Latinas Networking for Justice has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Yakima Valley Community Foundation to provide 45 participants with civic and leadership development training.
Latinas Networking for Justice is a non-profit organization that works to remove barriers that prevent Latinas from accessing and participating in community life. It was founded in Granger last year by Ninfa R. Gutierrez, who is the board chairwoman. The grant will help the organization recruit leaders throughout Yakima County. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
Women's advancement to the top leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies continues to stagnate, according to the latest report from nonprofit Catalyst.
The 2008 report found women held 15.1 percent of board seats at Fortune 500 companies, up slightly from 14.8 percent in 2007. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
http://www.vivelohoy.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43775303.pdfFrom Hoy's editorial page 12/09/08Rebecca SanchezPeriodista/ColumnistaQuienes dicen que para un inmigrante latino con pocos recursos no es posible obtener una educación y una buena profesión, están equivocados. Aunque miles llegan a Estados Unidos sin dinero, con poca educación académica, y sin profesión, todos pueden mejorar sus vidas y las de sus familias si están dispuestos a pagar el precio.Empezar una nueva vida en otro país requiere muchos esfuerzos, trabajo y sacrificios; primero, hay que lograr ganarse la vida, pero no debemos satisfacernos con sólo sobrevivir. Para la mayoría, tener un techo y comida es una "bendición" suficiente, creen que superarse no es posible y ni siquiera consideran una educación universitaria. Ese es el caso de muchos padres que pretenden darles buenas oportunidades a sus hijos en este país, mas no están dispuestos a luchar por ello, se limitan y, lo peor, limitan a sus hijos. Ponen pretextos como: "No podemos pagar la universidad, no queremos que te vayas lejos de casa, tienes que trabajar para ayudar a mantener a la familia".Los padres pueden limitar el avance socioeconómico de sus hijos, sin darse cuenta del daño que les hacen, "sin querer queriendo" como dice El Chapulín Colorado. No obstante, hoy esto es inaceptable, porque el mundo ha cambiado y el que no tenga educación se quedará atrás.Afortunadamente, hay padres valientes que superan temores y obstáculos. Son héroes que sacrifican sus necesidades para que los hijos tengan acceso a otro nivel de vida. En Chicago tenemos ejemplos brillantes de profesionales cuyos padres llegaron como obreros, con grandes sueños para sus familias y ganas de triunfar.Jaime Guzmán creció en La Villita. Sus padres llegaron de México con poca educación escolar, pero con la ilusión de tener hijos a quienes pudieran darles "una buena educación y un buen porvenir en Estados Unidos", dice Guzmán. Su padre trabajó de mesero y su mamá en fabricas. También, abrieron un negocio de vestidos en la Calle 26.Guzmán dice que su mamá "siempre fue un buen ejemplo e inspiración porque ella trataba de mejorarse". Sus padres querían darles a sus hijos la mejor educación posible, y aunque tenían pocos recursos encontraron la manera. Con ayuda financiera y trabajando en la escuela a cambio de sus estudios, Guzmán asistió a escuelas superiores. Desde la primaria hasta la universidad, el joven mexicoamericano ha sido un estudiante ejemplar. Dice que su mamá le decía a diario que "fuera bueno y estudiara mucho".Después de la preparatoria, lo aceptaron a Dartmouth College en Nuevo Hampshire, uno de los mejores del país. Con la ayuda financiera del colegio y del Gobierno, préstamos y una pequeña contribución de sus padres, consiguió su diploma. Pero para él no fue suficiente. Años más tarde volvió por su maestría a la Universidad de Harvard.Hoy, Guzmán es director de relaciones exteriores en la oficina de nuevas escuelas para Chicago Public Schools. Él dice que esta es su oportunidad para tener un impacto en las comunidades y crear oportunidades de mejoramiento individual.Hay muchos ejemplos en nuestra comunidad de que el progreso está al alcance; son testimonios de "querer es poder". Quizá sea difícil, pero no hay que dejarse guiar sólo por el camino fácil. Como decía la mamá de Guzmán: "El que no estudia en este país, es porque no quiere". Tampoco olvidemos el mensaje sencillo y poderoso que nos heredo Cesar Chávez: "Sí se puede". Porque si otros pueden, nosotros
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Danielle Soto isn't wasting any time transitioning from college to a career in the family business.
The 22-year-old environmental studies senior will be sworn into the Pomona City Council on Dec. 15, two days after her last final this week. She won election Nov. 5 to a seat once held by her grandmother, Nell Soto, who went on to serve in the California Assembly and Senate, retiring this year at age 81.
Her grandfather, the late Philip Soto, was one of the first two Latinos elected to the Assembly in 1962. He served two terms before losing his seat in Ronald Reagan's landslide win for governor. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Lax enforcement of fair housing laws has resulted in a disproportionate number of minorities with high-cost, subprime loans and has contributed the current lending crisis, according to a national report released Tuesday.
The 99-page "Future of Fair Housing" report is the result of a six-month-long, cross-country investigation into the state of fair housing in America, headed up by former Department of Housing and Urban Development secretaries Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros.
According to the report - which comes 40 years after the Fair Housing Act was put into place - roughly 54 percent of African Americans and 47 percent of Latinos received subprime loans in 2006 compared to approximately 17 percent of whites nationwide. READ FULL ARTICLERead more…
Commentary: If Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wins confirmation as secretary of homeland security, she will be responsible for enforcing the nation's immigration laws. This is a chilling thought for those of us who have witnessed up close how Napolitano can be vexed to the point of paralysis by that highly charged issue.
I met Napolitano when I was working as a reporter and metro columnist at The Arizona Republic in the late 1990s. After serving as a legal adviser to Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in 1991, she enjoyed a meteoric rise as a public official. She was named a U.S. attorney by President Bill Clinton, then was elected Arizona's attorney general in 1998. Four years later, she was elected governor, winning re-election in 2006. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Commentary: This week, President-elect Barack Obama unveiled his national security team and continued the sorry tradition of presidents overlooking Latinos as they fill the top-tier of the Cabinet appointments. The four big posts have been filled, and there is not a Latino anywhere in the mix.
Even liberals who like to think of the Gonzales appointment as a kind of failed social experiment because it lets them off the hook for future stabs at diversity would be hard-pressed to suggest that they couldn't do better and that Obama couldn't find a single Latino to name, oh I don't know, secretary of state. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Despite recent improvements, Latino and black students continue to lag behind whites and Asians in becoming academically eligible to enter California's two public university systems, according to a state report released Tuesday.
The study by the California Postsecondary Education Commission also showed that female high school seniors still do significantly better than males in taking required classes and earning grades and test scores that could gain them admission to the University of California and California State University systems. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Depression and anxiety are frequently part of the experience as immigrants adjust to a new culture separated from families, social networks and emotional support. Experts say there is a need for mental health services to help Hispanics, whose numbers are increasing because of immigration, including illegal immigration.READ FULL STORYRead more…
With the struggling economy, many business leaders think that when it comes to marketing it's good to think Hispanic.
That's because the Hispanic market continues to grow, not only across the U.S., but right here in Arizona.
With the struggling economy, many business leaders think that when it comes to marketing it's good to think Hispanic.
According to the Hispanic chamber of commerce, Hispanics have the ability to spend upwards of $1 trillion here in the U.S.
That's why they say businesses should market to entire families.
Harry Garewal with the Chamber said, "We are very brand loyal. Once we latch onto a particular brand chances are we're gonna stay with that brand."
Lupe Dalluge manages the Flower Shoppe in Tempe. She realized quickly how important marketing to the Hispanic culture is. READ FULL STORYRead more…
If there is one message President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has broadcast about Cabinet picks, it is that ethnicity and gender will not be the first considerations when filling the slots.
Credentials over tokenism, after all, was a fundamental principle of Obama’s presidential campaign that highlighted his ideas and community values over his African-American background. Still, if all goes as planned, Cabinet members with hefty résumés will present a picture of diversity.
Hispanic political leaders agree. Their expectations for seats at the president’s top policy table are not about meeting quotas but about advancing the reality that within this fastest-growing ethnic group are seasoned policy experts who understand the economic, foreign and domestic policy concerns shared by everyone.
Obama promised hope and change, and Hispanics hoped for the usual two Latinos in the Cabinet. And heck, why not three or four? Now that would be a change.
But at this early stage in the appointments process, there is a trickle of disappointment running through the Latino community. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Geraldo Rivera -- who has gone from TV showman to defender of la raza with his new book subtitled "Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S." -- warmed up a Latino luncheon crowd the other day with the one joke he says he knows in Spanish.
"The only difference among us Hispanics is the color of our beans," he said in Spanish, to appreciative chuckles. "We're all in this together." READ FULL STORYRead more…
Sharon Salyer and Alejandro Domínguez’s reporting on the mental health challenges faced by Hispanics is part of a health journalism program offered through the Annenberg-California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, administered by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication. READ FULL STORYRead more…
When a large white van slowed near Kennedy Park on a recent sunny -- but very cold -- November day, about six men didn't wait for it to stop before they opened the doors and jumped inside.
They were day laborers -- most were Ecuadorean immigrants -- and they were hoping for some work.
The contractor, who was building a house, only needed two workers that day. "Take me, take me," some of the nearly 20 men who gathered around his van shouted.
Wall Street may get the big publicity, but the effects of the country's economic downturn are felt on many other streets, including those in downtown Danbury, where day laborers seek work in construction, landscaping and cleaning. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Latina women have a lower risk of breast cancer than European or African-American women generally, but those with higher European ancestry could be at increased risk, according to data published in the December 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"We need to study the possible factors that are placing Latina women of high European ancestry at greater risk," said Laura Fejerman, Ph.D., a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of California San Francisco. "The increased risk could be due to environmental factors, genetic factors or the interplay of the two."
Latinas are what geneticists refer to as an "admixed" population with most of their genetic ancestry from European or indigenous Americans. Fejerman said the term "indigenous Americans" usually refers to the groups that lived on the American continent prior to the arrival of the European colonizers. READ FULL STORYRead more…
The Latina Adolescent Suicide Prevention Campaign was launched this week at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., to help inform young Latinas about how to seek help and prevent suicide in their community, reports El Diario/La Prensa. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among young people between 10 and 24 years of age in the United States. Research shows that adolescent Latinas have the highest rate of attempted suicides among groups of teenagers in the nation: 21 percent of Hispanic women between 14 and 17 years have attempted suicide, compared with 10.8 percent of African American and 10.4 percent of white non - Hispanics the same age. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Nearly 1 million Mexican migrants living in the U.S. are expected to head home for the holidays, but relatively few are returning loaded down with gifts and cash this year.
Many are simply moving back after losing their jobs in the U.S. economic crisis, a disappointing turn for an annual journey that has become a cherished tradition in towns and villages across Mexico.
In many impoverished hamlets, migrants are usually welcomed home with lavish festivities. Townspeople admire their new vehicles bought with U.S.-earned dollars, and children scramble to see what is inside boxes as if Santa Claus had just arrived. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Barack Obama's inauguration is still nearly two months away, but you can already hear the thawing sound over the Florida Strait. Latin America experts anticipate that Obama will quickly make good on his campaign promise to "immediately" revoke the restrictions imposed by George W. Bush in 2004 that severely limit Cuban-American travel and remittances home. Obama has also vowed to shut the Guantánamo Bay prison, long a gringo thumb in the eye to Cubans (and all Latin Americans). READ FULL STORYRead more…
Hold the pavochón, the pasteles and the pumpkin flan.
In at least one Latino household in the city, this Thanksgiving will turn into a scene out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
The reason? The election of Barack Obama, and the born-again patriotism it has inspired even in the most cosmopolitan of New Yorkers.
“It’s cool for us to be gringos now,” says Vanessa Arce, 33, laughing. “It’s a bit of a joke, but it’s a joke everyone understands.” READ FULL STORYRead more…
When he was growing up in Mexico, Cesar Vera was fascinated with Thanksgiving, which he had heard about from television but otherwise knew nothing about. Today, having been in the United States for years, he has embraced the holiday wholeheartedly.
“For us, it is great, there is no religion involved and we are just grateful for it. We are completely converted. We look forward to this holiday. It’s a well-deserved break. We just go for it all the way, the traditional Thanksgiving,” said Mr. Vera, a photographer in East Hampton and New York. READ FULL STORYRead more…
