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September 2011 posts

Town of Menasha family finds what they have in common outweighs any cultural differences

Sep. 30, 2011
By J.E. Espino

At Marcelo and Susan Garcia Franz's home, chances are a vegetable soup — possibly one made with zucchinis and quinoa — is on the dinner table.

The dish is part of most home-cooked meals that Marcelo prepares for their two children at the family's Town of Menasha residence. It reminds Marcelo of the staple diet he received as a boy living in a crowded Ecuadorian household of 10.

"When I was growing up, eating out was a foreign concept. We didn't go out to eat ever," he said. "Once in a while when I was helping my mom at the open market, we'd have lunch made at one of the stands. But other than that, one of your brothers and sisters would cook at home. Or if you stayed with the neighbors, then they would cook."

But there are stark differences within the Garcia Franz family, which is representative of the demographic shift the Fox Valley is experiencing, and how the nature of diversity has changed over the past decade.

Marcelo Garcia, 44, married Susan Franz, a Neenah native, 13 years ago. His food preferences are in daily competition with hamburgers and chips — items that are commonplace on kids' menus and at community functions they attend.

Pacha, 9, whose name means "world" in Quechua, the Inca language, can eat bowlfuls of the soup. Her older brother, Rumiñaui, 10, named after an Inca warrior, tells his dad his taste buds are tired of his food. When the cooking defaults to Susan, 39, the children want macaroni and cheese.

They watch movies like "The Devil Wears Prada" in Spanish. It is good practice for Susan, who is fluent in Spanish but still struggles with tricky idioms. The children understand the language, but are at the point where they answer only in English.

Susan never worries about Marcelo being glued to the TV watching Sunday sports programming. Until the 2010 season, Marcelo never followed the Green Bay Packers or any other NFL team.

"We went to our first Packers game last year. Of course, it was a Super Bowl year. I like to credit it to Marcelo for converting into a Packers fan," Susan said with a grin.

Sharing cultural values

Over lunch on a Monday in August, Marcelo and Susan sat at Antojitos Mexicanos, a restaurant in downtown Appleton, to reflect on their marriage — and how they blend and transmit the values they grew up with to their son and daughter.

For the couple, it has meant a life of balancing the values and traditions of two countries.

"How you adjust to one another depends on how open-minded you are about culture," Marcelo said.

To that end, Hispanics have made strides in seeping into the mainstream.

"Garcia" has become one of four Hispanic surnames to rank among the 15 most common since 2000. It was the most frequent of the four, placing eighth on the list. Rodriguez followed in ninth place, Martinez in 11th and Hernandez in 15th.

Marcelo was a breakfast cook at a restaurant in Madison when he met Susan in 1995. He completed his studies in speech therapy in Cuenca, Ecuador, and started fresh in this country.

Susan graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh the previous year with a degree in international studies and Spanish. She was hired to work part time in the restaurant's bakery.

Susan has been fascinated by Latin American culture since her teenage years, when she visited her wintering grandparents in Weslaco, Texas. She would cross the border to Mexico, curious about the people, their food and customs.

"I like the whole idea of the family being the center and that people come together and help one another," Susan said.

While working at the restaurant, Susan practiced her Spanish on Marcelo. After she left three months later, they went out a few times. But the relationship was stricken by a cultural misunderstanding from the start. He had serious intentions.

"I was brought up to pursue a lady, and if it gets serious, we need to get married. But that is not how the American way is," he said.

Her reaction was, "Whoa. Because being from here, we ease into things."

So they went their separate ways until they were reunited at a party 1½ years later.

"We started going out again, with me having a different mentality about how things work here," Marcelo said.

In October 1998, they married at Cathedral Pines in Lakewood, a small town in Oconto County. The reception was at the Wild Wolf Inn on the Wolf River, and Marcelo was stunned that some guests left before dancing got under way.
Forging a relationship

Like many couples, Marcelo and Susan have learned to compromise.

He is a minimalist and insists on frugal living, largely because of his background.

"I tell them about how many times I had to walk to school barefoot, which I did. My dad would buy me a pair of rubber boots and that had to last a whole year. We as kids kicked stones in the road and they would break," Marcelo said. "So, I'd take a machete. We cooked in an open fire, and I would heat up the machete to seal the boot."

Stories like that also can be a source of déjà vu for Susan, whose mother grew up on a farm.

"She didn't have a whole lot growing up and they had to do this and they had to make that last for this long," she said. "I was used to the stories, but kind of now having it in adulthood?

"There are times when I think the kids are growing out of things … and they need something that fits them better. He says, 'Are you sure?' or 'We can't bring it in unless we've taken something out.'"

And yet, she's won the battle on Christmas gift-giving.

"After you've spent an Ecuadorian Christmas, gifts aren't even part of it. It's all about the holiday and the Nativity scene. It's all about a big dinner with the family," she said.

The rule at the Garcia Franz household is one gift for each child.

"He pushes me to rethink things, and hopefully I push him to say, it's OK to embrace certain things. It's part of the evolution. A lot of his relatives look to us for a lifestyle they think they might want. There are some things to embrace and some things to say, 'You don't want that.'"

Source: Post Crescent

Posted by on September 30, 2011 in Hispanic Culture | | Comments (0)

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How the internet has led to a rise in the use of mangled English in Spanglish

29th September 2011
By Daily Mail Reporter

The internet has not only changed the way we live, it's even helping to shape the rapidly developing language of Spanglish.

Spaniards and Latin Americans, according to a study, are using more English on the web, though often mistakenly.

The most common examples of online Spanglish include 'footing', 'puenting', 'pendrive' and 'manager'.

Hilario! How the internet has led to a rise in the use of mangled English in Spanglish

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 3:38 PM on 29th September 2011

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The internet has not only changed the way we live, it's even helping to shape the rapidly developing language of Spanglish.

Spaniards and Latin Americans, according to a study, are using more English on the web, though often mistakenly.

The most common examples of online Spanglish include 'footing', 'puenting', 'pendrive' and 'manager'.
Spoof: Spanglish-speaking parody of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Spoof: Spanglish-speaking parody of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The joint study was carried out by Fundéu BBVA and Yahoo!

It focused on the increase in the amount of Anglicisms creeping into the Spanish language because of the internet.

Aside from some of the more obvious terms, such as 'CEO' or 'Smartphone', the study reveals a host of other English words that are frequently adopted.

Some of the most common examples were accepted by the Real Academy of Spanish some time ago, eitb.com reports.

The Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language, based in Madrid, Spain,

The words include 'footing' (in place of the English 'jogging'), 'parking' (instead of 'car park' or 'parking lot') and even 'mister' (meaning 'trainer' or 'coach.') Many words used are just simple twists on the English version, such as 'mucho' and 'hilario.'

But it would seem the internet has led to even more strange words creeping into the Spanish language.

These include 'soporte' for 'support,' instead of the actual Spanish word of apoyo and 'aplicar' for 'apply,' used instead of solicitar.

Fundéu BBVA is a non-profit organisation devoted to maintaining the 'unity and purity' of the Spanish language.


Source: Daily Mail

Posted by on September 30, 2011 in Language | | Comments (0)

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Census: Hispanics fuel US white population growth

9/29/2011
By HOPE YEN

In a twist to notions of race identity, new 2010 census figures show an unexpected reason behind a renewed growth in the U.S. white population: more Hispanics listing themselves as white in the once-a-decade government count.

The shift is due to recent census changes that emphasize "Hispanic" as an ethnicity, not a race. While the U.S. government first made this distinction in 1980, many Latinos continued to use the "some other race" box to establish a Hispanic identity. In a switch, the 2010 census forms specifically instructed Latinos that Hispanic origins are not races and to select a recognized category such as white or black.

The result: a 6 percent increase in white Americans as tallied by the census, even though there was little change among non-Hispanic whites. In all, the number of people in the "white alone" category jumped by 12.1 million over the last decade to 223.6 million. Based on that definition, whites now represent 72 percent of the U.S. population and account for nearly half of the total population increase since 2000.

Broken down by state, California and Texas were home to nearly half of Hispanics who identified as white, followed by Florida and New York. Together, these four states comprised nearly two-thirds of the "white alone" population who were Hispanic. Overall, Hialeah, Fla.; Fargo, N.D.; Arvada, Colo.; Billings, Mont., and Scottsdale, Ariz., posted the highest shares in the "white alone" category, at roughly 90 percent or more.

"The white population has become more diverse as evidenced by the growth of the Hispanic white population and the multiple-race white population," including black-white and white-Asian people, according to the 2010 census analysis released Thursday.

Some demographers say the broadened white category in 2010 could lead to a notable semantic if not cultural shift in defining race and ethnicity. Due to the impact of Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing group, the Census Bureau has previously estimated that whites will become the minority in the U.S. by midcentury. That is based on a definition of whites as non-Hispanic, who are now at 196.8 million.

That could change, if the common conception of white were to shift.

"What's white in America in 1910, 2010 or even 2011 simply isn't the same," said Robert Lang, sociology professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, citing the many different groups of European immigrants in the early 20th century who later became known collectively as white. He notes today that could mean a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant in upstate New York or Jews and Italians in the lowest East side of Manhattan.

Predicting a similar shift for Hispanics, Lang and others noted that mixed marriages are now more common between whites and Hispanics. U.S.-born Latino children of immigrants also are more likely than their parents to identify as white. "The definition of white has always been expansive," he said. "I could see the census in 2030 or 2040 dropping the differentiation between Hispanics and whites."

Roderick Harrison, a Howard University sociologist and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, agreed that growing numbers of second- and third-generation Hispanics may lose some of their cultural identity as they become more assimilated in the U.S. "Some portion might indeed become, for most social purposes, 'white,'" he said.

The latest census figures also show the number of Americans who identified themselves as partly black and partly white more than doubled to 1.8 million. For the first time, the black-white combination is the most prevalent group among multiracial Americans, making up 1 in 5 members of that subgroup. They exceed the number of multiracials who identified as being white and "some other race," composed of mostly Hispanics, as well as white-Asians and white-American Indians.

States in the South including South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama tripled their numbers of people identifying as a mix of black and white, mostly because their overall numbers are smaller. In those places, less than 3 percent of blacks identified that way — lower than the national average of 4.5 percent.

In raw numbers, states that had the biggest increases in the black-white category were California, Florida, Texas, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Some blacks who are partly white have been reluctant to openly embrace their white background, due to a strong black identity in their communities. Historically, several states previously had a "one drop" rule that classified whites with any African blood as black.

In the 2010 census, President Barack Obama was among those who identified himself only as African-American, even though his mother was white.

"There is no question that racial lines are blurring in the United States, especially among 'new' minorities — Hispanics, Asians and growing mixed race generations. Yet it's particularly significant that we are seeing breakdowns in white-black separation," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. "Strong gains in interracial marriages and higher mixed-race identification among youth suggest that past racial categories will need to be radically changed or even dispensed with in the next two or three decades."

The share of Hispanics identifying themselves as white increased over the past decade from 48 percent to 53 percent, while the proportion of those who marked "some other race" dropped from 42 percent to 37 percent. Many Hispanics previously preferred to check the "some other race" category to express their nationalities — such as Mexican or Cuban.

The Census Bureau has been examining different ways to count the nation's demographic groups. One experiment is a possible change to the questionnaire that would effectively treat Hispanics as a mutually exclusive group. It would allow people to check off just one of five race or ethnic categories — white, black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native — rather than asking people who identify themselves as Hispanic to also check what race they are.

Other findings:

—The multiple-race white population, including black-whites and white-Asians, increased by at least 8 percent in every state, with the biggest gains in the South.

—The non-Hispanic white population declined in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.

—The majority of blacks, both non-Hispanic blacks and those in combination with Hispanics or other races, lived in the South. About 60 percent of their total population lived in 10 states — New York, Florida, Texas, Georgia, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio. The biggest gains in blacks over the past decade occurred in Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina.

—Cities with the highest share of blacks, both non-Hispanic and in combination with others, include Detroit at 84 percent. It was followed by Jackson, Miss., Miami Gardens, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala.

Source: The Associated Press

Posted by on September 30, 2011 in Hispanic Market Size | | Comments (0)

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Hispanics in San Antonio

September 29, 2011
By M. Renteria

Although the majority of Hispanics living in San Antonio are of Mexican descent, there are several other groups representing the city's Latino population.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, people of Mexican origin make up 91.3 percent of San Antonio's Hispanic population, which totals 1,035,000. Making up the rest are Puerto Ricans, with 1.5 percent of the local Hispanic population, and other groups, including those of Cuban and South American ancestry, with 3.9 percent of local Hispanics.

Nationally, people of Mexican ancestry make up the largest percentage of the country's Hispanic population, with 63 percent of the total Hispanic population in the United States, according to the latest census figures. Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent remain the country's three largest Hispanic groups.


Hispanic groups

Organizations formed by Hispanics of different ancestry help those groups stay connected to their culture and customs. Here's a look at a few such San Antonio groups:

Centro Cultural Cubano

cubanccsa.org

The nonprofit organization was founded in 1976 to unite the local Cuban community through family-oriented events, including its annual 3 Kings Project and Fiesta de Navidad.

Sociedad Herencia Puertorriqueña

sociedadherenciaprsa.org

Founded in 1984, the group's objective is to promote and maintain the Puerto Rican culture and traditions in San Antonio, including its annual Three Kings Celebration.

Asociacion Amigos de Colombia en San Antonio

asociacionamigosdecolombia.org

Founded to help preserve Colombian culture and tradition, the group's annual events include a summer festival.

 

Fast facts

About three-quarters of Hispanics identify themselves as being of Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban origin.

More than three-quarters of the U.S. Hispanic population lives in the West or South.

More than half of the U.S. Hispanic population lives in three states: California, Florida and Texas.

Counties with the highest number of Hispanics are along the Southwest border of the United States.


Source: MySanAntonio.com

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Hispanic Facts and Figures, Hispanic Market Size | | Comments (0)

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Product Developers Find Ethnic Flavors Continue To Succeed with U.S. Consumers

Sept. 28, 2011
By Diane Toops

Only 25 years ago, Italian or Mexican flavors seemed foreign and unfamiliar to most Americans. Today, with the entire world at our fingertips courtesy of smart phones along with YouTube, food cultures of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean seem equally as close and accessible as those of Europe or regional America.

"Looking forward in foodservice, the two we think have the most potential are Asian and Mediterranean," says Ron Paul, president and CEO of Chicago-based Technomic, a research and consulting firm servicing the food and foodservice industries.

Mexican, which once seemed other-worldly, is either passé or mainstream. "Other than an obvious standout like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Mexican hasn't had seen much new activity, and our friends there are now going after the Asian market with the recent launch of ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen," he explains. "Indian is a long shot. Bottom line, it's Asian and Mediterranean. Those trends generally carry over to retail, and a good model would be through the appetizer section. Consumers like to share, and that's how they learn about new cuisines."

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The Culinary Institute of America (www.ciachef.edu/california), St. Helena, Calif., plans to reach deep into more than 20 regional food cultures and ethnic traditions, looking internationally as well as in the U.S., during its 2011 Worlds of Flavor Conference Nov. 3-5. Ethnic flavors planned for discussion are:

    From Europe and the Mediterranean: Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey
    From Africa: Morocco, Tunisia, West Africa and South Africa
    From Asia: India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Korea
    From Latin America: Mexico, Cuba, Peru, and Brazil.

This explosion of enthusiasm in global flavors substantially ups the ante in new product development and the need to stay on top of trends. Customer appetites for global culinary adventure are not only bringing bigger flavors to our packaged foods and our cooking but also transforming the very idea of a restaurant — think four wheels.

Food trucks are accelerating interest in South American cuisines of Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Venezuela, as well as specific regions of Mexico, especially the Yucatan, according to New York-based Packaged Facts. In terms of Asian food, Japanese food will draw the most attention, especially with yakatori, bite-sized marinated beef, seafood or chicken pieces grilled on skewers. Indian and Korean food will become better established. Already ubiquitous Greek cuisine is likely to gain a greater presence at retail (Greek-style yogurt has really taken off) while Moroccan and Turkish food will gain recognition and an entirely new genre of Scandinavian cuisine could well create a culinary stir.

Further afield
Among packaged food products, lesser-known ethnic fare — specifically, Thai, Japanese and Caribbean food — has experienced rapid growth, according to Mintel's Global New Products Database (www.mintel.com), Chicago.

"Italian, Mexican and Asian cuisine are the more mainstream, popular ethnic cuisines," says David Lockwood, senior analyst at Mintel. "But Thai, Caribbean and Japanese foods are seeing healthy growth, and consumers seem to be getting more comfortable with a wider variety of ethnic flavors."

In 2010 alone, Mintel's GNPD tracked a 150 percent increase from 2009 in new food items containing "Caribbean" in the product description. "Japanese" product launches increased more than 230 percent from 2009-2010, and "Thai" product launches rose by 68 percent.

One reason ethnic product launches are increasing, according to Mintel, may be the wide variety of outlets consumers can use to learn more about foods that aren't common to their ethnic background. Some 26 percent of ethnic food-lovers say they were introduced to a new cuisine by TV programs, newspapers or magazines. Other findings include: 23 percent of ethnic food users said they tried the items after reading cookbook recipes that included ethnic dishes; 18 percent said they grew to like ethnic fare after traveling abroad; and 25 percent said they were introduced to a new ethnic cuisine because of living in a culturally diverse neighborhood.

Mintel said these outlets are contributing to a trend called "professionalization of the amateur," in which consumers are more interested in doing things at home that would normally be done by an expert, such as preparing a complex ethnic dish. "Cooking programs, culinary magazines and recipe websites are an easy way to get more comfortable with ethnic food preparation," says Lockwood.

Changing U.S. demographics
"In the U.S., we are concentrating on the Hispanic market," says Phil Sprovieri, vice president of sales and marketing at Flavorchem Corp. (www.flavorchem.com), Downers Grove, Ill. "We believe the popularity of Mexican food has not yet peaked. What caught our eyes is that horchata and flan, available in restaurants, is not readily available to the general public."

In five to 10 years, 35-40 percent of teens will be Hispanic and, according to the U.S. Census, the Hispanic population is growing in every metropolitan area in the U.S.

"We're not doing tacos, but we are looking to develop new categories, including beverages," Sprovieri continues. "When you are in Guadalajara [he spends time there checking out trends] you see vendors along the side of the road with large jars containing horchata, tamarindo (tamarind), and limosa (lime) beverages. That's also what they serve in shopping plazas there. Los Angeles is the only city in the U.S. readily offering those beverages. We offer those flavors for milk and dairy products, and have added guava, mango, pina colada, and chocolate with cinnamon to our Hispanic line of flavors.

"On an industrial scale, processors can't go through the homemade techniques that add flavor nuances to any foods or beverages. We make distillates from botanicals to capture top notes. One of our customers wanted to make mojito mix. If you want a great mojito, you need to macerate fresh mint leaves to release the oils and green top notes to give the beverage an aroma and flavor as if it was freshly made," he adds.

"Other cuisines such as Far Eastern and Indian food are gaining attention as well," says Sprovieri. "Today you can find many options in Chinese convenience foods. Indian will be next because it's healthy, and ideal for vegetarians. Young folks today are tuned into variety; which we offer the industry along with imagination and research to help achieve the character, aroma and authentic flavors of these foods."

Colors add value
Among more sophisticated palates, authenticity is important. And a large part of establishing authenticity in a packaged food involves color.

"In the context of processed foods, today's consumer expects that a food or beverage product look minimally processed," says Steve Morris, commercial director of United States Food Colors at Sensient Food Colors (www.sensientfoodcolors.com), St. Louis. "Products must also be more natural, and that is achieved by using fewer, more simplified ingredients and natural colors. We help processors achieve an authentic appearance through the application of an extensive spectrum of stable natural colors."

Value-added products offering texture, taste or functional ingredients drive the yogurt market, and both Greek and French style yogurts are gaining popularity. "Color vibrancy plays an important role in yogurt products, and natural colors enhance what is lost during processing," says Emina Goodman, technical support manager for Sensient Food Colors' beverage and dairy group. "It is important that the color naturally represent the fruits or ingredients used. We provide natural colors that represent varietals like Meyer lemon or Mexican lime, as well as sophisticated blended ingredients like pomegranate-maqui berry."

The company's Microfine colors add color and premium sensory appeal to processed foods where it is important to visually highlight colors and authenticity of ingredients. They deliver plating characteristics commonly found in synthetic pigments in a natural color powder.

Source: FoodProcessing.com

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Current Affairs, Hispanic Market Size | | Comments (0)

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New Federal Aid Targets Community Colleges, Hispanic-Serving Schools

September 27, 2011
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim

The Obama administration made major cash infusions to community colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions on Monday through grant programs meant to spur innovation and prepare students and displaced workers for high-tech jobs that pay good money.

The largest award was the long-awaited $500 million grant to a select group of community colleges or community college-led consortiums through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative.

The winners include institutions or consortiums from the District of Columbia and 35 states, which will all get at least $2.5 million for training programs. States that didn’t win will be contacted by the initiative’s administrators to develop a qualifying project that will immediately get $2.5 million as well.

The grants are meant to enable institutions to expand their capacity to get students prepared for jobs in fields that range from advanced manufacturing and transportation to health care and STEM fields, said officials at the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor. The $500 million is the first installment of the $2 billion the Obama administration has pledged to community colleges.

Higher education experts say that, while the Trade Adjustment Assistance initiative may not yield results immediately, in the long term it will prepare students for jobs in areas where growth is anticipated. They also say it will reshape the way community colleges operate.

“I saw investments that are really trying to shake up the way community colleges do business in a way that’s going to align the operations better with the jobs that are going to be available to people in the economy,” said Louis Soares, director of the Postsecondary Education Program at the Center for American Progress, a nonprofit organization that promotes “progressive” policies and programs, referring to the grantees.

“There’s a lot of scale there, a lot of change in the proposals, which leaves it incumbent on the partnerships and the departments (of Education and Labor) to make sure the change that is intended takes place,” Soares added.

Among other things, Soares said, the grants of the Trade Adjustment Assistance fund projects that—through consortiums that involve partners in different states—seek to make credentials usable in multiple places instead of in just one region.

“By having them work together, you end up with credentials that are highly portable, so they’re not limited to that regional economy,” Soares said. “That’s a critical piece of innovation that the administration is trying to get at in these grants.”

Soares also said grantees need to devote considerable effort to meeting the needs of the students they serve, namely through flexible financial assistance, flexible scheduling that takes child care needs into account, transportation issues for low-income students and any needed remediation.

But beyond the stated purpose of the grants are questions about whether the training that students receive will enable them to get jobs or just hang their certificates on the wall.

“Our best labor market data suggest that, as the economy picks up, there will be good jobs,” Soares said.

Among the grantees is Anne Arundel Community College.    

“This is going to allow us to develop with our consortium partners—community colleges in nine states, those states that have had massive layoffs—high-quality, market-driven STEM credentials that are in demand,” said Dan Baum, spokesman for Anne Arundel Community College, in reference to his school’s portion of the grant money.

According to a description of the college’s winning grant proposal, Anne Arundel Community College will lead a group called The National STEM Consortium, which consists of 10 community colleges from states that range from Florida to Washington State, to “develop nationally portable, certificate-level programs in STEM and to build a national model of multi-college cooperation in the design and delivery of high-quality, labor-market-driven occupational programs.”

“The programs developed by the consortium will help build a national repository of high-quality technical curricula and curricular materials that can be made available at no charge to all community colleges,” a project description says.

Baum said a special emphasis will be placed on cyber technology credentials at Anne Arundel.

“We’re taking the lead on cyber technology,” Baum said. “The purpose is really to enable displaced and underemployed workers who need some type of fast track to obtain credentials in these areas, faster credentials, preparing them for jobs in high-demand areas.”

Cyber technology, Baum said, is expanding because the need for cyber security exists in so many different fields.

“We know that this is a growing field, and it’s not just for national security,” Baum said. “This covers health, legal … . The need for cyber protection is significant, and it’s going to continue to grow.”

Aid for Hispanic-Serving Institutions

The other big federal higher education award announced Monday was a $107.4 million U.S. Department of Education grant program meant to strengthen and expand educational opportunities for Latino students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

According to the Education Department, roughly $100 million is designated for 109 grants that will enhance STEM components at schools that enroll a high percentage of Hispanic students.

“The grants may be used for purposes such as scientific or laboratory equipment for teaching, the construction or renovation of facilities, purchasing educational materials, academic tutoring or counseling programs, teacher education, and student support services,” the Education Department said in a release.

The remaining $7.8 million will be awarded through 13 grants through the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions program to help schools further educational opportunities for students through faculty development, curriculum development, academic tutoring and mentoring and other services, the department said.

“The impact of this for the Latino community is significant because not only is it going to institutions that have a high concentration of Latino undergraduates, but it’s also in academic areas of need, where Latinos tend to be underrepresented,” said Deborah A. Santiago, vice president for Policy and Research at Excelencia in Education, a D.C.-based organization that focuses on policies and practices aimed to better serve Latino students.

Source: Diverse

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Hispanic Education | | Comments (0)

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The Beginning Of A Multicultural Marketing Approach

September 29, 2011
by Sebastian Aroca

No doubt, Latinos in the U.S. are gradually but surely being integrated and absorbed into mainstream U.S. American society. Considering the steadily growing population of this ethnic group, they have become a target of special study looking closely into their cultures and how they are adapting to the American way of life. Biculturalism or the cross-over between the two cultures is evident.

And this phenomenon has incited not only government policy makers, census takers, social scientists and social media but also marketing professionals to look more closely into the U.S. Hispanic lifestyles and spending habits and how they affect the marketing strategies they need to adopt to get this specific market segment. Biculturalism is not limited to just having tacos, jalapenos, tamales and tequilas in Mexican specialty restaurants. Song and dance, the universal languages as seen in some TV programs, show diversity in a multicultural society at work in the United States.

The end of the "general market" as we knew it?

As shown in a graph on page 7 in the 2010 Census Briefs "The Hispanic Population 2010" issued in May, U.S. Hispanics are growing in numbers across the United States, and marketing experts are well aware of the effects of biculturalism in factoring in multicultural sensitivities in their marketing strategies. In a melting pot of cultures, acculturation is not a one-way thing. More often than not, it works both ways. In this regard, acculturation could mean diversity. Let's take some specific examples.

The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the United Sates, making up 16.3% of the total population. The social networking sites like Facebook have many of these U.S. Hispanics as members interacting with themselves mostly in their native tongue, Spanish. Perhaps, it wouldn't be a surprise if in their social circles — family and friends — they have some specific inclinations to, say, a special kind of alcoholic beverage, specialty shop or fast-food restaurant that caters to their cultural background. This is not to forget their inclination for viewing TV channels catering specially to their cultures like watching telenovelas done in installments. Indeed, this is a multicultural society.

Infusion of multicultural sensitivities into their messages

For some, it might mean the beginning of a multicultural marketing approach to the growing presence of Latinos in American society. To be sure, they will impact the way we market and sell needs and wants, from food — chocolates, ice cream, hot chilies — to housing to health care and education, even electronic gadgets and entertainment, from TVs to computer games.

Census data are certainly changing the way marketers look at Hispanic consumers. However, as we know, the crossover among cultures is a two-way street.

Download Pew Hispanic Center data on state and county populations for 2010 and 2000, by Hispanic origin.

Diversity is the new mindset, the new cross-cultural phenomenon

There seems to be a trend in diversity as a result of this cross-cultural phenomenon. The Latino or U.S. Hispanic entrepreneur who operates a small-scale business in the neighborhood could be serving his taco delights, or tequilas or selling sombreros, aside from renting out DVDs featuring special song and dance numbers in their own native styles. Or a Latino bringing home the Master's Degree he or she earned in a prestigious U.S. university will definitely add to erasing the great cultural divide.

Many will argue that there are two currents or forces pulling in opposite directions. However, sooner or later, the Latinos and non-Latinos will be totally absorbed into the multicultural society and it will, hopefully, redound to the mutual benefit of all. The next U.S. National Census, about nine years from now will, I hope, bear witness to this development.

So, what did you think of this post? Post a comment (good or bad) and if you liked it, please tweet or email about it!

Source: MediaPost

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Hispanic Marketing & Advertising | | Comments (0)

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Hispanics Rise in Key States

September 29, 2011
By Jonathan Weisman

The surging Hispanic population in several states that figure to be crucial to the outcome of next year's election is prompting an early scramble by both parties to influence Hispanic voters.

The trend is particularly important to President Barack Obama, who has seen his support among white voters sag, putting his hold on several swing states in danger. He is ramping up an urgent effort to win support from Latinos, while Republicans are trying to build on doubts among them about his stewardship of the economy.

In Florida, the nation's largest presidential swing state, the voting-age Hispanic population grew by nearly 250,000 people between 2008 and 2010, census data show. By contrast, the voting-age white population grew by 30,400.

Nevada added more than 44,000 voting-age Hispanics over the same period, more than double the increase of 18,000 voting-age whites. And in New Mexico, the voting-age Hispanic total rose by more than 36,000, outpacing the growth among whites of just over 19,000.

Mr. Obama won all three states in 2008—and two-thirds of Hispanic voters nationwide—but he's now facing headwinds. Hispanic unemployment stands at 11.3%, higher than the 9.1% rate for the nation as a whole. And the president has failed to deliver a promised overhaul of immigration laws that would include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Some swing states added more white adults than Hispanic adults. But a meaningful rise in voting-age Hispanics also gives Mr. Obama an opportunity. He won North Carolina, for example, by more than 14,000 votes. About 54,400 additional voting-age Hispanics have come to the state between 2008 and 2010, census data show.

Mr. Obama's re-election campaign is starting a broad canvassing effort, reaching from traditional Hispanic communities to suburban areas where a Hispanic surge is relatively new. Hispanic-to-Hispanic phone banks are being set up in New Mexico and Nevada. Latino student outreach is also beginning.

From the White House, the president on Wednesday conducted an online roundtable on Hispanic issues. A day earlier, he spoke at a predominantly Hispanic high school in Denver.

Republicans aren't leaving the field open to the president. The first television ad of the presidential campaign from American Crossroads, a GOP-allied independent group, ran in Spanish and English in July, about the same time as Spanish-language radio ads from the Republican National Committee.

"I supported President Obama because he spoke so beautifully, but since then things have gone from bad to much worse," said a female character in the English version of the American Crossroads ad.

Mr. Obama implored Latinos at the Wednesday event to register and vote in order to claim their full voice in the political process. "We still have not seen the kinds of participation levels that are necessary to match up the numbers with actual political power," he said, in comments translated into Spanish.

Polling explains why the push is coming so early in the president's re-election effort: Mr. Obama's support among whites has sunk. Only 35% of white adults approved of his job performance in August. Six months into his presidency, 49% had approved of his job performance, Wall Street Journal/NBC News surveys show. Hispanics view him more favorably: 57% approved of Mr. Obama in August, down from 71% in June 2009.

Here in Virginia, which Mr. Obama carried in 2008, two-thirds of white voters disapproved of his job performance in a recent poll. That is one reason that, in suburbs like this one, his re-election campaign is recruiting Latino neighborhood captains, canvassing coordinators, phone-bank hosts and data-management coordinators.

In Jill Borak's Woodbridge living room, Keisy Chavez, a Obama campaign Latino outreach coordinator, was training new recruit Chepita Jovel last week as the two worked their way down call sheets of Spanish-sounding surnames. Flipping between English and Spanish, they worked the phones and cajoled former volunteers to work once again for the president.

But generating enthusiasm could be a challenge, due to higher unemployment today and no overhaul of immigration laws for the president to campaign on. A less-ambitious effort to provide illegal immigrant children a route to citizenship through service and study also has foundered. "People are discouraged," said Ms. Chavez, a life-insurance saleswoman by day. "But you know, it's just like in sales. You say, 'I understand why you feel like that,' and you bring them along."

One potentially encouraging sign for Mr. Obama: The Census Bureau reported Wednesday that Latinos made up 7% of voters in 2010, the highest percentage for a nonpresidential election since the bureau began collecting such data.

At the same time, the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security has deported more than one million illegal immigrants in three years, putting him on pace to deport more in one term than George W. Bush did in two. That has done nothing to win over conservatives, but it has done much to sour many Latino voters.

"I think there is a Latino problem right now for the president," said Walter Tejada, a Democrat and member of the Arlington County board of supervisors and one of the most prominent Hispanic politicians in the area. "There's a disenchantment, and there's definitely an enthusiasm gap. It's very real."

Republicans are focusing on that in ads in key states. "The No. 1 issue facing Hispanics today is the number one issue facing everyone else—jobs and the economy," said Whit Ayres, who has been polling Hispanic voters for a Latino outreach effort by Resurgent Republic, another GOP group.

Mr. Obama may have one thing going for him: By huge majorities, Hispanic voters favor immigration bills that have languished since the Bush administration, and they largely blame the GOP for their failure, according to a new poll of Hispanic voters by Resurgent Republic.

Some Republicans see that as a serious problem. They argue that the GOP has a wide opening to win Hispanic votes in a year when economic issues are trumping all others, and they believe Latinos, who tend to be Catholic and include many small-business owners, should be as open to the party's low-tax, culturally conservative message as are other voters.

But many Latinos read the GOP's call for tough illegal immigration laws as an affront.

Some Republican campaign consultants have quietly hoped immigration issues would drop from the current presidential debate, allowing the economic argument to dominate.

But in recent days, the opposite has happened as Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have sparred at debates over a law the Texas governor signed granting in-state university tuition to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Romney has called the law a magnet for illegal immigration. When Mr. Perry suggested at a recent debate that the law's critics had no heart, the backlash among conservative voters was harsh.

"The message from the Resurgent Republic poll for Republicans is to be extremely careful of their tone when talking about immigration," Mr. Ayres said. "It is critically important for Republicans discussing immigration reform not to come across as anti-Hispanic."

The Republican economic message doesn't appear to be resonating among Hispanics, either. Resurgent Republic asked Hispanics in Florida, Colorado and New Mexico whether they agreed that the best way to improve the economy was to increase government investment in job training, education and infrastructure, or by reining in government spending, lowering taxes and reducing excessive regulations.

In Colorado, a swing state, 56% sided with more government spending, as Mr. Obama has proposed, while 37% sided with less government, as Republicans propose. In Florida, the spread was 52% to 40%. In New Mexico, it was 59%-30%.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Current Affairs, Hispanic Market Size | | Comments (0)

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Galavisión Delivers Best Season Ever With Double Digit Growth

September 28th, 2011
By Bill Gorman

Galavisión enjoyed a record-breaking 2010/2011 season with double digit growth among viewers across key dayparts year to year. The cable network also continues to rank as one of the top cable networks, regardless of language, among Hispanic Adults in Spanish-language primetime and Total Day.

“Galavisión has solidified its strength in offering Hispanic viewers the entertainment and informational content they seek,” said Sebastian Trujillo, senior vice president and operating manager, Galavisión Network. “The network’s record-breaking season performance further establishes Galavisión as the leading player in Spanish-language cable television.”

Against the 2009/2010 season, Galavisión has seen double digit percentage increases among Total Viewers 2+, Adults 18-34 and Adults 18-49 in Total Day, Daytime, Early Fringe, Spanish-language primetime and Weekend Day. Most notably, among Adults 18-34, the cable network has seen a 115 percent increase of viewers in Daytime, a 144 percent increase in Early Fringe and a 61 percent increase in Spanish-language primetime.

Among Adults 18-49, Galavisión has seen additional growth in Daytime with a 70 percent increase of viewers, an 89 percent increase in the Early Fringe time period and a 39 percent increase in Spanish-language primetime.

With Total Viewers 2+, the cable network has seen a 75 percent increase of viewers in Daytime, a 94 percent increase in Early Fringe and a 47 percent increase in Spanish-language primetime.

In delivering Hispanic adult audiences this season in Spanish-language primetime, Galavisión remains the No. 1 cable network, regardless of language, averaging more Hispanic Adults 18-49 than MTV, Nickelodeon, USA and TNT.

Galavisión more than doubled the audience of every other Spanish-language cable network this season. In Spanish-language primetime, Galavisión delivered 133 percent more Hispanic Viewers 2+ than Discovery En Español, its nearest competitor, while also beating out mun2, FOX Deportes and ESPN Deportes.

In Total Day, Galavisión delivered an outstanding 246 percent more Hispanic Viewers 2+ than its nearest competitor Discovery En Español, while also beating out mun2, ESPN Deportes and FOX Deportes.

Boosting Galavisión’s ratings growth is beloved content that continues to attract new viewers year after year. The cable network’s Early Fringe sketch comedy block of “La Escuelita VIP/Cero en Conducta” (The VIP Schoolhouse/F in Conduct) airing Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. improved with a 70 percent increase of Total Viewers 2+ from last season’s time period, with a significant 136 percent more Adults 18-34.

Galavisión’s new Monday through Friday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. block of the sketch comedy “La Casa de la Risa” (The House of Laughter) and the sitcom “La Familia P. Luche” (The Plush Family) also showed strong increases versus last season. Among Total Viewers 2+, the new programs delivered 99 percent more viewers. With Adults 18-34, the hour increased 139 percent.

Galavisión’s tradition of hard-hitting news live from Mexico continued to grow its audience this season. “El Noticiero con Lolita Ayala” (The News with Lolita Ayala) grew Total Viewers 2+ by 29 percent and Adults 18-34 by 84 percent. “El Noticiero con Paola Rojas” (The News with Paola Rojas) grew Total Viewers 2+ by 17 percent and Adults 18-34 by 59 percent compared to last season.

Rounding out the content that delivered Galavisión’s record-breaking success this season, was a lineup of soccer tournaments telecast throughout the summer. On July 10, the telecast of the FIFA U-17 World Cup final featuring Mexico and Uruguay provided Galavisión with the largest average viewing audience in Spanish-language cable history with 2.2 million Total Viewers 2+. Furthermore, the game reached more than 4.1 million Total Viewers 2+ who watched all or part of Mexico's victory.

Galavisión’s coverage of the Mexico vs. Brazil semifinal match of the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup on August 17 became the second most-viewed Spanish-language cable telecast in history with an audience that averaged more than 1.7 million Total Viewers 2+. The soccer match also reached more than 3 million viewers who watched all or part of the telecast.

Source: TV by the Numbers

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Hispanic Media | | Comments (0)

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Spanish-language series offers new educational tool for TB awareness

September 28, 2011
Source: University of Florida News

Teresa knocks on her friend’s door late one night.
“¿Qué pasa?” the friend worriedly asks.

“My husband is still sick,” she responds, as the friend offers Teresa a jar of honey, the only “remedy” at hand for the husband’s ongoing cough, fever, and night-sweats.

That is how the first chapter begins of the Spanish-language novela “¡Vivir a Todo Pulmón!” or “Live Life to the Fullest!,” a 40-page recently released series that addresses misconceptions about tuberculosis, or TB, to better inform communities vulnerable to the disease.

Modeled after the storyline of a stereotypical Latin-American soap opera, the “fotonovela” is less high-drama and more reality TV.

“The idea was to create a story understandable to a Latino audience, but identifiable to the Mexican community,” said Dr. Paula Hamsho-Diaz, a physician with the Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center, part of the University of Florida College of Medicine and UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. “Proportionately, there are more foreign-born cases of TB and that’s why these resources are useful.”

Nearly 10 million new cases of TB appear worldwide each year and about 2 million people will die from the disease. The Florida Department of Health estimates that about 900 people will get active TB this year in the state, and that 60 percent of these cases are among people born in countries with a high incidence of TB, including Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the fotonovela, which is similar to a graphic novel but uses photographs instead of drawings, Teresa accompanies her husband to doctor’s office visits, social events and Mass on Sundays — scenarios in which they then address the concerns and stigmas that family members, friends or co-workers living with TB might face. Hamsho-Diaz led the team that created the fotonovela, which took three years to develop and evaluate how appropriately cultural themes were incorporated into the story.

“This is definitely something you can have on the kitchen table,” said Joseph Brueggen, a disease intervention specialist in Immokalee, Fla.

Brueggen, who educates mostly Spanish-speaking migrant workers about the importance of medication compliance if they contract the illness, added that the novela was the best educational tool he’s used in his more than 25-year career.

“I’ve noticed that it really touches these people in their ordinary lives, and this is important because sometimes a person’s immigration status deters them from going to a health clinic,” he said.

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease caused by strains of mycobacteria that attack the lungs and pose a range of symptoms for people who acquire the illness, most notably a characteristic chronic cough often accompanied by blood-tinged sputum. Although TB is treatable, new strains of the disease are showing resistance to currently available antibiotics, and a patient’s inability to stay on a medication regime promotes resistance in the organism.

However, experts caution that TB should not be seen as an illness exclusive to immigrant communities. In counties outside of Atlanta, for example, Georgia state health officials document a rise in TB among African-American men, who already have a national disease rate eight times above that of U.S.-born whites.

“Reaching out to groups with a high incidence of TB is critical to ensure that all of us are safe from this potentially life-threatening disease,” said Dr. Michael Lauzardo, director of the Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center and chief of the division of mycobacteriology in the UF College of Medicine. “Tuberculosis is a disease that cannot be considered truly controlled anywhere until it is controlled everywhere.”

The Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center is one of four national tuberculosis centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that provide TB training, education, and expert medical consultation to health professionals and TB Control Programs in the United States and abroad.

To access the fotonovela, visit http://sntc.medicine.ufl.edu/Products.aspx.

Posted by on September 29, 2011 in Hispanic Health, Hispanic Media | | Comments (0)

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