MARCHA: Chicago Latino y el Movimiento de los Derechos de los Inmigrantes

El Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Latinos de la Universidad de Illinois y la Biblioteca Rudy Lozano los invita cordialmente a una presentacion de libro y un dialogo con la comunidad:


MARCHA! Chicago Latino y el Movimiento de los Derechos de los Inmigrantes

PRESENTACIÓN
DE LIBRO Y DIÁLOGO CON LA COMUNIDAD

JUEVES, 28 DE OCTUBRE
5:30 a 7:30 p.m.

Biblioteca Pública de la Ciudad de Chicago
Rudy Lozano
1805 S. Loomis
Chicago, IL 60608

EXHIBICIÓN
DE FOTOGRAFIAS


GANAREMOS!
Palabras e Imágenes de una
Revolución de la Mente y del Corazón

Una exhibición de fotografías del
Colectivo de Fotografía Ayer, Hoy y Mañana
con fotografías de Victor Espinosa y de él
fotográfo del Chicago Tribune, Antonio Pérez.


Panel:

Amalia Pallares y Nilda Flores González,*
Presentación del libro

Jhonathan Gómez, Presentación de la Exhibición

Stephen P. Davis y Juan R. Martínez,
“La Participacion de la Iglesia Católica”

Comentarios: Padre Brendan Curran y el Padre Carlos,
Iglesia San Pío

Xóchitl Bada, “El papel de los clubes de oriundos en las marchas del 2006”

Comentarios: Artemio Arreola, ICIRR y FEDECMI


*Profesoras del Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Latinos de la
Universidad de Illinois en Chicago y del Depto. de Sociologia y Ciencias Politicas.


La presentacion sera en Español - Habra refrigerios y Venta de Libros.


Este evento es gratis y para el publico en general. Para mas informacion o para dejarnos saber que va a venir favor de enviarnos un correo electronico a martae@uic.edu o llamenos al (312) 996-2445 y pregunte por Marta Ayala. Gracias.

College fair to be held Saturday, October 23 at Navy Pier

Parents and students looking for information on college financial aid, admission requirements and course offerings can find help at the free Chicago National College Fair on Saturday at Navy Pier.

Students and parents will be able to meet one-on-one with admission representatives from public and private two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

The event, sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Festival Hall Complex, Hall A, at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.

For more information, including a list of colleges participating, visit www.nacacnet.org/fairs or call (800) 822-6285. Francine Knowles

Chico quits City Colleges, Daley appoints new chair

October 20, 2010

BY FRAN SPIELMAN

City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com

City Colleges Chairman Gery Chico has resigned to concentrate full-time on his campaign for mayor, prompting Mayor Daley to replace him with a prominent Hispanic businessman.

"I believe it is the right thing to do to resign my City Colleges position and concentrate on one thing: working hard to become the mayor of Chicago," Chico wrote in a letter delivered to Daley last week.

"Over the next few months, I intend to campaign vigorously and wish for nothing to disturb the reinvention effort that is under way at City Colleges."

If the City Colleges Board approves, Chico will be replaced by Martin Cabrera Jr., 39, founder and CEO of Cabrera Capital Markets, the nation's largest Hispanic financial services firm. Cabrera has been a frequent participant in city bond issues.

"The mission of Chicago City Colleges must be updated to meet the economic challenges of today and tomorrow. Martin has the financial background and expertise to do that," Daley said in a press release.

Cabrera said his parents "instilled in me a passion for education" and he looks forward to putting that energy to work for the City Colleges.

"I was fortunate to have mentors and role models who helped guide me throughout my life. And I believe in the importance of giving back and helping our young people achieve success in life," he said in the press release announcing his appointment.

Latino Voter Participation Summit

Saturday, October 23, 2010
9 am – 10:30 am
Instituto del Progreso Latino
2570 S. Blue Island Ave

The goal of this Summit is to ensure every Latino leader is engaged and
inspires as many Latinos as possible to vote on Tuesday, November 2nd.

Topics covered in this summit include:

Why Voting is Critical for Latinos in this Election

Voter Education on Key Issues Affecting the Latino Community

How Not for Profit Organizations can Get Involved

Get out the Vote Strategies for Individuals

For more information, please contact Isabel Anadon at 312-376-1766 ext. 230 or
ianadon@latinopolicyforum.org

The Latino Voter Participation Summit is hosted by:

Enlace Chicago, Illinois Latino Agenda, Instituto del Progreso Latino, Latino Policy Forum, Latinos Progresando, Mujeres Latinas en Acción, National Council of La Raza – Chicago Office, Puerto Rican Agenda, and The Resurrection Project

Full Scholarship for Graduate Programs at NEIU

Northeastern Illinois University College of Business invites the Latino community to apply for full scholarships available from a federal grant for underrepresented groups and low income individuals for our graduate programs (Master in Business Administration; Master in Accounting).


Students can receive special scholarships and tuition waivers. Candidates can contact Roula Vastis (A-Vastis@neiu.edu; 773-442-6103) if they have additional questions on the graduate programs or scholarships.

More information on both our graduate and undergraduate programs is available on our website.

President Obama to Sign Executive Order on White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics on Tuesday and West Wing Update

Dear Friends,

This was an exciting couple of weeks and we are closing out Hispanic Heritage Month with a bang.

On Tuesday, October 19, President Obama will sign the Obama Administration’s Executive Order on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The ceremony will follow a National Education Summit and Call to Action hosted by the U.S. Department of Education that will begin on Monday (watch here), which will bring Administration officials together with experts in education and Hispanic community leaders from around the country on issues ranging from early childhood learning to higher education.

To reach the ambitious education goals President Obama has set for our nation and ensure America’s future competitiveness in a global economy, we must raise Hispanic education attainment at every level. The revised executive order will place a high priority on action designed to do exactly that. The White House Initiative was established in September 1990 to provide advice and guidance to the Secretary of Education on education issues related to Hispanics and address academic excellence and opportunities for the Hispanic community. It was subsequently continued by President William J. Clinton and President George W. Bush. Under President Obama, the office is led by Juan Sepulveda who has taken aggressive steps to hear from communities across the country about what works and what doesn’t work and how the Initiative can better serve the Hispanic community.

***To watch President Obama sign this executive order important to the Hispanic community, please log onto www.whitehouse.gov at 1pm EST on Tuesday, October 19th***

In other announcements, President Obama nominated Jimmie V. Reyna to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit- one of the highest judicial positions in the nation. A native of New Mexico, Mr. Reyna is a renowned international trade lawyer respected for his deep legal expertise and distinguished track record of leadership in the Latino community.

On October 8th, Secretary Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Service announced more than $727 milllion in grants from the Affordable Care Act to updgrate and expand community health centers. We know that community health centers are a critical access point to the health care system for the Latino community and places like Centro de Salud de La Comunidad San Ysidro in California and El Borinquen Health Center in Miami, Florida received important funding.

Following through on a commitment to provide support to Main Street banks, thrifts, and credit unions that lend to small businesses and families in underserved communities, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the completion of funding under its Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI). Overall, that program has invested $570 million in 84 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in 26 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. Community development financial institutions have been at the forefront of the efforts to fight the economic recession in our nation’s low-income communities and at a time when many financial institutions have pulled back, CDFIs have actually increased their lending and investments in underserved communities. These CDCI investments will enable community banks, thrifts, and credit unions to spur economic development in the communities that have been hit hardest by the economic downturn. Click here to find out what CDFI’s and CDCI’s received funding.

Secretary Donovan and the Department of Housing and Urban Development also awarded $6.5 million in grants to Hispanic-Serving Institutions to help revitalize local neighborhoods, to help revitalize local neighborhoods, promote affordable housing and stimulate economic development in their communities. The funding announced today is provided through HUD's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) Program. Hispanic Serving Institutions like Fresno City College in California and Midland College in Texas received this critical funding.

Lastly, the Peace Corps announced new partnerships with eight higher education organizations to help recruit the next generation of Peace Corps volunteers and highlight the career and volunteer opportunities that are available through Peace Corps. The participating academic partners include The American Indian Higher Education Consortium, The Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, The Council of 1890 Universities, The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, The Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Phelps Stokes, The Thurgood Marshall College Fund and UNCF. Under the partnerships, Peace Corps will participate in partner conferences and meetings, and work with each organization to create new ways to share electronic resources and education materials.

Have a great week!

Stephanie Valencia
Associate Director
White House Office of Public Engagement

CPS officials offer deal in Pilsen field-house sit-in

October 18, 2010 10:34 PM

-- Michelle D. Anderson


In a bid to end a monthlong standoff over the planned demolition of a field house next to Whittier Elementary, Chicago Public Schools officials have offered to install and staff a library inside the Pilsen school and to lease the field house to a nonprofit community group.

Under the new proposal, the group chosen to lease the field house for a nominal sum would maintain the structure and make sure it complies with city building codes.
Schools CEO Ron Huberman wrote that Whittier parents committee members could help review proposals from qualified groups. However, to avoid conflicts of interest, committee members who are part of any group seeking the lease could not participate.
Whittier parent committee member Evelin Santos said there's no space inside the school for a new library.

"No, no and no. There's no space whatsoever. Where's the library going to fit?" Santos said.

But CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said experts assessed the building to ensure the library could fit. Bond said it is the most reasonable option CPS could offer when Huberman meets with representatives of the group on Wednesday. She noted that about 160 other CPS schools also lack a library, and that the district recently invested $1.65 million for improvements at Whittier, including security cameras, a new cafeteria, new computer room and state-of-the-art science classroom.

In the letter to Whittier parents, Huberman reiterated that the structure is not safe. He said the building does not have sprinklers, proper fire detectors or adequate heating, and its roof is damaged. Santos said the parent committee will continue to occupy the field house, scheduled for demolition. Parents have begun installing their own library inside the field house.

Demographics of U.S.Hispanics

Demographics of U.S.Hispanics
by Melissa Campbell

A recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center profiles the 10 largest Hispanic
populations in the United States by country of origin, drawing on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey. Currently, the nation’s population of 304.1 million includes 46.8 million Hispanics. Respondents to the survey self-identified their country of origin as the country from which they immigrated or the
country from which they trace their family ancestry.

The largest Hispanic population, at 30.7 million, is of Mexican origin, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the nation’s Hispanics. The second largest Hispanic group, with 4.2 million, hails from Puerto Rico. Hispanics of Cuban origin comprise the third-largest group, at 1.6 million, with Salvadorans a close fourth at just under 1.6 million. Hispanics of Dominican origin comprise 1.3 million of the nation’s population, accounting for the fifth-largest Hispanic population. The sixth- through 10th-largest Hispanic populations, in descending order, are Guatemalans at
986,000, Colombians at 882,000, Hondurans at 608,000, Ecuadorians at 591,000 and Peruvians at 519,000.

The report details various demographic characteristics of each of the 10 groups, providing some interesting similarities as well as points of departure.

Nuestra Voz College Fair for ALL Students

Nuestra Voz invites you to a college forum where information regrading financial aid and opportunities for all students regradless of their immigration status will be given. We will also be discussing the application proccess and what to expect from a college classroom experience.

Saturday, October 16 · 11:00am - 12:30pm

Location

Our Lady of Mt Carmel Community Center
1115 N. 23rd Ave.
Melrose Park, IL

Snacks will be served!

All are welcome to attend.

Ga. Regents OK restrictions for illegal immigrants

By KATE BRUMBACK - Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA -- The state Board of Regents voted Wednesday to tighten policies governing illegal immigrant applicants to Georgia colleges and universities, acting on complaints that the university system has been swamped by illegal immigrant students.

The regents approved the stricter policy over the protests of a coalition of immigrant rights activists urging it be rejected.

Under the new policies, to take effect with the fall 2011 semester, University System of Georgia schools will be barred from accepting illegal immigrant applicants if the school has rejected any academically qualified applicants in the two most recent academic years.

That includes five Georgia colleges and universities: the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia and Georgia College & State University.

The regents voted on four recommended new policies at their meeting Wednesday after a committee investigated complaints that Georgia taxpayers were subsidizing the education of undocumented students through in-state tuition and that undocumented students were taking seats from academically qualified Georgians. There was little discussion and little opposition to the recommendations.

That committee reported that out of preliminary fall 2010 student enrollment of 310,361 students, 501 are in the country illegally or have incomplete documentation - or 182 new students and 319 returning students. All are paying out-of-state tuition.

Under the new rules, applicants must also state on the application whether they are entitled, if admitted, to pay in-state tuition. Even before the vote, illegal immigrants, even those who reside in Georgia, were not eligible for in-state tuition.

Each university system institution would have verify the legal presence in the United States of every person who is admitted and applies for in-state tuition, for example by using federal databases.

Language will be prominently displayed on applications for admission stating that the applicant understands that any false statement on the application or attached documents could result in a fine of not more than $1,000, a prison sentence of one to five years and dismissal from the school.

The board was forced to address the issue of illegal immigrant students in Georgia after a high-profile case involving an illegal immigrant and Kennesaw State University student who was nearly deported after an arrest in March.

Jessica Colotl was arrested after a traffic stop for driving without a license. When Cobb County authorities determined she was in the country illegally, they turned her over to immigration authorities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to defer action on her case for a year, allowing her to complete her classes.

A coalition of immigrant rights and civil liberties groups sent a letter Tuesday and held a news conference just before the regents' meeting Wednesday urging the regents to reject the proposal.

The activists argued that academically qualified illegal immigrant students shouldn't be barred from attending some of the state's top schools and that federal databases used to check immigration status are error-prone.

Many of the students are brought to the U.S. by their parents as young children and have grown up here, said Azadeh Shahshahani of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. It is a "matter of fundamental fairness" to allow these illegal immigrant students to attend these schools, she said.

Shahshahani said she was extremely disappointed by the vote.

"We're going to actively monitor the situation and investigate whether there are ways to challenge this proposition that was voted on today," she said.



Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/13/738501/ga-regents-ok-restrictions-for.html#ixzz12R6KBz2L

Latino Men See Dramatic Jump as First-year Medical School Students

By Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
October 14, 2010


Luis Godoy’s rocky sojourn took him from life as a gangbanger and teenage father to first-year medical student. When Luis Godoy earned his associate’s degree and became a radiological technician in 1999, he soon found himself being called upon to do more than just take X-rays.

“I was able to bridge a gap between physicians that don’t speak Spanish and patients that don’t speak English,” Godoy said during a recent interview. “I found that very fulfilling.”

So fulfilling, in fact, that the experience of working alongside physicians and serving patients who told Godoy they thought he’d make a good physician himself ultimately led Godoy, now 31, to enter the UC Davis School of Medicine this fall in Sacramento, Calif.

While entering medical school is a significant accomplishment for anyone, it was a monumental feat for Godoy, whose childhood was split between schoolwork and helping his parents pick and cut peaches and pears on a migrant farm camp in Suisun Valley in California, who became affiliated with the San Marcos street gang as a youth, and who ultimately got expelled from high school during his sophomore year and became a teenage father during his senior year.

But Gudoy’s rocky sojourn from gangbanger and teenage father to first-year medical student is more than just a compelling story of a student who overcame daunting odds to achieve success in the realm of higher education. It is one of the many stories behind statistics released Wednesday by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) that show significant gains in the numbers of minorities who entered medical school this year.

While the number of first-year enrollees to U.S. medical schools has gradually increased over the years—from 16,541 in 2003 to 18,665 this year—the demographic with the most dramatic increase was among Hispanic males, such as Godoy, whose overall medical school enrollment increased by 17.1 percent over last year, according to AAMC. Hispanic female enrollees increased by 1.6 percent, and total Hispanic enrollment was up 9 percent, or 1,539 this year versus 1,412 last year.

The total first-year medical school enrollment for African-Americans grew by 2.9 percent to 1,350 over 2009, when it was 1,312. American Indian enrollees increased by 24.8 percent, although their numbers were small, going from 153 last year to 191 this year.

The largest increase was in the West, where underrepresented minority enrollment grew from 14.1 percent in 2009 to 16.1 percent this year.

Beyond the potential impact of outreach programs such as the AAMC’s Aspiring Docs program, which seeks to get more well-prepared minority students to pursue careers in medicine, AAMC officials say they are hard-pressed to explain what is behind the growth, particularly the dramatic rise in the number of Hispanic male medical students.

But Godoy—who earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from UC Davis—says that, based on conversations he’s had with fellow Hispanic male medical students at the school, the upswing is the result of first-generation immigrants such as himself coming of age and wanting to do something to address the impoverished conditions and unmet needs that they experienced as children.

“From my experience and my peers that are Hispanic males, I think that growing up, experiencing a lack of health care, and all that drove us to want to go back and change how things are,” said Godoy, who is enrolled at UC-Davis through a program called Rural-PRIME (Programs In Medical Education). The program is meant to cultivate “physician leaders” with a desire to serve in underserved communities.

AAMC officials say that, as mandated health care coverage under the Obama administration’s health care reform kicks in, increasing both the number and diversity of America’s doctors of the future will prove more and more important.

“We are very pleased to see the diverse gains,” said AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch. “We really hope this is a trend that’s going to continue in the coming years.”

“We know the national trend is headed toward more diversity,” he continued. “You don’t improve communities unless you have a workforce that reflects the diversity of those communities.”

Although the number of Hispanic males in medical school rose dramatically this year, Hispanics as a group are still underrepresented among medical school enrollees, constituting 8.2 percent of first-year medical school enrollees this year but 15.8 percent of the U.S. population.

Similarly, African-Americans represented 7.2 percent of all first-year medical school enrollees this year but 12.9 percent of the U.S. population.

Technically, Whites are underrepresented, too, making up 64.8 percent of first-year medical school students but 79.6 percent of the U.S. population, but the distinction, of course, is that Whites are not a minority. The one group that is over-represented, if you will, is Asians, who represented 22.6 percent of first-year medical school enrollees this year, or 4,214 of the total 18,665.

Kirch said that, while the number of medical students is growing overall, a shortage of 60,000 is still projected in 2015. An added difficulty to producing more doctors is the scarcity of residency slots, Kirch said.

Asked if HBCUs, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and other minority-serving institutions were behind increases in the number of minorities enrolling in medical school, Dr. Marc Nivet, Chief Diversity Officer at AAMC, noted that, while studies have shown that students do have an “affinity” for such institutions at the undergraduate level, “We do not have any data, none that I’m aware of, at the professional school level. We don’t know if that holds true at the professional school level.”

A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education

Progress toward an audacious goal

For the past two years, Lumina Foundation for Education has been calling for the United Statesto increase higher education attainment rates — the proportion of the population that holds a high-quality postsecondary degree or credential — to 60 percent by the year 2025. This call — Lumina’s Big Goal — has been taken up by many others. Foundations, state governments, national higher education associations and President Obama have all issued their own calls for increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials.

In February 2009, Lumina issued its first Stronger Nation report on higher education attainment in the U.S. and in individual states. Since then, the national conversation about higher education has shifted dramatically as a result of a new focus on attainment. Factors that influence attainment — most notably, the need to improve completion rates in higher education — are receiving much more attention at the federal, state and institutional levels.

This year, there were several proposals advanced through the federal budget process to increase completion and attainment. In spite of the current state budget crisis, several states have enacted attainmentfocused policies this year, including performance funding plans — proposals that tie funding allocations directly to completion rates. There’s a growing realization that our higher education system must increase its capacity to serve more students, and that improving higher education productivity is essential to accomplishing this. Of perhaps the most long-term importance, there is new attention to the need to assure the quality of postsecondary degrees and credentials. This need can only be met if we better define the learning outcomes that students must obtain at each level of education and then ensure that academic programs give students the opportunity to achieve those outcomes. (See “How do we define quality?”)

This new version of A Stronger Nation, which we intend to update annually, is the first to reportprogress toward the Big Goal as well as the gap between current performance and the need. This report also refines the methodology used to calculate higher education attainment, particularly at the state and county levels.
The report includes individual profiles for all 50 states. Each profile shows the current level of attainment, the rate of improvement in attainment over the past eight years, and the level of increase needed to reach “Goal 2025,” 60 percent attainment by that year.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund General College Scholarships

HSF/ General College Scholarships

Calendar

Application Available September 1, 2010
Application Deadline December 15, 2010
Application Processing January through May 2011
Selections June 2011
Award Notifications July 2011
Verification of Enrollment Fall 2011

Award Distribution Fall 2011

Program Description
HSF/ General College Scholarships are designed to assist students of Hispanic heritage obtain a college degree. Scholarships are available on a competitive basis to:

•Graduating High School Seniors
•Community College Students
•Community College Transfer Students
•Undergraduate Students
•Graduate Students
Award amounts generally range from $1,000 to $5,000.



APPLY NOW




Eligibility Requirements
•Be of Hispanic heritage
•Be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident with a permanent resident card or passport stamped I-551 (not expired)
•Have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
•Have plans to enroll FULL-TIME in a degree seeking program at a two or four year U.S. accredited institution in the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands or Guam during the 2011-2012 academic year
•Must apply for federal financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
•Be pursuing first undergraduate or graduate degree