When it comes to closing the achievement gap, Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly says educators are deluding themselves. And he dares to say what's become almost unspeakable publicly:
"It's just not possible for the average kid who comes to this country in seventh or eighth grade, or even third grade, without a word of English and parents with little formal education, to match the achievement levels of kids whose mom has a Ph.D. in English from Stanford and can afford to stay home an
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The military and Congress want the ranks to roughly mirror the racial and ethnic makeup of America. But the services can’t seem to recruit enough Hispanics — even though that community tends to view the military positively.
A new study by the Rand Corp. think tank says that’s because Hispanics, more than other racial and ethnic groups, typically come up short in high school graduation rates, test scores and in meeting military weight standards. READ FULL STORYRead more…
For the last three years, Lourdes Iglesias has seen scores of clients come through the doors of Hispanics United of Buffalo — all eager to work, most unprepared to do so.
The community outreach organization hopes a recent $50,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo will change that by funding an employment center to fill job preparedness and English language gaps in the Spanish-speaking population. READ FULL STORYRead more…
New York's new senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who has drawn fire from Hispanics over her views on immigration and gun control, says she's willing to listen and perhaps even change her positions on some subjects - but isn't ready to make any commitments.
"We need to recognize the heritage that the immigrant community has provided to this country and put policies in place that will reflect that core value," Gillibrand, who recently assumed Hillary Clinton's old Senate seat, said after a two-hour m
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Ramsey County commissioners Tuesday deadlocked on a $5.1 million politically and racially charged contract over services to poor families.
The issue surrounds the Minnesota Family Investment Program, a welfare-to-work initiative that doles out money — local and federal dollars — to several private agencies charged with shepherding families from public assistance into the work force.
The program serves more black residents than any other racial or ethnic group, and the St. Paul Urban League has
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Hey, elephants, who's in charge of your political strategy these days? Anybody?
Yesterday you couldn't find a single vote to join with a popular President to begin digging out of the economic mineshaft your man Bush left us in.
Meanwhile, at least one of your geniuses is still blocking a vote on Labor Department nominee Hilda Solis, one of the most talented and impressive Latinas in American politics, supposedly because you didn't like her answers on the Employee Free Choice Act. READ FULL STORead more…
In the two decades ending in 2007, the number of white, non-Hispanic K-12 students grew by 6 percent, while the number of Hispanic students soared by 372 percent. Yet Latino students continue to languish near the bottom in the rankings for high-school achievement and college attendance, in a system that often isn't geared to meet their needs. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Congress gave final approval on Tuesday to a civil rights bill providing women, blacks and Hispanics with powerful new tools to challenge pay discrimination in the workplace. It is likely to be the first significant legislation signed by President Obama. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Forget counting sheep, ditch the sleeping pills and don't bother with a glass of warm milk, a good remedy for women who can't sleep is a happy marriage.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found that women who are happy with their husbands or partners have less trouble sleeping than their single, unattached counterparts. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A new national trade magazine for business owners and vendors in the Hispanic food industry will launch this spring from its base in the Triad.
Hispanic Marketing Consultants Inc., based in Winston-Salem, plans to publish 40,000 copies of its first issue of Abasto in May to distribute to Hispanic restaurant and shop owners, food distributors and other vendors. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Despite, her personal challenges, a divorce, closing of a business and starting all over in life with a new business and young children. She is resilient and teaches women at UCLA, especially single mothers and low-income women their financial worth. READ FULL STORYRead more…
NAHJ President: Membership Is up, but Number of Hispanics in Newsrooms Is Down
Ricardo Pimentel, editorial page editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has compiled a busy resume during his newspaper career: reporter, metro editor, Washington correspondent, managing editor, executive editor, syndicated columnist, author.
In that mix there is one constant: advocate for diversity. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A Colorado Springs lawmaker is angry about a Colorado Department of Transportation public- service announcement aimed at Spanish-speaking drivers.
CDOT is expected today to introduce the PSA, in which the announcer, speaking in Spanish, asks drivers to buckle up. It will be up to television stations, such as Univision, to determine whether and when they run the ad.
Transportation department leaders decided to shoot the PSA after statistics showed that almost 60 percent of the 80 Hispanics kil
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Hispanics, once among the smallest of Minnesota's minority groups and predicted to remain so for decades, are now expected to become the state's largest minority group within the next 10 years, the state demographer's office said Monday.
But with a lot more white folks than what experts were predicting as recently as the mid-1990s, Minnesota will also remain overwhelmingly white through the early part of this century. READ FULL STORYRead more…
A city ban on hiring ex-cons for hospital jobs is unfair to blacks and Hispanics, a city woman claimed in a complaint to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Shanae Leath, who was convicted for her role in a mugging nine years ago, lost her shot at a clerical job at Bellevue Hospital when her record came to light. Leath, 28, said the city Health and Hospitals Corp. ban discriminates. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Behind its bland, warehouse-like exterior, Comunidad Cristiana Hosanna on Sunday morning is a feast for the senses.
Little girls in white robes and sequined headbands twirl as guitar, keyboard and timbales pound out salsa, merengue and American pop rhythms at rock-concert decibels. The crowd sings along with the robed chorus: "Levanto mis manos" -- "I raise my hands." READ FULL STORYRead more…
If Governor David Paterson wanted to deliver a slap to immigrant New Yorkers, he effectively did so with his appointment yesterday of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand.
The congresswoman will replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as New York’s junior senator. In Clinton, New York had both a defender of women’s rights and an advocate of humane, sensible immigration reform. But Paterson chose to play politics by selecting an upstate representative who could shore up his support in that region—at the expense of im
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Beleaguered Citigroup is upgrading its mile-high club with a brand-new $50 million corporate jet - only this time, it's the taxpayers who are getting screwed.
Even though the bank's stock is as cheap as a gallon of gas and it's burning through a $45 billion taxpayer-funded rescue, the airhead execs pushed through the purchase of a new Dassault Falcon 7X, according to a source familiar with the deal. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Days before Barack Obama begins his presidency, a new survey has found that Latinos do not believe immigration should be the top priority for the new administration.
Rather, Latinos consider the economy the most important issue, followed by education, healthcare and national security.
Only 31% of Latinos rated immigration as an “extremely important” issue for the president-elect to address after he takes office Tuesday. Meanwhile, 57% of them said the economy was extremely important.
“Latinos
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A new study finds that sun safety behaviors may be negatively influenced among Latinos after acculturation in the United States.
Researchers analyzed data from 496 Latino respondents to the 2005 Health National Information Trends Survey. The average age of the sample was 41.3 years. Researchers discovered that acculturation was negatively associated with use of shade and protective clothing and positively associated with sunscreen use. READ FULL STORYRead more…
