¡Hola, amigos! A Plan for Latino Outreach

Latinos are the fastest growing population in the United States, and are creating a large bilingual market. Librarians are often eager to attract, serve and retain Latino patrons, and library services are sorely needed by the Latino community; but it takes more than adding a few Spanish-language books to the collection to meet those needs. Besides the cultural and language barriers library personnel encounter when interacting with this community, libraries generally have neither the funding to engage in multicultural advertising nor the time and specialized personnel to do it. This practical, step-by-step guide is designed to help libraries attract Spanish-speaking patrons to their collections and services, with proven strategies, effective program and event planning.

The book offers users a systematic, orderly plan that will guide outreach activity with worksheets, discussion reports and easy-to-follow schedules, and more than 100 marketing ideas, tips, and examples from libraries around the country that can easily be incorporated into day-to-day activities. (Many of the strategies can be applied to outreach of other minorities as well.)

Desert Deaths Soar, a Morgue Grows Crowded

Immigrants are major part of memorial day

"As of last year," says Saif Kahn, an immigrant from India, who joined the Virginia Army National Guard in the year 2000, "about 29,000 people serving in our military did not have U.S. citizenship."

Kahn served as a combat engineer in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 and 2005. In this article, he worries about the soldiers who are serving to obtain citizenship, and their families left behind.

Another proof of our current immigration law injustice: immigrants cannot work legally in this country but can pay taxes; immigrants can fight for this country but do not have the right to obtain citizenship until -maybe- it is too late.

Why the immigration debate has come to a stall, when at least 60% of Latinos voted Obama for office? Promises were done in the midst of the election excitement. However, once again, the immigration reform is left for last. How do you think organized immigration leaders should show their active disagreement?

Dreams Built in the Projects

This excellent article on today's online version of the Washington Post tells it like it is. We all love success stories but when they are true, it seems that we are all caught by surprise. If anything, the Obama's administration has brought up some examples -starting with himself- that with effort and perseverance anything is possible.

I also believe that the surprise factor comes from too many years of "same old, same old" nominations. Wow, there still are people in this country that are hard-working, engaged and passioned about what they do, and their only goal is NOT greed. What a concept!

Please enjoy the article and do not forget to click on our Public Service Announcements. Help me help these organizations!

Through Boom and Bust:
Minorities, Immigrants and Homeownership

The Pew Hispanic Center released a report that analyzes trends in homeownership from 1995 to 2008; higher-priced lending to Hispanics and blacks in 2006 and 2007; and factors related to differences in foreclosure rates across the nation's 3,141 counties. The condition of the local economy, house prices and higher priced lending to minorities are among other key factors related with county foreclosure rates.

The report,authored by Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, Pew Hispanic Center, Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, Research Analyst, Pew Hispanic Center, and Daniel Dockterman, Research Assistant, Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org. Just follow the headline's link.

Ask the Experts
Five Forums where experts in healthcare cultural competency answer questions about Race, Genetics, Healthy Communities, Myths in Health Inequities and more.

Rights, Not Raids

By Bill Ong Hing & David Bacon
This article with original date on April 29, 2009, appeared in the May 18, 2009 edition of The Nation.


For more than two decades, the authors say, undocumented workers have been accused and hunted like criminals, just for the simple reason of trying to hold a job in the United States.

Would President Obama carry on the campaign promises of Immigration Reform? Read on how these "enforcement" policies have destroyed the lives of many workers and their families, and how international leaders see the situation from another perspective.

Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority

Finally the national debate about immigration will start, according to this article published today on the online version of the New York Times.

Latino immigrants supported President Obama with over 60% of their vote, which in time meant high pressure for the promises made during the campaign about discussing immigration.

Is Obama going to come forward with his promises? And if so, what are the conditions that his proposal will include to legalize 12 million undocumented immigrants? Will he follow the "Bush road" of "pay to play"?

State’s Crackdown on Immigrants Fuels Hispanic Media Growth

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news

Do you think the media should be the government agencies' watchdog? Read this article about North Carolina ethnic media. When the nation's immigrants are getting ready to march next May 1st, what is the role of media in this national debate?

"Most Spanish-language publications in the area have a specific section dedicated to immigration coverage. Radio stations such as La Tremenda La Raza in Charlotte broadcast daily talk shows that cover the latest developments on the immigration debate."

Obama Flinches on Immigration

This editorial published on the New York Times on March 24th reports the withdrawal of the Obama's administration offer to Thomas Saenz, "a highly regarded civil-rights lawyer and counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles, to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division."

Although it might have been a missed opportunity to set some record about the Obama's administration intentions regarding immigration, it seems that a more moderate route was preferred by nominating Thomas Perez, Labor Secretary from Maryland. The decision, according to the article, was caused by pressure from the right-wing anti-immigrant groups. However, I wonder how much the decision was influenced by the Mexican border situation and Thomas relationship with controversial Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. And the main question: Does Obama need to start yet another fire?

A Slippery Place in the U.S. Work Force

This article by Julia Preston published by the New York Times on March 21st describes the unsettling situation of undocumented immigrants due to the economic crisis and the continuing immigration raids in different parts of the country. Read how they are coping with the difficulties and how people react to the situation.

U.S. Hispanic Population Surpasses 45 Million
Now 15 Percent of Total

RELEASED: THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2008
The nation’s Hispanic population increased 1.4 million to reach 45.5 million on July 1, 2007, or 15.1 percent of the estimated total U.S. population of 301.6 million.

Hispanics remained the largest minority group, with blacks (single race or multiracial) second at 40.7 million in 2007. The black population exceeded 500,000 in 20 states. Blacks were the largest minority group in 24 states, compared with 20 states in which Hispanics were the largest minority group.

US immigrant groups to march a day after Obama takes over

On January 21 immigrants plan a march in Washington to ask for reforms and for an end to the raids at workplaces that have seen illegal immigrants arrested and deported. Read how immigrants will remind Obama of one of the policy planks he plugged on the campaign stump as he wooed the Hispanic vote.

Spanish-Language Media Decries Long Island Hate Crime

New America Media Editor introduced this article: "The stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant in Long Island, has triggered intense nation wide coverage from Spanish-language media. NAM Contributing editor Marcelo Ballvé is based in New York." Read how government policies against immigrants have contributed to foster anti-immigrant sentiments.

Latinos Account for Half of U.S. Population Growth Since 2000

Since 2000 many Latinos have settled in counties that once had few Latinos, continuing a pattern that began in the previous decade. But there are subtle differences in Hispanic settlement patterns in the current decade compared with those of the 1990s. The dispersion of Latinos in the new century has tilted more to counties in the West and the Northeast. Despite the new tilt, however, the South accounted for a greater share of overall Latino population growth than any other region in the new century. Read how projections for this century put Latinos in the "hot" list.

The Closing of the American Border

New America Media, Q&A with Edward Alden, Sandip Roy, Posted: Oct 12, 2008

The fight against illegal immigration began the very night of 9/11, according to Edward Allen, author of "The Closing of the American Border." In this interview, Allen comments on the different positions in the Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at the time, and the historical words of President George W. Bush. Read on to the end, because after comments are juicy.

One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students

The number of Hispanic students in the nation's public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, this report says, making up about one-in-five public school students in the United States compared to 1990, when just one-in-eight public school students were Hispanic.

Find out the Census bureau projections by 2050, when there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children in the United States.

Five Basic Facts on Immigrants and Their Health Care

As discussions on national health care reform move to the forefront, some have focused on the role of immigrants in the health care system. To address questions about how immigrants use and affect the health care system, key facts about immigrants and health care are summarized below.

The Knock at the Door: San Francisco’s Sanctuary Status Under Fire

Keeping up with SS procedures -read to the end- on immigrants' persecution and arrests, the ICE "hunters" took six undocumented immigrants from a private home in San Francisco last week. Elena Shore, an editor for New America Media and Josue Rojas, a video producer for New America Media, ask how protected undocumented immigrants really are in this “sanctuary city.”

Con traducción al español

Also, on the same issue, read about the impact of raids in other communities:

Immigration Raids Startle Communities in Oakland and Berkeley

2008 National Survey of Latinos: Hispanics See Their Situation in U.S. Deteriorating; Oppose Key Immigration Enforcement Measures


Not surprising, Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director, Pew Hispanic Center, and Susan Minushkin, Deputy Director, Pew Hispanic Center report "the increasingly downbeat assessments [that] come at a time when the Hispanic community in this country--numbering approximately 46 million, or 15.4% of the total U.S. civilian non-institutional population--has been hit hard by rising unemployment (Kochhar 2008) and stepped-up immigration enforcement." Find out how Latinos are being affected by the Bush administration's avalanche of senseless persecution and harassment to hard-working families.