The government's decision to reinforce its rules for one birth control pill is causing controversy among the Latino community.

The Plan-B pill, otherwise known as the "morning after pill,” can lower the chance of a pregnancy by nearly 90-percent if taken 24-hours after unprotected sex. But some say keeping this pill prescription-based will only add to a growing problem.

“Fifty-two percent of Latinas in this country are going to experience a pregnancy before the age of 20,” said Vince Hall with Planned Parenthood

This is why Latinas should have better access to reproductive healthcare, Hall said.

“The decision to put barriers in the way of contraception is a bad one,” he added.

This week, the government decided to reinforce its rules on Plan-B also known as "the morning after pill.”

Only people 17 years old and up will be able to get the pill without a prescription. Anyone under 17 will still need one. READ MORE

The Hispanic market in the U.S. is growing at an impressive rate. The U.S. Census reports that Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic segment in the U.S . By 2050 Hispanics will account for 30% of the nation’s population. It’s no wonder that companies are putting a significant amount of their budgets towards engaging them in a meaningful way. Companies like Old Navy with their interactive Telenovas, T-Mobile and Lowe’s are all examples of big brands looking to reach the Hispanic population in the U.S.

Here are some tips for marketers looking to reach this growing segment:

Hispanics are mobile savvy. 44.7% of U.S. Hispanics use smart phones compared to 31.9% of the non-Hispanic population. And, surveys show that Hispanics are quite receptive to marketing messages if they are done right. According to a consumer survey published in Ad Age, 42% of Hispanics said they are more loyal towards companies that show appreciation for the culture by advertising in Spanish. During the 2010 World Cup, the iPhone World Cup app published by Hispanic network, Univision became the 13th most popular free application in the U.S. If you want to reach Hispanics, go mobile.

Hispanics come from 20 diverse countries. READ MORE

Enrique Aguilar recently opened a new accounting business, hoping the coming tax season will be the key to his startup's success.

After a career working as an accountant for other firms, Aguilar, 61, has another reason to be optimistic. In the 14 years that he's lived in southwest Minnesota, he's watched Worthington's Latino population grow to some 4,500 residents now, more than a third of the town's population.

"Many people know me in the town," said Aguilar, who was born in Mexico City. "So, I hope they can look for me this tax season."

He is among about 1,000 new Latino business owners in the last several years, a boost to the state's economy. The number of Latino owned-businesses in Minnesota has grown by one quarter in just five years, according to Census figures. That's nearly double the rate of overall business growth in the state.

Fueling the business growth is a strong rise in the state's Latino population, which has grown by about three quarters over the last decade to 250,000. More than 65 percent of Latinos live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, but other areas of the state have fast-growing populations.

Many of the new arrivals are changing the face of business in the state, said University of Minnesota Public Affairs professor Katherine Fennelly. She said some immigrants jump immediately into business, while others take years accumulating partners and financing before starting their companies.

Either way, Fennelly said there's a clear pattern.

"Immigrants are more likely than native-born residents to start businesses," she said.

Fennelly said immigrants are about a third more likely to do so, in part because the act of immigrating to a new country requires many of the same sorts of character traits found in entrepreneurs.

"People who come to the United States, are people who have a certain amount of initiative," she said. "They're people who are willing to take a risk in order to better their lives and those are characteristics that bode well for the establishment of new businesses."

Aguilar's 19-year-old son, also named Enrique, will help him run his accounting office. The younger Aguilar said he and his father have a built-in advantage with many of the area's Latino residents — the ability to communicate with clients in their native language.

"They'll want to go to a grocery store where people are working there who speak Spanish," the younger Aguilar said. "I think the same thing would happen in an office like this, is they'll feel comfortable being able to open up and being able to do business with us."

The Aguilars' leap of faith is increasingly common.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Latino-owned businesses in Minnesota grew from under 4,000 to 5,000 in just half a decade. The companies have sales of about $1.6 billion and nearly 6,000 employees. READ MORE

Just two months after striking a major content partnership with Univision, Hulu is now doubling down on its Spanish-speaking audience within the U.S.: The site announced this morning that it has brokered deals with 11 Spanish-language content partners. Content from these new partners, as well as existing partners, will be presented in a dedicated Spanish-language section on Hulu’s home page. Targeting the Latino audience make a lot of sense for Hulu, as it is much more engaged with online video than many white viewers.

Hulu’s new Spanish-language section, which is featured prominently on the site, so far only contains content from existing partners Univision, Galavision and Telefutura. Hulu Plus subscribers will be able to access entire current seasons of prime-time shows from these broadcasters, whereas users of the free Hulu service will have access to a more limited catch-up catalog on a next-day basis. Shows from new partners Azteca America, Butaca, Caracol Televisión, Comarex, Estrella TV, Imagina US, Laguna Productions, Maya Entertainment, RCTV, Todobebe Inc and Venevision will be added in 2012. READ MORE

With the Census Bureau counting nearly 25 million Latin women in the United States, marketers and media companies have started getting excited about the potential to reach them.

Among the most recent initiatives is a new publication, Cosmopolitan Latina, that will start publishing in May and will be aimed at American-born Latin women who are bicultural and bilingual.

“A lot of marketers understand that they need to invest with the Latino market,” said Donna Kalajian Lagani, the senior vice president and publishing director at Cosmopolitan. But many Latinos, she said, “are digesting their information in English.”

According to the census, of the Latin women in the United States, more than eight million are native-born and older than 18. “She’s very Latina, but she’s also very American. You can’t separate the two,” Ms. Kalajian Lagani said of the new magazine’s intended reader. READ MORE

As the principal of Nobel Elementary School in Chicago, Manuel Adrianzen had no trouble recruiting 16 girls in sixth to eighth grades to attend a recent Saturday workshop aimed at inspiring math- and science-loving Latinas.

But, to Adrianzen, getting their male classmates fired up about math and science remains a far more formidable challenge.

"The young ladies are more easily engaged in their math and science classes," said Adrianzen, a former math teacher who visited Elmhurst College last month with an all-female entourage participating in a Dare to Dream program exploring STEM, or the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

"Especially with math, the young men can easily get their interest turned off in the classroom, which ends up preventing them from going to college and having careers in these fields," Adrianzen said.

For Chicago-area educators such as Adrianzen, empowering Latino boys and girls to enroll in and excel in math and science classes is important to combating relatively high absenteeism and dropout rates, low college enrollment rates and disproportionately low numbers of minorities working in STEM careers.

For Gerard Kovach, teaching at Chicago's Salazar Bilingual Center — a prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade school where roughly 80 percent of the students are categorized as ELL, or English language learners — demands a vibrant, hands-on math and science curriculum, not rote learning intended to prepare students for standardized tests.

Kovach, a winner this year of the prestigious Golden Apple teaching award, warns that the nationwide emphasis on test scores as a measurement of student aptitude is punitive for students, particularly those who are learning English and attending schools in low-income communities.

"The amount of time spent in many classrooms these days preparing for standardized tests is demoralizing to kids and demoralizing to teachers," said Kovach, who recently participated in a U.S. Department of Education forum called High Quality STEM Education for English Learners: Best Practices and Challenges.

Instead of spending precious classroom time drilling for standardized tests, Kovach said, ELL students at Salazar are engaged in inquiry-based, creative projects that allow them to use their native language while polishing their English skills.

One recent lesson had second- and third-graders constructing a roller coaster. Another had members of the science club heading outdoors to the school's garden the day before Thanksgiving for an impromptu lesson in composting. READ MORE

In a room full of highly engaged and motivated entrepreneurs, Nely Galan, former Telemundo President and media powerhouse, proclaimed, "Latinas are starting more businesses at a faster rate than they are getting married!" This was one of the most resonating phrases of the Coca-Cola Adelante Tour which took place this past Saturday in Santa Monica, California.

The first stop in a national tour, Coca-Cola in conjunction with Galan and Count Me in for Women's Economic Independence, Saturday served as the catalyst for a movement targeting Latina women who are thinking of starting or are currently ready to grow their own business. Key speakers included Galan, the award-winning author Sandra Cisneros, and Nell Merlino founder of Count Me In and the originator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

With stories highlighting not just the success but the struggles and sometimes failures, these women connected with and encouraged the Latina audience to persevere. Or as Sandra Cisneros put it, to transform the darkness into light. They all drove home the point that motivation and dedication are just the beginning. Preparation in the forms of business skills, a support network and financing can be the difference to propel a Latina owned business to become a multimillion dollar business. Merlino especially focused on being more proactive: creating a network, sharing the business plan, and going after customers.

The Latina audience covered the gamut in ages, nationalities and industries but the one thing that connected all of them was the palpable desire to succeed and the eagerness in receiving advice from women already in leadership positions. At the end of the day, after finding commonalties and establishing a sense of shared purpose a community had been formed. This community is now charged with the mission to spread the message Coca-Cola, Nely Galan and Nell Merlino have worked hard to establish: help each other become the entrepreneurs that will change the face of business. As a witness to this amazing event, I believe its only a matter of time before that occurs. READ MORE

The number of babies born to Hispanics dropped below 1 million in 2010, a nearly 11 percent drop since 2007 that reflects the tough times.

Fewer people of all backgrounds are having babies because of economic concerns, but the sharpest drop is among Hispanics, a booming population that contributes almost a quarter of all U.S. births and half of its population growth.

"Hispanic fertility is dropping like a stone," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer for the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute.

Hispanic birth rates tumbled 17.6 percent in three years — from 97.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 to 80.3 last year, according to preliminary 2010 data released this month by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Non-Hispanic whites still deliver most U.S. births. Their birth rates fell too, but at a much slower pace — down 3.7 percent to 58.7 per 1,000 women in 2010.

Hispanic births in Wisconsin dropped from 6,911 to 6,545 between 2007 and 2010 — a difference of 366 — but because of the overall drop in the state's birthrate, the percentage of Hispanic births to all births remained about the same at 9.56 percent. READ MORE

Latino immigration is reshaping entire neighborhoods throughout the country, and sparking new community trends. The vibrant culture of many of these neighborhoods-- their rich music, art and traditional food from all over Latin America-- has become a lure for thousands of tourists.

Take Visit el Barrio , a campaign promoting Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio, as a tourism destination. In promotional video, host Victor Cruz visits restaurants that offer traditional Latino food, art venues -- including museums, galleries and street art -- and nightlife. There are tips on the best salsa clubs and "mojitos" in Spanish Harlem.

New York isn't alone in trying to capitalize on these Latino enclaves. In Chicago, murals depicting Hispanic history and culture have become tourist attractions. In the mostly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen, monthly walking tours allow visitors to appreciate the art and gain a further understanding of the community's identity, according to Fox News Latino.

Artist Jose Guerrero, who has painted many of the murals, has been leading tours in the Pilsen neighborhood for three decades. According to Fox News Latino, Guerrero said, "Pilsen has always been a spirited neighborhood and doesn't hide its identity." The themes depicted in the murals include immigration, displacement, education, Aztec culture, and Latino historical figures such as Pancho Villa. READ MORE

Unemployment among Latinos remained the same between October and November, while for the general U.S. population it fell to a two-year low, according to the Labor Department.

The Latino jobless rate held at 11.4 percent in November, the same it was in October. The national unemployment rate, however, dropped 0.4 percentage points to 8.6 -- from 9 percent the previous month -- the lowest it's been since March, 2009, during the depths of the recession.

The decline occurred as employers stepped up hiring in response to the slowly improving economy.

For Latinos, the latest unemployment rate was higher than it was during the summer, when it was 11.3 percent, but lower than what is was a year ago, when it was 12.7 percent.

The picture was more bleak for the general population of teenagers, who have an unemployment rate of 23.7 percent. For Latino teenagers, it was significantly higher -- 31.8 percent.

Despite the unemployment decline for the overall U.S. population, the fact remains that 13.3 million Americans remain unemployed. And a key reason the unemployment rate fell so much was because roughly 315,000 people had given up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

The presidential election is less than a year away, which means President Barack Obama will almost certainly face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any president since World War II. Rival Republicans have made the nation's joblessness a key campaign issue.

In July, Republicans launched an anti-Obama media campaign aimed at Latinos in the Southwest. READ MORE

Like many disgruntled teenagers, Carolina Cardoza began having trouble in school when she was 14. She was hanging out with the wrong crowd, slacking off and receiving barely passing grades.

Throughout it all, her mother and grandmother insisted education was the way. So she kept at it, eventually finding her way to CSU Monterey Bay, where she'll graduate next year.

Besides her mother's prodding, Cardoza found inspiration in her grandparents' experience. They were refugees from El Salvador's civil wars and didn't have a chance to get an education beyond elementary school.

"They tell me they're so proud of me," Cardoza said. "I want to do this for myself, but also for them. They never had an opportunity to pursue higher education."

A recent study by the Migration Policy Institute found that second-generation Latinas, children of immigrants like Cardoza, are making educational strides akin to those now achieved by third-generation white women.

Forty-six percent are enrolled in college, compared to 37 percent of second-generation Latinos and 26 percent of Latino immigrants.

This finding is tempered by a disturbing counterbalance — only 33 percent of second-generation Latinas have received an associate or higher degree by the time they are 25. Clearly, not all who enroll in college earn a diploma.

"It's clear that immigrant-origin young adults have different barriers and family support structures," said Jeanne Batalova, researcher for the Migration Policy Institute and co-author of "Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults."

"Young adults who can rely on their families and those who are not poor generally have stronger generation outcomes," she said. "Many young Hispanics are poor, have minor children and, as a result, this group's educational performance levels are quite low."

Differences among immigrant youth, their educational attainment and the barriers they face in pursuit of higher education have become more interesting to researchers as California's immigrant population continues to grow. About 53 percent of California's youth are of immigrant origin — either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants.

The recent study documents some important differences between immigrants and second-generation Latinos. READ MORE

Between 2000 and 2009, aggregate spending by Latino consumer units on personal care products and services grew from $5.3 billion to $7.5 billion, an increase of 41%, according to The Latino Health and Beauty Care Market, a just-released report from Packaged Facts. In contrast, spending by non-Latino consumer units on personal care products and services grew by only 15%.

Moreover, the Census Bureau projects that by 2015 Latinos will account for 20% of 18- to 49-year-olds, an age group that is critically important to marketers and advertisers. Growth dynamics in the personal care market, therefore, will increasingly be shaped by the health and beauty care (HBC) usage patterns and product choices of Latino men and Latinas.

According to The Latino Health and Beauty Care Market, Latinas are more likely than women on average to use eye liner and mascara and less likely to use foundation makeup. Latino men are much more likely than men on average to use skin care products such as moisturizers and facial cleansing products. Both Latino men and Latinas are more likely to choose scented products in the deodorant category, and Latino men are more likely to choose scented shaving cream. Frequent tooth brushing and flossing, additionally, is a characteristic of both Latino men and Latinas.

One of the most distinctive features of the Latino consumer market, according to David Sprinkle, publisher of Packaged Facts, is that it includes a substantial segment of high-volume users of HBC products. For example, Latinas are nearly twice as likely as women on average to have used shampoo 12 or more times in the last seven days, such that they account for 26% of all women in this high-frequency usage category. READ MORE

Hispanic households accounted for more than half of the nation's homeowners in the third quarter, evidence of the potential purchasing power of Latinos during the housing recovery.

According to Census Bureau data provided by Alejandro Becerra, former senior housing fellow at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the number of Hispanic owner-occupiers grew by 288,000 from 6.21 million in the second quarter to 6.49 million in the third quarter.

Of 545,000 new household units in the third quarter, 53% were Hispanic households. The remaining 47%, or 257,000 units, consisted of other minority groups and non-Hispanic whites.

"We have to give due cause to Hispanic real estate professionals, to the many nonprofit groups out the that are trying to put into place the foreclosure prevention programs to keep people in their homes, to help new homebuyers," Becerra said. "All this is beginning to bear fruit in reaching out to these households."

Minority households are taking advantage of the lower end of the housing market where, Becerra believes, prices have hit the bottom. "It's the only place where the possibility of buying is right now," he said. READ MORE

Amid angst over illegal immigration, President Barack Obama is losing support among Hispanic voters, complicating his re-election chances in Florida, a new Quinnipiac Poll shows.

Obama carried the Sunshine State in 2008 with the help of Hispanics, but that support is softening here and elsewhere.

A national Quinnipiac poll conducted Nov. 14-20 shows the president's approval/disapproval rating among Hispanics has dropped to 56-43. Obama won 67 percent of the U.S. Latino vote in 2008.

In Florida, other polls have shown Obama's Hispanic support as high as 82 percent in 2009, and as low as 49 percent recently. He won 57 percent of the state's Latino vote against John McCain in 2008. (Quinnipiac did not break out Florida-specific results in its national survey of 2,552 registered voters.)

"The mainstream punditry has long treated as a fait accompli that the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election is safely in Obama's corner and will, as in 2008, likely tip the balance in swing states like Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, perhaps even Florida. But this looks extremely doubtful," says Stephen Steinlight, an analyst with the conservative Center for Immigration Studies.

"Obama is an enormous disappointment to Hispanics to whom he promised passage of 'comprehensive immigration reform' but couldn't even deliver the DREAM Act. Nor are all Hispanics buying the rationale that this failure is wholly attributable to Republican obstructionism," Steinlight explained.

Mario Lopez, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Hispanic Leadership Fund, agrees with Steinlight ... up to a point.

"Obama has run opposite of what he said he would do [on immigration]. There have been record numbers of deportations on his watch," Lopez said.

"But that won't automatically translate into Republican support," he cautioned.

As with the general electorate, Hispanics, whose unemployment rate runs 2 points above the national average, are concerned about the economy -- and blame is rubbing off on the White House.

The Quinnipiac poll showed 74 percent of Hispanics are "somewhat dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with the direction the country is going in today. Fifty-three percent of Hispanic voters said they held an "unfavorable" view of the Democratic Party.

Yet national Republicans fared just as poorly, and few conservatives are counting on a big Hispanic shift in their direction. READ MORE

The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center has received a $850,000 grant to address health disparities in Chicago.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded the one-year grant, which builds on previous funding to UIC’s Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities to help reduce diabetes and cardiovascular disease among Latino and African-American populations in the Chicago area.

The UIC center “is working to ensure that food contributes to health among Latinos and African Americans rather than to chronic diseases,” says Sheila Castillo, associate director of the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center and principal investigator on the grant.

The UIC center is one of 18 grantees addressing health disparities nationwide.

Castillo said the UIC center has built a coalition of businesses, institutions, and individuals dedicated to changing social factors underlying health disparities.

“We are looking to change policies and systems that will result in changes in the environment, so that there is more access to healthy food,” she said.

Castillo said the center focuses on increasing the equitable distribution of healthy food and increasing health literacy, but also funds community projects. The center provided grants to organizations operating in the Pilsen, Englewood, Humboldt Park, Roseland, Austin, and Logan Square neighborhoods of Chicago. READ MORE

The number of babies born to Hispanics dropped below 1 million in 2010, a nearly 11% drop since 2007 that reflects the tough times.

Fewer people of all backgrounds are having babies because of economic concerns but the sharpest drop is among Hispanics, a booming population that contributes almost a quarter of all U.S. births and half of its population growth.

"Hispanic fertility is dropping like a stone," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer for the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute.

STORY: Hispanic growth outpaced estimates
Hispanic birthrates tumbled 17.6% in three years — from 97.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 to 80.3 last year, according to preliminary 2010 data released this month by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Non-Hispanic whites still deliver most U.S. births. Their birthrates fell too, but at a much slower pace — down 3.7% to 58.7 per 1,000 women in 2010.

The dramatic decline in births to Hispanics, who still have the highest fertility rates, raises the specter of a long-term drop in the nation's overall fertility — now higher than that of most other developed nations. It also crystallizes the impact of the economic downturn on Hispanics.

"It's hard to ignore that Hispanics have been one of the hardest-hit groups," says Gretchen Livingston, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center and author of a recent report on declining birthrates in a down economy. READ MORE

Happy Thanksgiving HispanicPro members!

May you be in the company of friends and family on this day of giving thanks. Please include in your thoughts the service men and women abroad who fight to protect our freedom, so that we may be with our loved ones today. God bless us all!

Yours,

- The HispanicPro Team

During the month of November health care organizations advocate to better educating the communities across the nation on diabetes as part of the American Diabetes Month. Worldwide Diabetes Day was observed during November 14th.

The United States Department of Health Human Services (USDHHS) reports that diabetes is documented to be the sixth (6) leading cause of death as a result of its complications. When comparing the San Joaquin County (SJC) Public Health 2011 Health Status Report which estimates 26 million U.S. residents to live with diabetes; an increase of 10 million if compared to the 1999 USDHHS report.

According to SJC Public Health, 8.7 percent of residents live with diabetes in the County; therefore, 59,621 residents out of 685,306 have developed diabetes. The report notes that 4 out of 5 of adult cases are adult onset type 2 diabetes —a preventable chronic disease.

While both nationally and locally, the Latino population follow the leading Non-Hispanic African American minority who suffers from the highest death rate caused by diabetes. Throughout the United States, 10.8 percent of non-Hispanic African Americans have Diabetes and Latinos are close with 10.6 percent. Among Hispanics/Latinos, diabetes prevalence rates 11.9 percent for Mexican-Americans, 12.6 percent for Puerto Ricans and are 8.2 percent for Cubans.

Diabetes, also called Diabetes mellitus, is a chronic illness that is characterized by a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced.

There are three types of Diabetes, Type 1 and 2 are incurable yet manageable. Type 1, also called Juvenile Diabetes begins in childhood and is caused by the body’s inability to produce insulin and Type 2, is caused by environmental factors that result in insulin resistance. The 3rd is gestational diabetes which is pregnancy onset and thus usually disappears after childbirth. READ MORE

Robert Renteria's story needs to be heard. Young people are living in neighborhoods with more violence than ever before and gangs havebecome a routine part of the environment. For some of our young people, survival is all they know. We have to show them that there is more. We have to encourage them to look beyond, and have a sense of the future and look to where they want to be 10 or 20 years from now. Robert clearly illustrates that life is full of choices, and the choices you make will determine which way you go.

From the Barrio to the Board Room shows young people that others who were just like them, with similar experiences, have made something positive happen in their lives. How did we do this? Both Robert and I were able to disconnect from our environment to a certain degree so that we could not only continue to survive within it, but also look toward the future. Our personal experiences gave us the upper hand in dealing with gangs, violence, drug and alcohol abuse and our youth dropping out of school. We are committed to our community because we recognize that many of these young men and women need role models and individuals who can nurture and mentor them.

This is the message that Robert and I have in common. We've been there, yet here we are. We made it out from the Barrio and our kids can do the same. But the Barrio should stay with us as a reminder of who we are. I always say that you can take me out of the Barrio but you can't take the Barrio out of me. I also say that although I am the first Latina in the State Senate, I won't be the last!

When I visit schools I tell young people that education is the most precious gift that you can give yourself and your community. By becoming educated, you can understand the social injustice and economic issues that exist out there. What you capture in the classroom is something that nobody can ever take away from you. And you can choose to make it a positive experience!

A book like Robert's can make a difference and change the course of someone's life because it is a story that hits home. From the Barrio tells you that it does not matter where you are born, what community you grow up in, or where in society you may be; what matters is you and what you want to do with your life. Everything that Robert has shared-the words, his commitment and his philosophy-is a reality. He is living proof that a kid from the Barrio can make it, and his story will change lives.

-The Honorable Iris Y. Martinez

Illinois State Senator

For more information, please contact Corey Michael Blake at 224.475.0392 or corey@roundtablecompanies.com.

Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, Chicago-area Latinos pay substantially more in local taxes than they collect in education and other government services, according to a study being released on Wednesday by the University of Notre Dame.

The report by the university's Institute for Latino Studies says Hispanics pay $4.3 billion in direct sales, property and other taxes, and contribute another $724 million to stores and other businesses they patronize.

In turn, local governments pay out $3.9 billion on education, health, public safety and other services, the institute found — roughly 77 cents for each $1 in Latino-generated tax income.

Latinos also earned $26 billion here in 2009, own more than 56,000 businesses and comprise 20% of the local labor force, three times the level of 1980.

The report comes amid a continuing national debate over immigration, legal and otherwise, and whether an influx of Latinos in the past three decades has been more boon or bane. The findings are sure to figure into that debate.

"What we found was surprising and very positive," said institute research director Juan Carlos Guzman. "When you look at the balance of the costs and benefits, the costs of educating Latinos and what they contribute in terms of taxes, the balance is positive."

One Latina leader quoted in a press release announcing the study findings had even stronger comments.

"With many looking for a scapegoat for our region's fiscal woes, the Institute for Latino Studies once and for all refuses the notion that Latinos are socioeconomic 'drains,' " said Sylvia Puenta, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum. READ MORE