Nation’s largest minority commands attention of businesses, institutions
With more than 46 million people, Nuevo Hispania is the 27th-largest nation on Earth and the fourth largest in the Western Hemisphere. Its residents wield $1 trillion of buying power in the marketplace. Even as the rest of the economy contracts in the global recession, Nuevo Hispania remains a thriving, even booming, market that’s expected to grow by 48 percent in the next four years.
And it’s not even a real country.
The imaginary “Nuevo Hispania” is actually a substantial segment of the U.S. population. Hispanics now account for more than 15 percent of the U.S. populace as the nation’s largest minority group. And while other demographic sectors are growing only incrementally, the Hispanic population is exploding: The Census Bureau projects that 30 percent of Americans will be of Hispanic and Latino by 2050. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Four Hispanic scholars will receive cash awards from Educational Testing Service (ETS) at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) annual conference in San Antonio, Texas on March 7. The awards recognize dissertations chosen from more than 50 entries, as part of the second annual competition sponsored by ETS.
Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will receive the first place award, the "Kurt M. Landgraf Outstanding Dissertation Award," for her dissertation titled "Yalálag is No Longer Just Yalálag: Circulating Conflict and Contesting Community in a Zapotec Transnational Circuit." READ FULL STORYRead more…
BNSF Railway was recently recognized by Latina Style magazine as one of the 50 best companies for Latinas to work for in the United States.
"Diversity has evolved into an integral part of BNSF's culture and business climate," McFalls said. "We appreciate the recognition that Latina Style magazine has given BNSF over the years and trust our ongoing commitment to diversity will keep us in their spotlight."
Latina Style surveyed more than 800 prominent U.S. corporations to select their top 50. Companies were evaluated based on issues that Latina Style readers identified as most important to them in the workplace. Among the principal areas of evaluation were: number of Latina executives, mentoring programs, Latina board members, educational opportunities, alternative work policies, dependent/child care support, employee benefits, women's issues, job retraining, affinity groups and Hispanic relations. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Due to the sensationalism and media attention to "gangs" that has added to the community's fear and stereotypes toward Latino males, it appears that Latinos are being painted with the same criminal brush.
Based on prior comments made by Sheriff Mike Kanalakis and Salinas Police Chief Daniel Ortega to the media, there are approximately 3,000 gang members in Monterey County. If the 3,000 figure is correct, and based on census data, this would equate to about 3 percent of the Latino male population residing in Monterey County.
Put another way, 97 percent of the Latino males are not involved in gangs. READ FULL STORYRead more…
For Patricia Gandara, Co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University California at Los Angeles, the educational outlook for Hispanics is grim: Although Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the nation, they drop out of high school at alarming rates and have made virtually no progress in the level of college completion in the last 30 years.
During a lecture at Teachers College on February 26, Gandara said that the percentage of 25- to 29-year-old white Americans attaining a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 24 to 34 from 1975 to 2005. The numbers for Hispanics, however, remained essentially flat, increasing only from 9 to 11 percent over those same 30 years. Meanwhile, Latino communities have become among the most segregated and isolated throughout the Western states, and half of all Latino babies are now born to single mothers. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Immigration is not the top priority for Latinos currently residing in the U.S., according to a recent study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, “Hispanics and the New Administration.” Senior researcher Mark Hugo López unveiled the top seven Latino priorities relating to the “New Administration,” and immigration was at the lower end of the rung.
“The economy ranked number one as the top issue for Latinos at 57 percent, and that is perhaps no surprise given the current economic situation in the United States,” López said. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Fortunately, Nancy Rivera now sees the light. She now knows the dangers of diabetes.
“I was a walking time bomb … waiting to explode,” says Rivera, a 48-year-old mother of four who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
She had all the symptoms: she was overweight, constantly tired and always thirsty. Her blood sugar level was over 500, more than quadruple a normal blood glucose reading, which should typically fall between 80 and 120. She could have been in a coma. READ FULL STORYRead more…
What does the worst recession in a generation look like?
It is both deep and broad. Every state in the country, with the exception of a band stretching from the Dakotas down to Texas, is now shedding jobs at a rapid pace. And even that band has recently begun to suffer, because of the sharp fall in both oil and crop prices.
Unlike the last two recessions — earlier this decade and in the early 1990s — this one is causing much more job loss among the less educated than among college graduates. Those earlier recessions introduced the country to the concept of mass white-collar layoffs. The brunt of the layoffs in this recession is falling on construction workers, hotel workers, retail workers and others without a four-year degree. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros recently surprised the Washington audience at the launch for a new book he edited, Latinos and the Nation’s Future, by declaring that the country’s first Hispanic president “has already been born.”
Of course, surprise is unjustified. The inauguration of the first black President was a tangible reminder for the entire country, and the rest of the world, of what demographers have long known: The face of America is changing. And the majority of that change comes from Latinos. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Demoting importance of Spanish language undermines diversity
Immigrant integration is the order of the day. It is a topic that makes some uncomfortable, others angry and many baffled by the seriousness it inspires in some. Strong waves of immigration in recent decades in the U.S. have raised the concern of the decay of the apparent core American values.
The Bush Administration formed a sub-division within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to help legal immigrants, in order to become fully Americanized, embrace American values that include the embracement of English as the common language. Congress lawmakers also introduced bill H.R. 6617 called Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act,” which would ork under the Department of Homeland Security. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Nell Soto, who worked in citrus groves as a Depression-era child and rose to become a California state senator and among the first Latino officials to fight for environmental protection, died Thursday. She was 82.
Soto, one of the first Latino women elected to statewide office from the Inland Empire, died at Woods Health Services in La Verne of complications from a stroke suffered in December.
She retired from public office last year after months of failing health.
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Soto "a devoted public servant who committed her life to improving the lives of others in her community."
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called her "a passionate leader and a principled voice." READ FULL STORYRead more…
When "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" producers looked for faces to illustrate their upcoming weeklong series on Latinos in the United States, they found one portrait in a well-known Waukesha family.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph Ramirez, his mother, Margaret, and his oldest daughter, Alicia, were interviewed for hours this month, with film shot in their homes, in Ramirez's court and in the Fitchburg store where Alicia recently started her new management job after college.
The series is called "We the People." Given the news show's time limits, footage will inevitably wind up on the cutting room floor. But producer Maria Alcon said in an e-mail that Monday's segment, set to air at 5:30 p.m. on WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), will use the Ramirez family to demonstrate the Hispanic population's growth and roots established by generations finding opportunity in places you wouldn't necessarily expect, like Wisconsin. READ FULL STORYRead more…
When the Houston rodeo holds its annual parade this morning, there will be one grand marshal — Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. But there were supposed to be two.
Sheriff Adrian Garcia said he accepted the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s invitation to serve as co-grand marshal but backed out after learning that some minority leaders were planning to assail the rodeo’s treatment of Hispanics and African-Americans. READ FULL STORYRead more…
As Richard Nadler writes, when the Republican party assesses the 2008 election, it needs to take a close look at the Hispanic vote. There is no disagreement that we can and must do a better job of reaching Hispanic voters.
There is a disagreement, however, between those who believe support for “comprehensive” immigration reform should be a part of these efforts, and those who believe that such support would both constitute a dramatic departure from conservative principles and be unnecessary to woo Hispanic votes.READ FULL STORYRead more…
A new report by the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies has found that Chattanooga's growing population has been fueled by a rising number of Latinos, young children and adults between the ages of 45 and 64 years old.
The report, Demographic Change in the Chattanooga Region, is based on information from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Postal Service, building permits, school enrollment data and other information collected and analyzed by the Ochs Center as part of the 2008 State of Chattanooga Region Report. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Our immigration laws are out of whack. And they are clogging our federal prisons with nonviolent folks who are guilty of nothing more than living, working and raising families here without proper documentation.
A Pew Hispanic Center study released in mid-February documents how Latinos now make up 40 percent of the estimated 200,000 prisoners in federal penitentiaries, triple their share of the total U.S. adult population and disproportionate to their representation in state and local jails (19 percent and 16 percent, respectively). READ FULL STORYRead more…
February 23, 2009 (Chicago, IL) – Today, Karma Yacht Sales, LLC initiated a grass roots campaign on behalf of the Marine Sailboat Dealers and Sailing Community of Illinois in speaking out against proposed bill (HB0451). The campaign seeks to educate Illinois lawmakers on the effect of the proposed bill and its impact to retail businesses. The proposed bill seeks to impose a five percent luxury tax on a broad range of consumer products including automobiles over $60,000, watercraft exceeding a cost of $200,000, aircraft in excess of $500,000 and jewelry or fur clothing in excess of $20,000.
The proposed bill comes at a time when most businesses in the marine industry have seen a slowdown in sales due to the economy. Many marine manufacturers in the United States have gone to pulse production or reductions in workforce to bridge this slow economic period. On the dealer level, many of the businesses are small, family owned and have also been hit hard by decreased revenue, increased cost of goods and tightening credit terms by banks.
As a whole, the U.S. Boating industry is comprised mostly of small- and medium sized businesses. The products are primarily made in America by American Workers. Over the past year- recreational boating directly and indirectly impacted 337,758 U.S jobs with a labor income of $10.4 billion. Nearly 19,000 boating businesses employ more than 154,000 U.S. workers.
Currently boat sales are subject to State, county and local city taxes. As an example, boats sold to a resident of Chicago are subject to a 7.25% tax for the state, .75% tax for Cook County and 0.25% for the City of Chicago. With this bill, the state would be increasing their share to 12.25% one of the highest in the country.
“Placing a selective tax on boat sales, car sales or any retail business in this economy has the potential to further the slowdown in sales” says Karma Yacht Sales co-owner Lou Sandoval. “Coupled with decreased consumer confidence in a slow economy and the net effect will be the opposite of what our national leadership is trying to stimulate- job retention”.
We truly hope that our State leaders will be prudent and rational in their thought process. We understand that this is a difficult economic time for the state. As taxpayers and citizens in our communities no one is aware of this more than we are during these times. We urge them to look inwards at ways to reduce frivolous spending and misdirection of public funds prior to increasing taxes that have the potential to effect business growth and viability.
There are over 300 marine businesses in the State of Illinois that deal in the sales, service and brokerage of boats (power and sail). Boat sales have been on a decline over the past year due to the economic recession. Hit hardest last season was the power sector of the market that saw decreased sales due to the high cost of gas. The credit crunch took its toll on sales when several marine floor plan lenders and retail lenders exited the market in mid 2008, tightening the availability of credit.
Karma Yacht Sales, LLC is a privately owned family business based in Chicago. They deal in the sale of new boats thirty foot to over fifty foot for the brands Beneteau and Alerion Express. They also have a warranty service and brokerage component to their business. The business was previously Darfin Yachts Ltd. Prior to being purchased by Jack Buoscio and Lou Sandoval in 2002. For more information on KYS visit: www.KarmaYachtSales.com or http://tiny.cc/w1ia7
For Media Inquiries Contact:
Lou Sandoval- 773-254-0200 x2010 lou@karmayachtsales.com
Read more…
California Rep. Hilda Solis won Senate confirmation to be labor secretary on Tuesday, ending her rocky two-month nomination process.
Solis faced tough questioning from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in her confirmation hearing last month. Republicans on the committee pressed Solis on her support for controversial card check legislation and her connection to a union-backing organization. Throughout the process, Republicans expressed concern at what they said was her lack of specificity in answering questions about her views. READ FULL STORYRead more…
There's but one plausible explanation for the arrest of 24 Hispanic men by federal immigration agents outside a Fells Point convenience store in 2007 - racial profiling. A recently released videotape and government documents detailing the incident provide a vivid look at how easily law enforcement can run amok when officers are only interested in making their numbers look good.
The officers were agents of the U.S. Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, and they were supposed to be looking for illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country. Their bosses say they were just doing their job. But when their first sweep didn't produce enough arrests to satisfy their superiors in the agency's Baltimore office, they went to a local 7-Eleven where day laborers were known to gather and posed as employers. Hispanic men who approached were immediately arrested, while the agents ignored white and African-American customers. That's a sloppy way of doing the public's business. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Each Wednesday inside a room in a Lake Avenue office building, Virginia Campos watches as about 40 Latina entrepreneurs come together.
They are bakers, unemployed women, home cleaners, business executives (like Campos), media consultants, bankers and accountants.
And they are all there for a reason: to understand how to make it on their own.
"That's right ... meda, it's a sisterhood," Campos said on a recent Wednesday, as she took a quick breather from the third annual "Emerging Latinas in Business" Boot Camp.
The camp, sponsored by the National Latina Business Women Assocation, is five weeks of intensive evening workshops that focus on everything from producing an idea to developing a business plan, and marketing it. READ FULL STORYRead more…
