no one that plenty of millennials are addicted to the internet, constantly scrolling through their favorite social networks, and annoying people around them with obnoxious smartphone habits. But just as there are plenty of people who still buy dumb phones instead of smartphones (including some millennials), there are some millennials who have opted out of popular social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. READ MORE AT CHEAT SHEET

Like millions of Americans, I have been living with terrible back pain for years and finally hit the wall where I could not do it any longer. The thought of surgery, being laid up for weeks and the road to recovery were actually not all the worries that crossed my mind. One of the biggest worries - BILLS! Where would I come up with all the money needed to get me through?

And...like millions of Americans, I did not plan for the cost of the surgery and expect bill after bill. One bill was $3,000 and needed to be paid within a week!

And...like millions of Americans, I had to ask myself if I should charge the bills to my credit card with a high interest? Do I get a loan that can take forever to even qualify and is difficult to understand? Do I use the hospital payment plan? Do I ask my family offline for a loan and then manage the process myself?

And...like millions of Americans, I am lucky to have a strong support system of friends and family who would jump in to help me out financially in a heartbeat. Millions are already doing this offline, as have I with friends and family.

Enter MoneyCircle.co.

MoneyCircle.co helps bring all of this online for me and millions of Americans.

• I do not want a hand out

• I want to repay each contributor as time progresses

• I need an easy platform to manage the process at a low rate

• I want it to be social, so others can see that they can be supported also

And this is where I am now. I had my surgery, am recovering well and recently received the big $3,000 bill. I set up a campaign page on MoneyCircle.co and sent it out to my friends and family.

They each have contributed $25 - $400 and I am over halfway there within a couple days! I truly believe MoneyCircle.co is giving the opportunity for millions of Americans to take care of their various life expenses in an easy and affordable way, just like it has for me.

Next up for me… adopting a homeless puppy from the British Virgin Islands!

Next up for MoneyCircle.co... we are proud to be working with numerous community organizations including The Resurrection Project, IHCC, HACE and numerous others. Please do email with any questions - Kristin@moneycircle.co

Smartphone users now outnumber users of more basic mobile phones within the national adult population, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Nearly every major demographic group—men and women, younger and middle-aged adults, urban and rural residents, the wealthy and the less well-off—experienced a notable uptick in smartphone penetration over the last year, and blacks and Latinos are leading the way.

African-Americans and Latinos overall adoption of smartphone rates in 2011 was higher than the national average: smartphone penetration is 49% in each case, just higher than the national average of 46%.

Usage of smartphones as a primary internet access device is highest among several groups with relatively low rates of traditional internet and broadband adoption—for example, those with no college experience as well as those with relatively low income levels, according to a Pew report published last year.

“The reason for that, many say, is simple: It’s the most affordable way to get onto the information superhighway,” Jamilah King wrote in a story published on Colorlines.com last year. A couple hundred dollars for an Android and a data plan is much less than $1,000 for a laptop computer and broadband connection. READ MORE

Hispanics embrace social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Google+ more than the general population. But when it comes to sharing personal information about themselves, Hispanics are more cautious, according to survey results announced today.

uSamp, a leader in providing targeted audiences for global consumer insights, engaged 650 members from its newly inaugurated Hispanic panel, SuperOpinion.com, to survey participants on their attitudes toward social media compared to the general population.

The survey, captured in an INFOGRAPHIC, found that 90 percent of Hispanics are likely to be on Facebook compared to 81 percent of the general population; 57 percent of Hispanics access YouTube compared to 46 percent of the general population. Hispanics are also overwhelmingly more likely to be on Google+, 47 percent compared with 18 percent of the general population. The only social media platform that Hispanics largely ignore is LinkedIn. Only 4 percent of Hispanics surveyed said they use LinkedIn vs. 21 percent of the general population.

“Social media is a natural fit for Latinos. Latinos, by nature, are innovators. Social media allows us to create, recreate and take a shot at building communities around content that we want,” said Lance Ríos, president and founder, Being Latino, Inc. “Secondarily, Latinos are very loyal consumers. But in order to gain their trust, you have to assure them that you are legitimate. Culturally we tend to be sensitive to giving personal information so easily. Once trust is gained, Latinos will usually open up.” READ MORE

When the personal computer revolution began decades ago, Latinos and blacks were much less likely to use one of the marvelous new machines. Then, when the Internet began to change life as we know it, these groups had less access to the Web and slower online connections — placing them on the wrong side of the "digital divide."
Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, Latinos and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.

But now some see a new "digital divide" emerging — with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology. It's tough to fill out a job application on a cellphone, for example. Researchers have noticed signs of segregation online that perpetuate divisions in the physical world. And blacks and Latinos may be using their increased Web access more for entertainment than empowerment.

Fifty-one percent of Hispanics and 46% of blacks use their phones to access the Internet, compared with 33% of whites, according to a July 2010 Pew poll. Forty-seven percent of Latinos and 41% of blacks use their phones for e-mail, compared with 30% of whites. The figures for using social media like Facebook via phone were 36% for Latinos, 33% for blacks and 19% for whites.

A greater percentage of whites than blacks and Latinos still have broadband access at home, but laptop ownership is now about even for all these groups, after black laptop ownership jumped from 34% in 2009 to 51% in 2010, according to Pew. READ MORE