In August, 60 years after the University of Texas admitted its first black student, the school welcomed the first freshman class in which white students were in the minority.
White students, who accounted for 51 percent of U.T.’s freshman class in 2009, made up 48 percent in 2010. Black and Hispanic students represented about 5 percent and 23 percent, respectively, with Asians and other races making up the rest.
The state’s flagship university passed the demographic milestone earlier than some had anticipated, reflecting a similar shift that is rapidly taking place at other top-level educational institutions across the country.
Although the changing demographics of college campuses may be grabbing the headlines, the more compelling issue is how the growing number of minority students presents serious social and academic challenges for financially strapped universities, even as the schools are under pressure to boost graduation rates.
Nationally, 52 percent of Hispanic students and 58 percent of black students are unable to earn a bachelor’s degree in six years, compared with 40 percent of white students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
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A coalition of New Mexico Hispanic groups is demanding Gov. Bill Richardson not speak on behalf of the Hispanic community, saying he failed to follow through on promises and was abusive toward Hispanics in his eight years in office.
The Hispano Round Table of New Mexico, which represents more than 50 groups around the state, unanimously passed a resolution saying the Democratic governor was contemptuous and deceptive toward the Hispanic community.
The resolution also says he failed to create a state Department of Hispano Affairs as promised and misled prominent Hispanic groups with that promise.
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos says Richardson will not lower himself to respond to such a ridiculous assertion. READ MORE
The electorate that will soon choose the successor to Mayor Richard M. Daley looks a lot different than the voters who first put him in office more than two decades ago.
An analysis of recently released United States Census Bureau estimates by the Chicago News Cooperative shows how racial and ethnic communities have continued to shift dramatically during the past decade in a city long known for its kaleidoscopic population and segregated neighborhoods.
As the mayoral candidates campaign ahead of the Feb. 22 election, campaign strategists determining where they will focus their efforts will have to be mindful of three trends:
The city’s black population fell by about 11 percent between 2000 and 2009, a pattern reflected in many neighborhoods across the South and West Sides. Twenty-four of the 25 city-designated community areas with the largest black populations in 2000 saw declines, according to the analysis of the five-year population estimates for 2005-9.
There was a marked rise in the white population in some of the city’s priciest neighborhoods in and near downtown. In the Near South Side community, the number of whites more than tripled in nine years.
Estimates of the city’s overall white population increased only modestly because of large declines in their numbers on the Northwest and Southwest Sides. Meanwhile, Hispanics continued to supplant whites in the bungalow belt.
When the federal government releases its official 2010 census data in the coming months, it will confirm that every racial and ethnic group in the city is a minority –no single group will make up a majority of Chicago’s roughly 2.85 million residents.
Given Chicago’s election system, which requires the new mayor to garner an outright majority of the vote, the winner will need support from many voters of other races, forcing candidates to seek backing throughout the city. READ MORE
States where Hispanics have settled in large numbers saw some of the highest percent changes in population growth and gained congressional seats, according to the first set of Census 2010 results, released Tuesday.
Many states in the South and West that have been magnets for Latinos saw double-digit percentage growths. The growth in those areas far outpaced the nation’s, which saw a population increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 Census count of 281 million residents.
The new national population is 308.7 million.
This first release of Census results did not include data on race or ethnicity -- reports with those details will be released early next year. But many demographic experts have been expecting the 2010 Census to show that some of the largest growth in population would occur in states that are home to Hispanics, who have a higher birthrate than most other groups and include millions of immigrants.
Nevada, where Latinos were a significant factor in the re-election of Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, saw a 35 percent population increase, the highest of any state. Nevada gained one congressional seat. READ MORE
After deserting a Spanish naval ship in the Pacific Northwest, Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a 20-year-old Spanish sailor, arrived in Honolulu in 1794. Marin was the first documented Hispanic to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.
Marin’s arrival occurred about the same time that King Kamehameha was consolidating all of the Islands into one kingdom while he was living on Oahu. The king maintained a body of advisers who acted as a council of state to aid in his struggle for supremacy.
Don Francisco de Paula Marin, who was from an agricultural part of southern Spain, was known for his extensive knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants and herbs. According to a Hawaiian history book by Richard Wiesnewski, “The Rise and Fall of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” Marin planted the first pineapple in the kingdom of Hawaii on Jan. 2, 1813.
Marin soon became a trusted advisor and confident of the king, acting as his business advisor, bookkeeper, interpreter (he spoke fluent Hawaiian). He also served as the king’s physician and was at his bedside during his death in 1819.
As a result of his service to the king and the alii, Marin was given land on Ford Island to collect plants and provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the crews of foreign ships that arriving at Honolulu Harbor.
Today, Marin is best remembered for his green thumb. He introduced apples, apricots, asparagus, avocados, cabbage, carrots, Chile peppers, eggplant, lemons, limes, macadamia, nectarines, nuts, olives, onion, oranges, parsley, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, rice, tea and tobacco into the Hawaian Kingdom. READ MORE
"For a long time Latinos were a fact of life in the American Southwest, and that was it," said John Weeks, a professor of geography and director of the International Population Center at San Diego State University.
"But over the last 20 years, there has been just a mushrooming of migrants into places like Charlotte (North Carolina), originally brought there to do construction."
Latinos are leading the transformation of the United States, where ethnic and racial minorities are expected to become the majority by mid-century, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections.
There are more than 45 million Hispanics in the United States, double the number 20 years ago, according to the American Community Survey released this month ahead of the 2010 Decennial Census data being released on Tuesday. The survey drew on five-year estimates from 2005 to 2009.
While long a presence in the states bordering Mexico such as Arizona, Latinos are increasingly moving to the U.S. interior to work in states like Georgia and North Carolina, where the number of Hispanics as a proportion of the population has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2000.
A sign of that growth is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which includes the city of Charlotte -- one in five children now born there are to Hispanic mothers.
"This city is no longer thought of as being a 'Southern town,'" said Rocio Gonzalez, of the Latin American Chamber of Commerce in Charlotte, speaking of the city's transformation.
While it was hard to find a place to sway to a salsa beat when she moved there in 1999, Gonzalez, who is originally from Colombia, says it now has clubs open even on week nights.
'MORE DIVERSE FUTURE'
The Census Bureau projects that the U.S. Hispanic population will nearly triple to more than 130 million by 2050, when nearly one in three U.S. residents will be Latino.
The rapid growth in part is a result of increased economic immigration from Mexico and Latin America, which has helped swell the U.S. foreign-born Hispanic population to 37 million, from 31 million a decade ago. READ MORE
The last 10 years have been of considerable importance to the economy. From boom to bust and back again, the nation's wealth has expanded and contracted in unforeseeable ways. Throughout these tough economic times are stories of significant hope. Mary Kay Inc. is one of them and is proud to announce that over the last 10 years, it has increased its Latina independent sales force by 39 percent.
The increase in the Latina Mary Kay independent sales force is significant when compared to the overall economic trends, regardless of the ethnic grouping, over the last 10 years. Budget cuts and workforce downsizing occurring across the board in almost every industry over the last decade, can make starting a Mary Kay direct sales business appealing to many women.
Given the opportunity, Latina women can have financial freedom and excel to the highest levels of leadership. They are role models for others to reach their full potential as leaders. Yvette Franco, Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Mary Kay Inc. explains: "The Mary Kay business opportunity is a business model that resonates with working women who need flexible hours, a clearly defined business plan and an open-ended opportunity to achieve personal growth and financial success, for themselves and their families. A Mary Kay business is the ideal choice for every woman with an entrepreneurial soul."
Mary Kay credits this growth to values that Latinas share with the skin care and cosmetics leader. When Mary Kay Ash founded her business in 1963, she stressed to the independent sales force – made up of only 9 women at that time – the importance of faith, family and career. "Historically, Latinas follow Mary Kay's principles, balancing their work lives and caring for their family, children or parents, while still finding time to earn extra income." Franco added.
Mary Kay has been a stable career choice for thousands of Hispanic women, many of whom have found great success in the process and continue to pass it on. READ MORE
More than Eight in Ten Hispanic Adults Use a Cell Phone
Hispanics More Likely than other Cellular Users to Text Message
Hispanic Smartphone Growth Rate Outpaces that of Total Population
Consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research issued an analysis which finds that cellular usage is increasing at a faster rate among Hispanics than it is among the total population. The analysis is derived from the company's Hispanic Multi-Market Study, which compiles information on lifestyles, technology adoption, demographics and media usage among adults age 18+ in 34 of the largest Hispanic markets in the U.S. Scarborough finds that the percentage of Hispanic adults who use a cellular phone grew 26 percent since 2005, versus 18 percent for all adults. Currently, cellular usage among Hispanics is on par with that of the general population as 82 percent of Hispanic adults use a cellular phone, versus 84 percent of total adults.
Hispanics are more likely than other cellular users to text message. Sixty-four percent of Hispanics who use a wireless phone text message, versus 56 percent of all cellular users. This group is also more likely than other cellular users to use their wireless device to:
* Download music: 22 percent of Hispanic cellular users download or listen to music via their wireless device, versus 15 percent of all wireless users.
* Play games: 19 percent of Hispanic cellular users play games on their wireless device, versus 15 percent of all wireless users.
* Access social networking: 12 percent of Hispanic cellular users social network via their wireless device, versus 10 percent of all wireless users.
Additionally, the Hispanic smartphone growth rate is outpacing that of the total population. Nineteen percent of Hispanic adults currently live in a household that owns one or more smartphones – such as Blackberries or iPhones –versus five percent in 2005. Twenty-three percent of the general population currently owns these devices in their household, growing from nine percent in 2007. READ MORE
Latinos represent more than 30 percent of Arizona’s population and bring more than $31 billion to the state’s economy, according to a recent study by Arizona’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, reports Maritza Lizeth Félix for Prensa Hispana. The report, “Datos: Focus on Arizona’s Hispanic Market 2010,” finds that Latina women have become an economic engine in the state. The study does not include the economic impact of undocumented immigrants.
In Numbers
$31.3 billion – the buying power of Latinos in Arizona
$47.9 billion – the amount Latinos are expected to spend in 2013
$951 billion – Latino buying power in the U.S., not including Puerto Ricans, whose buying power is estimated at $50 billion
63% of Arizona’s Latino population lives in Maricopa County
42% of the residents of Phoenix are Latino
1 in 4 children born in the U.S. in 2008 was of Hispanic descent READ MORE
Latino business leaders recognizes a New York congressman for his work in breaking down trade barriers between the United States and Latin American countries at a dinner featuring embassy representatives from 13 countries.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., received an award from Hispanic entrepreneurs for supporting laws dealing with trade agreements with Latin American countries and drug policies affecting the region.
The Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted a dinner Friday to honor Engel's work as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs' subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Diplomatic delegations from 13 countries, mostly from Latin America, attended the dinner held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
"We are giving this award for first time to honor people who help Latinos' businesses to grow, and we chose Congressman Engel for his work in facilitating trade between Latin American countries and United Sates," Angela Franco, president of GWHCC, said.
Engel's initiatives have been aimed at promoting trade preferences with some Andean countries, allocating funds for Haiti's reconstruction and convening an independent commission to evaluate U.S. programs and policies to reduce the drug supply and demand in the Western Hemisphere. READ MORE
Minority internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white internet users.
This is the first-ever survey reading from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project that exclusively examines Twitter users. In previous surveys, the Pew Internet Project had asked internet users whether they "used Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others?"
Here is a little background on our reasoning for focusing just on Twitter in this more recent survey. The message service Twitter launched on July 15, 2006 now claims tens of millions of users worldwide. It is one of the most popular online activities among tech enthusiasts and has become a widely used tool among analysts to study the conversations and interests of users, buzz about news, products or services, and announcements by commercial, non-profit, and government organizations. For instance, it is an important component of the analytical work by our colleagues at the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in its New Media Index, which assesses the most prominent topics discussed in social media every week.
Since August 2008, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has been asking a question in occasional national telephone surveys about services like Twitter. In the 10-year lifespan of the Pew Internet Project, we have not usually asked about single, company-specific online applications or activities because our mission
is to look generally at online activities, rather than at specific brands. For instance, when we looked at teens and gaming, we focused on genres of computer and online games, rather than usage of particular games. READ MORE
Oh the Drama of it all. During the middle of the night a startled couple awakes to a phone call, the mother answers and it’s from the local hospital informing her that her son, Alberto, has been involved in a horrible accident. She breathes heavily, asks a furry of questions, her husband and her dash to the hospital (cue dramatic music). Husband goes into an angry monologue, family is reunited, and son is ok.
Sound like a telenovela? That’s because it is. The Texas Department of Transportation launched a series of mini telenovelas this month in an effort to educate the Hispanic Community about the consequences of drinking and driving.
The three telenovelas follow the members of a Hispanic family as they experience drinking and driving situations and they aired as thirty second and two minute spots on Univision, Estrella, and Telefutura during the evening news for two weeks in late November.
One of the telenovelas involves the aforementioned parents rushing to the hospital where their son, Alberto, is in bandages from a drunk driving accident. His parents think it was someone elses fault but to their dismay—(Dramatic Pause)—Alberto was the one drinking and driving.
While the recipe for good old fashioned telenovelas can draw some laughs, their influence and popularity amongst the Latino community is no joke and neither is the disturbing trend between latinos and Drunk Driving. READ MORE
Los investigadores de la Universidad de Stanford, California, descubrieron en escáneres cerebrales que muchas de las áreas del cerebro normalmente involucradas con la respuesta al dolor también se activan con los pensamientos amorosos.“Cuando la gente está en esa fase apasionada y hasta obsesiva del enamoramiento, ocurren alteraciones en su estado de ánimo que tienen un impacto en sus experiencias de dolor”, afirma el doctor Sean Mackey, quien dirigió el estudio publicado en la revista de la Biblioteca Pública de Ciencia, PLoS ONE. "Ahora estamos comenzado a entender algunos de estos sistemas de recompensa del cerebro y la forma como influyen en el dolor”.
Estos son sistemas profundos cerebrales que involucran a la dopamina, uno de los principales neurotransmisores que influ-yen en el estado de ánimo, la recompensa y la motivación, explica el científico.Fase de pasiónLos expertos analizaron a 15 estudiantes que se encontraban en la primera fase de un romance, la “etapa de más pasión”. En el análisis se les provocó una dosis leve de dolor mientras se observaba si se distraían al mirar fotos de su pareja amada. Durante el experimento los científicos utilizaron imágenes de resonancia magnética
funcional (fMRI) para medir la actividad en tiempo real de diferentes partes de su cerebro. Resultó que las mismas áreas del cerebro que se activan con el amor intenso son las mismas áreas que los medicamentos utilizan para reducir el dolor.Más amor menos dolorLos científicos descubrieron que al mirar la imagen de su persona amada, los estudiantes tenían una percepción mucho más reducida del dolor que cuando miraban la imagen del conocido atractivo. READ MORE
Already the largest minority group in the United States, Latinos will be an even bigger presence in the years to come, according to demographic studies. Clara Rodriguez, Ph.D., professor of sociology in Fordham College at Lincoln Center, is making sure their stories are told.
Through 10 books, dozens of papers and consulting projects with Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street, Rodriguez
has developed a deep knowledge about a group that now accounts for 15 percent of the population.
Her analyses of United States census data have resulted in papers such as “Contestations Over Classifications: Latinos, the Census and Race in the United States” (Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 2009) and “Implications and Impact of Race on the Health of Latinos,” a chapter in Health Issues in Latino Males: A Social and Structural Approach (Rutgers University Press, 2010).
As part of her study of census data, Rodriguez cast a critical eye on racial classifications in the decennial censuses. Examining how respondents who identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino reported their race, she found that 40 percent chose “some other race,” and many of them wrote in what is known as a Latino identifier, such as Dominican, Panamanian or Chicano. READ MORE
19th-fastest growth rate in the nation. The data show the Hispanic business growth rate outpaced the 10% growth seen for all Iowa businesses between 2002 and 2007.
Statewide, Hispanic-owned businesses make up less than 1% of the state's total businesses. Data show that ten other states have fewer Hispanic-owned businesses than Iowa. Hispanics are about 4.5% of the state's population, growing nearly 63% from 2000 to 2009 to about 134,000. The newspaper reports receipts from Hispanic businesses increased 59% from 2002 to 2007, totaling $457 million in 2007. READ MORE
The remarkable "Ugly Betty" ended its five-season, primetime run last Thursday night, and the TV landscape's a lot flatter for the loss. Say what you will about the ABC dramedy's quality over the past couple seasons.
The show featured a cast of brown-skinned characters that were unprecedented in primetime television. The series featured smart and strong Latinas, a powerful Black woman and even an undocumented father from Mexico. Not to mention the show's humanistic handling of its gay and transgender characters. Just one of these characters would
radicalize most primetime TV shows. In the end, though, critics say the multiple storylines these characters spawned did the show in, by stealing Betty's spotlight. During its first three seasons, "Ugly Betty" aired on Thursday nights, where it was mostly successful.
However, when viewership dropped ABC shuffled the show around and lost even more viewers. On Jan. 27, 2010, ABC announced it was canceling the series.That's a shame, and here are five reasons why—along with a compilation of scenes that make the point better than I can. READ FULL STORY
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that a quarter of the country's children younger than 5 are Hispanic, making Obama's goal almost impossible without their participation.Hispanic undergraduates face numerous problems, however. They're more likely to be financially disadvantaged, they have less access to school information and they often come from families that got along without college, said attendees at this week's Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities conference.
Duncan's strategy for addressing those problems relies on revamping financial aid and high school curricula, along with a touch of social engineering."The absolute challenge we have is one of low expectations," Duncan said.
"We have more resources than the department has ever had. We're going to try to put our money where our mouth is."Duncan's office has more dollars and more influence than any other education chief's has in U.S. history.
However, the question remains how to translate that muscle into prescriptions for the nation's educational bills.Hispanics have started to close the gap in freshman-year college enrollment, but they've stalled in graduation rates, according to a study released last month by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy organization in Washington.
On average, 51 percent of Latino undergraduates earn degrees in six years or fewer, compared with 59 percent of non-Hispanic white students, the study found. To change that, the Education Department and its state counterparts need to link funds for institutions that serve Hispanics to graduation totals rather than to enrollment numbers, said Andrew P. Kelly, a co-author of the report. READ FULL STORY
As we saw during the final stages of the health-care debate, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D) isn't shy about taking his complaints public (he said he was going to vote against the health bill before eventually voting for it).
And now he's taking aim at President Obama's immigration policies, suggesting that Latino voters might not participate in the upcoming midterm elections -- if the administration and Democratic congressional leaders don't move forward on a comprehensive immigration bill.
In a press conference today blasting a new anti-immigration law in Arizona, Gutierrez said, "It seems to me that
is an option for people to stay home [in November]. The choices have always been framed the following way -- the Republicans are so mean-spirited and so anti-immigrant that they simply push immigrants and Latinos into the waiting arms of Democrats." "There is a third option for those voters," he added.
"They don't necessarily have to fill the ranks of the Democratic Party. They can simply stay home, and that to me is an option that is there. It is not an option that I have called for. But let me be clear: It's not an option I have ruled out... Will I rule it out in the future? Absolutely not!"
Later, when speaking Spanish to Spanish-language reporters, Gutierrez was even harsher toward the Obama
administration. "Where is the Justice Department? Here is an injustice against the basic rights. Where is the administration of Barack Obama and his Justice department?" READ FULL STORY
Advocates for illegal immigrants fear the White House is doing the bare minimum to appease Latino voters before midterm elections as it focuses on other issues.
A White House commitment to overhaul the nation's immigration system this year is collapsing, with the Obama administration undecided about the best way to proceed on an issue the president had identified as a top priority.Immigration advocates who meet regularly with White House officials said the Obama administration had been considering several approaches, including convening a summit meeting devoted to the issue and putting forward its own bill.
Those who attended a session Friday with administration officials said they came away with no indication the White House had settled on a course of action.President Obama "made some commitments that he's supposed to be delivering on," said Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the Obama White House. "And that was over a month ago.
So everybody can look at the calendar and make a pretty educated guess about how many days we have to get immigration done."Immigration advocates fear the White House is doing the bare minimum needed to appease Latino voters before the midterm elections in November, while concentrating its efforts on issues it considers more urgent.The White House said Tuesday that it still wanted to pass a bill this year and was trying to round up cosponsors. Flying home from a trip to Los Angeles, Obama telephoned Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) from Air Force One and asked him to consider supporting an immigration bill, according to a Brown aide. But the conversation wasn't fruitful.
Brown told Obama that he would review any legislation that comes up, but that he believes "that the immediate
focus should be on fixing the economy and creating jobs," the senator's aide said.For immigration to pass in the narrow window left before campaign season fully kicks in, Obama needs to step up his involvement, members of Congress and immigration advocates said."The critical ingredient for whether we get immigration reform done this
year will be whether the president has the courage to step forward and lead," said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, an advocacy group for low-income people and minority groups. "That is the indispensible ingredient". READ FULL STORY
