During a summer weekend, many of us look forward to family activities, going to a beach, eating good food, or maybe just catching up on Mad Men. (Don't spoil the finale for me!)

But while you are enjoying your leisure time, you can also be networking. Here are three tips to incorporate networking into your summer weekends!

1. Invite a new connection out. Schedule a coffee or brunch. Invite someone to a gathering at your home. Invite someone to volunteer with you. Invite someone to check out a happening in your city/town. Even just invite someone to take a walk with you. Choose someone you have been meaning to get to know better. Also, long weekends are a great way to get to know someone on a more personal level in a non-traditional environment. This is usually where people are their most authentic selves anyway! They are out of "work mode" and are more relaxed.

2. Use downtime to connect. Take an early-morning hour over the weekend to reach out and connect with new people online, or use the time to reach out and see how established contacts are doing, write an unsolicited recommendation or testimonial for someone, or make a few virtual introductions with people in your network you think would benefit from knowing each other. You can also make a list of people you have a goal of meeting as inspiration to grow your network or your business. READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

Minorities are on their way to becoming a majority of the U.S. population, a change that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates will happen in 2050. Pay attention to the 2016 election cycle, and you’ll realize quickly that this shift is already altering the nation’s political landscape.

These demographic trends prompted a relatively new think tank, the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism, to look at the cities where minorities are thriving today. The best cities, the group says, aren’t the ones you’d necessarily expect.

Best Cities For Hispanics/Latinos

1. Jacksonville, FL
2. Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
3. Baltimore, MD
4. Houston, TX
5. Washington, DC-VA-MD-WV
6. Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC
7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
8. San Antonio, TX
9. Austin, TX
10. St. Louis, MO-IL

To come up with its list, their index took into account four factors—population growth, median household income, self-employment rate, and homeownership rate—in the top 52 metro areas (including their suburbs) between 2000 and 2013. From this data, the report concludes that African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans are more likely to do well in lower-cost, economically flourishing Sunbelt cities such as Atlanta, Raleigh, and Jacksonville than in "once-thriving urban powerhouses" and "luxury" cities, like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In the latter cities, the report says that high costs-of-living have significantly reduced opportunities for middle and working class households. For example, in Silicon Valley, African Americans and Hispanics make up a third of the population but only 5% of workers at top firms. READ MORE AT FAST COMPANY

Acosta Sales & Marketing, a leading full-service sales and marketing agency in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, and Univision Communications Inc. (UCI), the leading media company serving Hispanic America, today released The Why? Behind The Buy™ U.S. Hispanic Shopper Study that provides valuable insights into U.S. Hispanic shopper behavior. As the U.S. Hispanic population grows, this report will help CPG companies and retailers develop marketing strategies to best attract and win with this important consumer segment.

“With the Hispanic population of 57 million expected to double by 2050, brands and retailers recognize that this growth can positively impact their bottom lines. Knowing how these consumers shop and make purchase decisions is important for capturing market share,” said Colin Stewart, Senior Vice President, Acosta. READ MORE AT BUSINESS WIRE

For the last year and half, I’ve been involved in a nationwide research initiative focused on Hispanic Millennials. Our research has focused on understanding how Hispanic Millennials differ from “mainstream,” Asian and African-American Millennials, as well as older Hispanics (35+). We dive deep into attitudes, behavior and motivations related to healthcare, financial services and food, beverage and alcohol consumption. Some of the key findings of our Hispanic Millennial Project research include:

Hispanic Millennials are optimistic and strongly believe in the American dream. READ MORE AT MEDIAPOST

You open your computer and ding! -- another invitation for a networking cocktail enters your inbox. This is the season for professional reunions and get togethers.

How do you feel?

You rub your hands together, excited at the thought of meeting lots of new potential customers?

Or frankly, you'd like to tell me that you are not comfortable attending these events. You hesitate to register even if it's time to grow your network. As you know, being in business is much more than doing what you do well. It's also about who you know.

Solution(s):

Like any successful event, a fruitful business networking event also needs preparation. Keep reading for my Happy Hour tips and tricks.

1. At your service!

Instead of thinking, "How do I sell myself?" think," How can I help this person achieve his business goals?" The purpose of a networking activity is to build mutually beneficial relationships. Adopt an attitude of service. READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

Latinos and immigrants fueled an uptick in new business creation nationally, reversing a four-year downward cycle, according to the 2015 Kauffman Index: Startup Activity released on Thursday.

The entrepreneurial activity increase in the 2015 Index – which reversed the downward trend since 2010 – was the largest year-over-year increase in two decades, according to the research. Yet the rebound remains well below historical trends, Kauffman researchers said. In the 2015 Index, 310 out of 100,000 adults, or 0.31 percent, started new businesses each month, on average. In the 2014 Index, the average was 0.28 percent of the adult population. READ MORE AT MIAMI HERALD

As the 2016 election season begins, it's clear the growing demographic of Latino voters is highly coveted by candidates from both political parties. Amid the national conversation about the US Latino community, the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program recently hosted a Latinos and Society Inaugural Summit featuring conversations with Latino leaders on innovation, entrepreneurship, inclusion, and leadership (watch our Summit video playlist featuring each panel).

"America's future and growth, America's international competitiveness, will depend on companies that innovate and use our rich resources, and our Latino community is such a big resource..." said panel moderator and Fusion special correspondent Mariana Atencio in her opening remarks.

Latinos' Growing Role in the US Economy READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

Done right, networking can be the silver bullet for building your profile, gaining new business opportunities and building your career. But what happens when you show up to an event and just can't find ways to engage with others?

The secret to successful, strategic networking is to go alone.

For those who are hesitant to approach people on their own and strike up a conversation, taking someone along for support can in fact be a hindrance as you will likely use the event as a catch up. READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

As more companies reach out to Latinas, one of the top online destinations for millennial women is launching a section that it hopes will resonate with the demographic.

"In our conversations with brands and advertisers, it is almost universally recognized that the Latina market is the fastest-growing market in the U.S., and it has great spending power and influence," said Anna Fieler, executive vice president of marketing at Popsugar. "It's a market that all brands want to reach."

Popsugar officially unveiled PopSugar Latina on Monday, a mobile-first hub for the modern Latina woman. Fieler said it decided to add the section because Latinas represent more than 12 percent of its average unique U.S. site visitors monthly. READ MORE AT NBCNEWS

The Hispanic market is growing at a fast pace, and marketing effectively to this group is quickly becoming a necessity rather than an option.

To make the biggest impact on your business right now, you need to re-evaluate your current marketing plans and strategies in order to respond to this dramatic consumer demographic shift.

According to a new report from the Association of Hispanics Advertising agencies, the top 500 U.S. marketers are currently allocating 8.4 percent of their overall ad spending to Hispanics, compared to 5.5 percent allocated in 2010. Also, their spending on Hispanic targeted media is up from $4.3 billion in 2010 to $7.1 billion this year. READ MORE AT THE BUSINESS JOURNALS

While there are some people who enjoy networking and get a lot of energy from interacting with a crowd, many find it intimidating and draining. Traditional networking is not for everyone.

However, networking is essential in today’s job market. Experts estimate that well over half of jobs are found through networking and word of mouth. The old job search method of comfortably sitting at your computer sending off résumés and cover letters will no longer get you very far.

Luckily for introverts, there are multiple ways to network. Some may bring you a bit outside of your comfort zone, but that’s not a bad thing. Think of these as skills you are developing that could benefit you in a future job.

1. Start from a position of strength. READ MORE

Educational attainment among U.S. Latinos has been changing rapidly in recent years, reflecting the group’s growth in the nation’s public K-12 schools and colleges. Over the past decade, the Hispanic high school dropout rate has declined and college enrollment has increased, even as Hispanics trail other groups in earning a bachelor’s degree.

Hispanics cited education as a top issue in 2014, ranking alongside the economy and above health care and immigration in importance, a Pew Research Center survey found.

Economic factors remain an obstacle for enrollment, however. In a 2014 National Journal poll, 66% of Hispanics who got a job or entered the military directly after high school cited the need to help support their family as a reason for not enrolling in college, compared with 39% of whites.

Here are five facts about Latinos and education: READ MORE AT PEW RESEARCH CENTER

While social networking’s popularity extends across ethnicities, conventional wisdom is correct in saying it is particularly important for US Hispanics. It’s not that they overindex as users of social networks across the board, but rather that social networking plays a distinct role in their digital activity, according to a new eMarketer report, “US Hispanics: What’s True, What’s Not True and What’s Sort of True in 2015.”

eMarketer estimates that 76.6% of US Hispanic internet users will access social networks at least monthly this year, vs. 69.4% of all US internet users. When one factors in the below-average internet penetration among Hispanics, however, this disparity mostly disappears when calculated as percentages of population, at 56.5% vs. 56.1%. READ MORE AT EMARKETER

Note to job seekers (especially younger ones, perhaps): If you're weighing competing job offers from fast-growing start-ups, you might not want to post your thought process in a public forum, especially in language a company CEO might find insulting.

An anonymous job seeker took to the question-and-answer site Quora and asked for advice on whether he (presumably a he) should take a job with the $40 billion ride-sharing company Uber or the $4.5 billion automated human resources company Zenefits—both of which had made him offers. READ MORE AT CNBC

Twelve years ago, Claudia Mirza walked into the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a job applicant.

She walked out as her own boss — or, at least, with the idea of how she could create a business. But her company has far exceeded her original vision.

Akorbi started out doing translations. However, Mirza’s firm has evolved into more than just translating documents.

The Plano-based company regularly works with global corporations looking for ways to perform international transactions. READ MORE AT DALLAS MORNING NEWS

According to the Pew Research Center, Latinos in the 18 to 24 year-old-age group have tripled their enrollment in college since 1993. The report says that while Hispanics are the largest minority group on college campuses, half of those who do go to college only earn a two-year degree.

“In 2013, among Hispanics ages 25 to 29, just 15 percent of Hispanics have a bachelor’s degree or higher,” the Pew Center reported. “By comparison, among the same age group, about 40 percent of whites have a bachelor’s degree or higher (as do 20 percent of blacks and 60 percent of Asians).” READ MORE

Relationships take time to grow. The Supremes understood this well when they sang, “You can’t hurry love / No, you just have to wait.” As with friendships, business relationships need time to flourish.

You have to attend more than one networking event to create the kind of rapport that will produce new business opportunities. A bond and trust must form before someone will feel comfortable enough to recommend you and your business to others.

Networking events provide an introduction to new professional connections. They plant the seeds of a professional relationship, but it’s up to you to show your commitment, trustworthiness and competence as you patiently cultivate the relationship. Eventually, your commitment and credibility will lead to a growth in your popularity. READ MORE AT ENTREPRENEUR

The Hispanic population is one of the most important demographic groups in the United States today. Among moms this is particularly true: 23 percent of all U.S. births are to Hispanic women. So any marketer looking to reach moms needs to understand Hispanic moms, and tailor their message accordingly, or they risk missing almost one in four of their target audience.

The Digital Toolbox is Key for Hispanic Moms
The data clearly indicate just how important digital media are for Hispanic moms looking for parenting related advice or insights. READ MORE AT iab.

The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), a Fortune 100 investment company based in New York, released Monday a new study that focused on the personal finances of college-educated Latinos. They found that majority of Latinos are struggling to pay for their monthly expenses, and nearly 40 percent said they would have difficulty finding $2,000 in an emergency. 

The report collected data from the National Financial Capability Study in 2012, which surveyed 25,000 adults nationwide, and reviewed the personal finances of the 1,553 participants who claimed to be Hispanic and have had college education. The study found that majority of Latinos consider themselves in a "fragile financial state," Dean Starkman of The Los Angeles Times wrote. READ MORE AT i SCHOOL GUIDE

Despite numerous risk factors that should shorten their lives, Hispanics in the United States are generally healthier than non-Hispanic whites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday in its first comprehensive report on the health of that large and growing ethnic group.

Despite being poorer and having less access to health insurance and health care, Hispanics suffer 35 percent less heart disease and 49 percent less cancer than whites, and according to another study cited in Tuesday's report, live about two years longer. They also have lower rates of Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular disease, flu, pneumonia and other common killers of Americans. READ MORE AT THE WASHINGTON POST