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Opponents of Walmart’s planned Neighborhood Market in downtown Los Angeles are trying desperately to paint a portrait of David versus Goliath – mom-and-pop shops against Walmart.

But when it comes to economic growth, small businesses and large companies actually support each other. Indeed, the entrance of a large retailer like Walmart into a new marketplace is the key to helping many local vendors to grow.

As a former U.S. Small Business Administrator, I advocated for the small businesses that a

Many Californians have been struggling with rising gas prices this week, but Latinos especially are feeling the pain at the pump.

Gasoline prices reached up to $5 per gallon on Monday, after a week of soaring gasoline prices. According to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, which tracks gas prices from the Oil Price Information Service, the cost of fuel is reaching record-breaking levels.

Although the record-setting prices have begun to ease, the cost of the gas prices is still at unprecedented lev

A new TV network joint venture between ABC News and Univision News, targeting the young and fast-growing Hispanic market in the United States, will begin broadcasting out of Miami in late summer of 2013, company officials announced on Wednesday.

The two companies are investing $275 million in the new English-language news and lifestyle network, which will create about 350 jobs, Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks, told a luncheon of Miami business leaders also attended by Florida Gov. R

In a movie career spanning more than 20 years, Benicio del Toro has won an Oscar for Traffic, been nominated again for 21 Grams and starred in Che, The Usual Suspects, and The Wolfman.

But the Puerto Rican-born, Pennsylvania-raised star believes Latino actors are still being typecast in Hollywood.

''It's a little bit better than when I first started … but, yeah, we're still typecast,'' he says during a visit to Sydney to launch the Oliver Stone crime thriller Savages.

''But there's more Latino f

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic demographic represents a full 16% of the total U.S. population, and is growing more than three times the rate of other ethnic groups. For retailers, it’s a consumer segment that presents tremendous opportunities in the area of health and wellness.

Hispanic consumers need some guidance. Statistics compiled by The NPD Group for its new benchmark It’s Mealtime with U.S. Hispanics study found that more than 70% of Spanish language-dominant adults are

The U.S. unemployment rate for Latinos fell to 9.9 percent in September, the lowest jobless rate in nearly four years, and the lowest level since President Barack Obama first took office.

Latino unemployment has hit a 45 month low as September marks the first time the Latino jobless rate has fallen below 10 percent since December of 2008, when it was 9.4 percent.

The number of unemployed Hispanics has dropped by nearly 20 percent since the number of unemployed Latinos hit its peak at over 3 mill

As we celebrate the final week of Hispanic Heritage Month, the American Latino Heritage Fund (ALHF) of the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America's national parks, today proudly joined the President of the United States Barack Obama, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, in establishing the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument as an official park of the National Park System. Located within the property known as Nuestra Senora Reina d

Steep declines in Hispanic birth rates and a new low in teen births, according to a new government report released Wednesday.

U.S. births fell for the fourth year in a row, with experts calling it more proof that the weak economy has continued to dampen enthusiasm for having children.

Hispanics have been disproportionately affected by the flagging economy, experts say, and teen birth rates have been falling for 20 years.

But there may be a silver lining: The decline in 2011 was just 1 percent —

President Obama and Mitt Romney are both playing pander bear with the Hispanic vote as they prepare for their first debate tonight. It’s so transparent that it borders on insulting.

Obama’s pandering is perhaps the more egregious. He has 70 percent of the Hispanic vote, according to a CNN poll this week. Those voters likely feel they have nowhere to go, but even they have to admit he didn’t do much to move the needle on immigration reform in his first term in office, an issue close to the heart

The value of partnering with local Hispanic chambers of commerce is that they can open doors for your business’ marketing campaign to Hispanic consumers.

A big mistake companies make is asking Hispanic consumers for their business before establishing friendly relationships within the Hispanic community.

Latinos can be loyal business associates and customers of companies they respect, trust and consider friends. Establishing this relationship takes time, and -- most important -- showing up. Your

Latinos make up the largest group of minority students enrolled for the academic term beginning this autumn at the University of Southern California, the school said Thursday.

Out of more than 46,000 applications, 3,021 students were admitted, of whom 21 percent are members of minorities, more than half of them Hispanics.

USC's dean of admissions, Timothy Brunold, said that about 90 percent of incoming students were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes with an average GPA of 3.70.

A coalition of 30 national Latino organizations is still waiting for an apology from Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser after he swore at a prominent Hispanic leader.

Kaiser allegedly cursed out Felix Sanchez, the chairman for the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. Kaiser has since said that he regretted using ?strong language? during the tense telephone conversation.

?There is no excuse for Mr. Kaiser?s outburst and it should not and cannot be tolerated,? Janet Murguia, President a

We start with the obvious question: Why do the media, political observers and presidential campaigns spend so much time talking about the Latino vote?

Many Americans resent the implication that some votes are more important or have more impact than others. (No one is saying that's the case.)

Still, why don't we talk with equal enthusiasm about voting by African-Americans or white evangelicals or left-handed senior citizens who live in Rhode Island? READ MORE

As part of its efforts to promote equity in health and health care, the Aetna Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Aetna (NYS: AET) , has bestowed a $130,000 grant on the New York-based Hispanic Federation. The funds will be used to launch the organization's pilot program that will engage Brooklyn teenagers in the drive to improve Latino health outcomes and reduce health disparities in the North Brooklyn community of South Williamsburg.

The initiative, called Youth Health Explorers, will train 3

Candidate Barack Obama made this promise to Univision anchorman Jorge Ramos in May 2008:

"What I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill that I strongly support and that I'm promoting. And I want to move that forward as quickly as possible."

Didn't happen. When Ramos interviewed Obama on Thursday, he brought up "the Obama promise." "At the beginning of your (presidency)," Ramos said, "you had control of both chambers of Congress, and yet you did not introduce imm

From concert coverage to seats on the corporate board, Latinos are not getting the kind of representation they deserve, according to several chief executives of Fortune 500 companies.

When Mexican rock band Mana surpassed Britney Spears' record for the most sold-out shows at Staples Center, few media outlets in Los Angeles covered it.

Timothy J. Leiweke, president and chief executive of sports and entertainment firm AEG, believes that was a mistake considering that Latinos are making up a greate

ERICK GARCIA Hernandez moved his tire shop to 902 Hardy St. from Laurel because he thought it would be good for his business.

The move was at the advice of a friend.

Five months ago, he opened his doors, and things have been busy.

"My friend said Hardy Street was a pretty good spot. Right now, things are going good," said Hernandez, whose business sells new and used tires and rims, repairs brakes and flat tires, and offers other services.

"A lot of people know me. Things are all right."

Hernande

For the better part of a decade, Vamos Marketing was everything Frank Garza hoped it would be.

He'd started small, in 2003, launching his fledgling promotional products firm shortly after completing a dual undergraduate-graduate degree program at the University of Texas. As he cobbled together an increasingly diverse list of clients around Central Texas, his business started rolling. He brought on a full-time employee, freeing him up to focus on clients.

He started to think about building a sale

Mitt Romney's struggles in earning Latino support have been well-documented throughout the campaign. But what gets less attention is the drastic gap in support for Romney and President Barack Obama among Latina women.

According to a tracking poll from the firm Latino Decisions, Latina women prefer Obama to Romney by an astounding 53-point gap.

Romney has spent considerable campaign resources trying to improve his image with Latino voters, including a recent round of Spanish language ads that air

September 20, 2012 – HispanicPro and the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee (HPGM), announce a new partnership to cross promote networking and business opportunities between Chicago and Milwaukee professional Latinos. “Both networks stand to benefit from expanding connections across state lines while sharing resources for the professional development of its members”, stated Alfonso Barrera, founder of HispanicPro.

This partnership aims to promote, develop, and inform our members of grea