We are happy to report that El Valor has partnered with St. Augustine College, to begin an ASSOCIATE IN RESPIRATORY THERAPY cohort in LITTLE VILLAGE!  This is part of our Leadership Through Education program which has as one of its goals to increase the number of qualified, culturally and linguistically skilled personnel in high-demand fields especially individuals who can identify with the Latino community and other underserved communities.
If you or anyone you know is interested in obtaining an ASSOCIATE IN RESPIRATORY THERAPY, please attend the next information session:

EL VALOR/ST. AUGUSTINE COLLEGE ASSOCIATE IN RESPIRATORY THERAPY INFORMATION SESSION – LITTLE VILLAGE

Wednesday, June 8, 2011
6:00pm-8:00pm
El Valor’s Carlos Cantu Children & Family Center
2434 S. Kildare, Chicago, IL 60623

To attend the information session, please contact Carmen Martinez at cmartinez@elvalor.net  or (312) 492-5938.

EL VALOR/ST. AUGUSTINE COLLEGE ASSOCIATE IN RESPIRATORY THERAPY

ASSOCIATE IN RESPIRATORY THERAPY courses in Little Village will begin in August 2011.   The program lasts 36 months and covers subjects related to becoming an effective respiratory therapist.  Upon completion of this program, participants will earn an Associate Degree in Applied Sciences in Respiratory Therapy. Classes that do not require lab work will be held at El Valor’s Carlos Cantu Children & Family Center.   The cohort starts together and finishes together.  

NOTE:   Strong writing and math skills desired.  The last two years of the program require clinical residencies in a hospital setting.  Hours for the residency are typically from 7:30am until 3:30pm. Residency is required.

Those that are accepted to this program by St. Augustine College will be eligible to receive a scholarship after all other forms of grant financial aid are exhausted.

ABOUT RESPIRATORY THERAPY

Students who complete the program and achieve certification could earn $50,000 annually to start.  Respiratory Therapy has a career path to pursue.  For more information on the career of a Respiratory Therapist, please go to the following links: 

U.S. Department of Labor - http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos321.htm
Chicago - http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Registered-Respiratory-Therapist-Salary-Details-60622.aspx 
U.S. Average - http://www1.salary.com/Registered-Respiratory-Therapist-salary.html
 
Please forward to anyone you feel may be interested in this opportunity.

Click here for more information on El Valor Website

Research shows that wine consumption among Latinos has dramatically increased in the last few years, and wine makers are taking notice.

Part of what's pushing the increase in consumption is sheer demographics, with Hispanics accounting for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade. Another factor is a cultural shift among the more established Latino generations.

Among the companies trying to reach more Hispanics is Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, Calif.

It's running Spanish-language television spots in Southern California. Beringer also has arranged sampling events and Spanish-language displays in Latino supermarkets and national chains with a large Hispanic customer base. READ MORE

For the first time in thirty-five years a sitting U.S. President will step foot in Puerto Rico. President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to visit Puerto Rico next month, a trip that would make him the first sitting president to come to the U.S. Commonwealth in decades, the island's governor said Tuesday.

The president, who campaigned in Puerto Rico for the Democratic primary, will visit the island June 14, Gov. Luis Fortuño said, without disclosing details of his itinerary.

"With his visit, the president makes good on the promise he made during the presidential primaries in 2008 that he would return to Puerto Rico as president," Fortuno said in a statement.

The governor's office described the Obama trip as the "the first official presidential visit" since December 1961, when President John F. Kennedy stopped on the island to a formal welcome on his way to Venezuela. But that was not the last time a U.S. president set foot in the territory: President Gerald Ford hosted an economic summit in Puerto Rico in June 1976.


Pedro Pierluisi, the island's nonvoting representative in Congress, said he expects Obama will discuss a recent White House report on the options for changing Puerto Rico's formal relationship to the U.S. mainland. The president may also visit projects that have benefited from the administration's stimulus spending to aid the economy.

Puerto Rico is home to nearly 4 million U.S. citizens but its residents cannot vote in the general presidential election, only in the primaries.

Andres W. López, a member of the Democratic National Committee from the island, said the president's visit may also help him with Puerto Ricans on the mainland, particularly in South Florida, which is home to some 725,000 people of Puerto Rican descent and an important battleground state in the 2012 election. READ MORE

State's Latino population surges – political power, too

California's Latino population grew nearly three times as much as the state as a whole in the past decade, making it home to more than a quarter of the nation's Latinos, according to a new Census Bureau report.

While the Golden State's population grew by 10 percent in the past decade, the Latino growth was 27.6 percent, accounting for more than 90 percent of the state's population gain overall.

Latinos now are 37.6 percent of all Californians, up more than five percentage points since 2000, according to the census. READ MORE

Salvadoran-Americans are now the fourth-largest Latino group in the United States, according to 2010 census figures released Thursday.

Those whose roots extend to El Salvador, one of the smallest and densest countries in the Western Hemisphere, now number more than 1.6 million in the United States, and nearly half reside in California. The latest tally means that Salvadoran-Americans have surpassed Dominican-Americans in number and are swiftly gaining on Cuban-Americans.

Those who hope the higher numbers translate into the political and economic influence reached by Mexican-Americans in California and Caribbean Latinos elsewhere say they still have work to do.

"Numbers give you a certain kind of power, but of course, you have to transfer that quantity of numbers into quality," said Ramon Cardona, a Salvadoran immigrant and director of Richmond's Centro Latino Cuzcatlan. "One big advantage that Cubanos have is a lot of them came from the elite powers in Cuba, they knew how to run systems, how to run private enterprise and government institutions. In the case of Salvadorans, that was not the case. We had to forge and educate ourselves here, underground. That takes a couple generations to get the know-how and move into those kind of ranks."

The nation's 31.8 million Mexican-Americans continue to outnumber all other Latino groups, at 63 percent of the total Latino population. Following them are roughly 4.6 million Puerto Ricans, 1.8 million Cubans, 1.6 million Salvadorans and 1 million Guatemalans.

The fact that the nation's Salvadoran community remains smaller than its Cuban community was a surprise to some demographers tracking various surveys; they expected the Salvadoran population to be higher.

"Estimates going into the census suggested there were more Salvadorans than Cubans," said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center. "The census shows it's the other way around, but they are very close." READ MORE

Lancaster’s rolling hills are steeped in the traditions of the Amish — their plain dress and humility as much a tourist lure as their quilts and pies.

But, as an iconic symbol, this Lancaster image could need a revision. Instead of Zerbe’s potato chips, think chicharrones. Egg casserole? How about chilaquiles. Pulled pork? Did someone say lechón asado?

Increasingly, the flavors of this south-central Pennsylvania region — famous for its mud sales and outlets — bears a marked Latin accent that goes beyond language and cuisine.

Latinos have forged a foothold in Lancaster County. In recent years, their population numbers have quietly surpassed that of the Amish.

About 45,000 Latinos live in Lancaster County, according to the 2010 census. The census does not track the Amish or plain communities in Lancaster County. But in 2010, the Elizabethtown College center that studies the Amish estimated about 30,000 living in Lancaster County.

The Latino population in Lancaster County has grown by 68 percent in the last 10 years, the fifth-largest gain in Latinos statewide.

In the city of Lancaster, nearly two out of every five city residents identify their ethnicity to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Latin American countries.

About half of the county’s Latinos live in the city. The city’s Latino population grew to 23,329 in the last census, an increase of 35 percent. READ MORE

It's a great place to have more members of La Raza--especially if you can couchsurf with 'em for vacation.

According to U.S. Census demographic data released Thursday, Hawaii's Latino population grew 37.8 percent from 2000 to 2010.

When New York City-born Puerto Rican José Villa arrived in Hawaii 25 years ago, there were few fellow Latinos. But when Villa and his wife traveled across the islands last year encouraging Latinos to participate in the Census. They found pockets of Hispanic culture from Spanish Mass in Kona to Argentine-owned coffee shops on Maui.

"I've seen it grow from almost no community presence," he said. "The Hispanic community here is an emerging market."

According to the Census, there were 120,842 Hispanics in 2010, up from 87,699 in 2000. READ MORE

A community radio station in Chicago that provides a unique opportunity for young bilingual Latinos to get free training in radio runs the risk of disappearing for lack of funds.

Radio Arte de Chicago, which began broadcasting 14 years ago in the Latino neighborhood of Little Village, "is a sinking ship," one of the young volunteers that work on its programming said.

Under notice that the funds that keep it going have dried up, and that the financial crisis could seriously affect even the National Museum of Art that has been its owner since 1997, WRTE-FM (90.5) urgently needs to be rescued.

"We need a plan to avoid losing the license and to keep the station on the air," said Jatziry García, one of the volunteers who asked for an urgent meeting with the museum's founder and president, Carlos Tortolero, "in order to know exactly where we are and what we can do."

A solution appears remote since Tortolero announced this week that the cost of maintaining Radio Arte's operations and the building housing its studios was "unsustainable." READ MORE

The Black Hawk helicopter is a four-bladed, two engine, versatile Army fighting machine—and for Commander Marisol Chalas, it’s her pride and joy.

“Thanks to my persistence, I have touched the sky,” she recalls a statement she holds dear to her heart.

From the first sound of the Black Hawk’s engines, one can feel the reverberations of Chalas’s success story. A-39 year-old Dominican American, and the nation's first Latina National Guard Black Hawk pilot, Chalas has lived her life from the cockpit of this legendary helicopter.

Her twenty-year aviation career in the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard have given her a breadth of experience that includes flying soldiers and equipment to and from the battle field during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003-2004, to flying four star generals, ambassadors, and Congressmen.

“I am a people person,” Chalas said. “One of the things I like about the Black Hawk is that you are always interacting with the troops.”

Born in 1973 in Bani, Dominican Republic, Chalas recalls her family’s first steps to the United States. In 1978, her father moved to Boston, in search of a better life. He and Chalas’ mother got their green cards in 1980. It wasn’t until Chalas was nine, in 1982, that she and her three younger sisters were reunited with them in America.

“It was cold. I remember running to my mom,” she emotionally recalled. “I remember seeing the snow. We just thought we were in Santo Domingo.”

Her parents are and continue to be her role models. They each worked two jobs at a Hilton hotel, at guest services and housekeeping, while also splitting time at a local Massachusetts shoe factory.

"We learned very young that in order to be successful you have to work hard at it, nothing is handed to you." READ MORE

At the end of May 2007, Jorge Sanchez loaded his cousin's pickup truck and moved his young family from an apartment into a house in Fitchburg. The house was just three years old. Its light brown siding was accented by a bright red front door. A park sat invitingly down the street.

That was six years after Sanchez and his wife, Minerva Abrajan, natives of Puebla, Mexico, arrived in Madison. They're not citizens, but, as permanent residents who pay U.S. taxes, the UW-Madison janitors obtained a mortgage under a new loan program aimed at extending home ownership to people who previously couldn't qualify.

"We wanted a house because we had two kids already," Sanchez said. "We wanted something better for them."

The new program opened a door to home loans to non-citizens, helping usher in a sharp increase in homeownership among local Latinos in the second half of the last decade — shortly before a corresponding increase in foreclosure filings against the same group a few years later.

The loans, first offered through a Wisconsin Housing and Economic Authority (WHEDA) pilot program and later by an array of private lenders, allowed people with individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, to apply for home loans. But ITIN loans suffered from bad timing and, in some cases, left the intended beneficiaries more downtrodden financially than before they got the loans.

In 2004, when ITIN loans started being issued by a local lender, foreclosures were filed against eight Latinos in Dane County, based on a review of court documents identifying Latinos by what the federal Census Bureau defines as commonly occuring last names. In 2009, that number ballooned to 125 — Jorge Sanchez among them —an increase of 1,462 percent. Total foreclosure filings skyrocketed as well but at an increase of 302 percent. READ MORE

Aida M. Alvarez, a former Clinton administration official, has called the Bay Area home since 2002. Today, as chairwoman of the Latino Community Foundation, she brings her varied experience to the region's leading Hispanic philanthropy.

After graduating from Harvard University, the Puerto Rico native worked as a reporter in New York, then became a banker on Wall Street. Ms. Alvarez later moved to Washington to run the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. She served as head of the Small Business Administration from 1997 until 2001.

The San Francisco-based foundation, launched in 2003, has disbursed around $1.8 million, raised from individuals and corporations aimed at helping needy Latino families. The 61-year-old Ms. Alvarez, an Oakland resident, recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the Bay Area's Latino community and the foundation's work.

WSJ: How are the Bay Area's Spanish speakers faring compared to those in the rest of California?

Ms. Alvarez: According to the 2010 Census, Latinos are now 37.6% of California's population, or just over 14 million in the state. The majority of children in California are Hispanic. In eight Bay Area counties, of 6,737,395 total residents, almost a quarter are Latino, about 1.6 million. And while it's true Latinos rank lowest in many areas, there are also very positive glimmers of hope, especially in the Bay Area. READ MORE

According to the Latin Business Index, low inflation and strong economic growth put Peru in second place among other Latin America countries, reports Andina.

The Latin Business Index measures the business environments in 18 countries in Latin America by five major factors and 32 subcategories, including the macroeconomic environment, corporate and political situation of each country in terms of globalization and competitiveness, and the level of infrastructure.

"The classification is given on the basis of present day Peru and current indicators," the executive director of the Latin Business Chronicle, Joachim Bamru said.

According to the website, expectations are that this year Peru will show the highest economic growth in Latin America (7.5 percent) and the lowest inflation rate (2.7 percent).

Bamrud said it is possible a major change could occur in the Peruvian scene for the next index if the winner of the runoff election implements policies against a free market, restricting economic and political freedoms as we have seen in other countries.

"It will be a shame if it destroys the Peruvian miracle and the great progress that Peru has seen in recent years," he added.

In other indicators of the study, Peru obtained the fourth best corporate environment, which measures factors such as environment and labor taxes, access to capital for entrepreneurs and economic freedom.

Peru also has the seventh best political environment, which measures factors like government economic policy, political stability, political freedom, judicial independence, transparency and private property rights. READ MORE

“I hope the coffee is not too strong for you,” Rejane Brito said. Too strong? This was Brazilian coffee, which she’d especially brought to the office to energize an early-morning meeting.

Like the coffee, Brito hails from Brazil, and for the past year and a half, she’s been bringing her own style of energy to a nonprofit that has been quietly growing in Napa.

Puertas Abiertas — “open doors” — began as a program of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in 2005, with a mission to help underserved Latino congregants become self-sufficient. Offering help with reading and writing in Spanish and English, as well as opportunities to improve skills for living and working in Napa, the organization grew so much they decided it could serve more people by becoming an independent organization, Brito explained.

It’s still housed in a small building across the street from St. John’s and adjacent to St. John’s Hall, but the doors there are open to anyone who can benefit from their services.

“Last year we served 480 families,” Brito said. “We still focus on self-sufficiency, but people come here with all kinds of questions and problems — ‘I’m losing my house,’ ‘My son is using drugs,’ ‘I’m getting a divorce’  READ MORE

ShareDiscussDownloadThe buying power of Latinos in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last 10 years. That economic clout grew even during the most recent recession. But many businesses are still learning how to tap into the Latino market.

The intersection of cultures was recently on display at a business expo in Kennewick, Washington. Jessica Robinson followed one small business owner as he tried to make a good impression.

Let’s face it. There are certain things that most people are willing to do without in an economic downturn.

Dale Haven: “My name is Dale Haven. I do custom ice sculpturing.”

Ice sculptures might be one of those things.

Dale Haven: “Cinderella castles, swans, Honda emblems, I’ve done swans, hearts with fifteens in them. I’ve done fifteens with their names in them.”

Fifteens. That’s the category where Dale Haven has been seeing serious growth. The “fifteens” are for 15th birthdays, which is when Latina girls traditionally throw a quinceañera celebration.

It’s like a debutante ball the size of a wedding, complete with a big cake, fancy dresses, music, and yes, sometimes ice sculptures.

That’s what brings Haven and his glass-like carvimgs to this recent Latino Business Expo -- to meet potential customers.

Dale Haven: “So is this your baby?”

Glenda Moreno: “My oldest one yeah. They’re already ‘Look mom, look mom, look what you can do for my quinceañera!’”

Dale Haven: “¡Sí!”

Haven has learned a few phrases in Spanish for these occasions. Like this one, to describe his work.

Dale Haven: “Mucho bonita.” READ MORE

Antonio Cortez spent his working life picking lemons and onions for minimum wage, joined by his children in the summers to make ends meet.

A farm laborer from Mexico and later California, he had no formal education but made sure his children did.

On Sunday, the youngest of his 10 children will walk across the University of Illinois Assembly Hall stage and receive her doctoral degree, the first in their large extended family to do so.

Antonio Cortez, 84, will stand by her side. Rufina Cortez asked him to take part in her Ph.D. "hooding" ceremony, along with her adviser and a niece.

"For me, it's my gift to him," Rufina Cortez said last week. "This is a big sacrifice, not having me around all these years when I've been away at school. This ceremony is for my family. They deserve it."

At one time, it appeared this day might never happen.

When Rufina Cortez was applying to the UI, her father suffered a stroke while traveling to visit his sister in Mexico. He was deathly ill, and Rufina Cortez considered postponing her plans.

"I didn't know whether he was going to survive," she said.

But he improved, and she moved to Champaign-Urbana in 2004 to pursue her dream of a doctorate in education policy studies. READ MORE

Buck's Shoes has been around a long time.

On an elaborate sign stretching across its front door the business proudly boasts "Purveyors of Fine Footwear and Accessories".

The store fittingly sits on Main Street.

That's Main Street, Fremont, Nebraska.

It's one of America's historic streets - part of a National Trust campaign to hold on and preserve the past, hoping perhaps it will lead to a happier and more prosperous future.

The residents themselves are also caught up in a bitter debate over their town's past and what it's facing in the future.

Two big meatpacking plants on the outskirts of town helped contribute to massive changes in the make-up of the population.

They encouraged Hispanic migrants to move there, about 40 minutes out of Omaha and thousands of kilometres north of the Mexican border.

The population of 25,000, once almost entirely white, is now almost 10 per cent Hispanic.

In such a small town, that's a noticeable shift, and it's caused intense growing pains. So much so, the local voters decided to implement their own immigration laws, banning the hiring or renting of premises to illegal immigrants, after becoming fed up waiting for the federal government to take action.

I sat down with a former city councillor Bob Warner a month ago to talk about the issues facing the town.

"They have taken over the meat packing, they're taking over construction; what's next? Now I understand they're pulling their standard of livings up, but they pull ours down," he told me at his kitchen table.

Fremont is not alone in its turmoil.

Towns and states across this country have struggled to deal with a rising Hispanic population and the benefits and disadvantages that come with it.

There are more than 50 million Hispanics in the US. They make up 16 per cent of the population and are growing faster than any other ethnic group.

But the more controversial part of the debate centres on the illegal Hispanics who live in the US - an estimated 11 million.

Barack Obama headed to El Paso, Texas this week - to one of the busiest border crossings to kick start immigration reform.

"When an issue is this complex and raises such strong feelings, it's easier for politicians to defer the problem until after the next election," he told the crowd. READ MORE

Ten years ago, Wal-Marts in the Midlands didn’t have entire aisles devoted to Hispanic foods.

For most, Taco Bell was the closest thing to a tacqueria.

There were no art shows or poetry contests featuring creative Latinos.

But that has changed as Hispanics moved to the Midlands by the thousands to take advantage of job opportunities. Those new residents not only filled out the area’s work force, but they brought along families, food traditions, holiday celebrations and other pieces of their culture as they made the area home.

“They came to fill labor-intensive jobs,” said Ivan Segura, a Hispanic advocate in the Midlands. “But it’s just not all about being a good worker.”

So, Hispanics have opened restaurants and hair salons. They have founded churches. And they are promoting their artistic side with shows and contests.

In the past decade, South Carolina posted one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in the country, and it grew at a faster-than-expected rate. The 2010 Census counted nearly 236,000 Hispanic residents, which was 9 percent higher than recent estimates had predicted it would be, the Pew Hispanic Center reported. Statewide, Hispanics now make up 5 percent of the population. READ MORE