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LATISM was represented last week at the Hispanic Policy Conference in Washington D.C. Here’s a great overview by LATISM Director Elianne Ramos. With 150 Latino leaders from a variety of backgrounds and settings, the meet up at the White House was genuinely momentous.

Having been involved in these types of meetings for years (as I know many of you have), one always walks away with a sense of mission and purpose only to see that same enthusiasm fade away after time. My assumption is that those in attendance were empowered to hold these officials accountable. How? Access. Transparency. A Voice.  

When it comes to the vast array of Latino issues – we must not be antagonistic – but we must demonstrate resolve from those who wish to partner with our community.

File this under “Stepping Up” for a cause.

The story behind Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ruben Vives. From almost being deported to Pulitzer Prize winner. Amazing.

A good friend of mine, Jason Riveiro, is running for City Council here in Cincinnati. And while my schedule lately has not allowed me to support his activities, I ‘m so proud of his commitment to Latinos in Cincinnati and all he’s done to support our community.

Jason is the first Latino candidate to run for a City office here in Cincinnati so once again he’s blazing a trail for other Latinos to follow. I had the great opportunity to interview Jason on an HTM podcast last year.

Please support his candidacy by visiting his campaign website.

Changes in census figures are already impacting redistricting efforts in some states – two good examples are Nevada and New Jersey - both benefitting from the Latino growth. Even states like Georgia will be taking notice in the not so distant future. And while Latinos are finding new political power in certain areas of the country, this new influence also comes with tough choices and decisions that need to be made by the Latinos in these communities at the federal, state and local levels. It will be interesting to see how these issues play out and how well Latinos are ready to manage their influence.

Happy Birthday César Chávez. Also, check out and support this documentary on his last fast.

Diversity Inc. shares its Top 10 Companies for Latinos. I’m usually not a big fan of “lists” (school rankings or otherwise) since the criteria is always somewhat narrow. However, there are some hints that some companies are making inroads in the representation of Latinos in the organization and in the boardroom. According to Diversity Inc, the Top 10 Companies for Latinos include the following:

• Their workforces are on par with U.S. census percentage of Latinos (about 13 percent), but they have 7.5 percent of managers who are Latino, compared with 6.8 percent nationally. Even more important, 9 percent of management promotions on average went to Latinos at these companies
• Their boards of directors are 10.3 percent Latino, compared with 3.1 percent nationally (Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility)
• On average, 9.4 percent of their employees are members of their Latino or Hispanic employee-resource groups

HACR just released its report to measure Hispanic inclusion strategies at all Fortune 100 and/or HACR corporate member companies, as they relate to employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance. According to the study,  a majority of Hispanics tend to be in more non-exempt than exempt level positions. Efforts to attract and retain Hispanics have improved. The Hispanic attrition rate fell 15% as compared to other ethnic groups.

Other key findings:

Procurement: For Corporate America, the biggest opportunity is investing in Hispanic owned businesses. As the report details, Hispanic spend hovers at 1% of total diversity spend goals.

Philanthropy: The Center for Philanthropy reported that contributions given by corporations rose to an estimated $14.1 billion, up 5.5%. Nearly one-third of the respondents acknowledged a contribution of 5% or less as their Hispanic give in 2009.

Governance: The results of this year’s report showed that Hispanic representation on corporate boards remained relatively flat, with Hispanics holding approximately 5% of all open board seats.

Full report can be found at the HACR website.

NPR is awesome – despite some of the political rhetoric aimed at them recently. Here are two excellent pieces featured over the last week. 

First, a story regarding minority faculty and how some colleges in MA. are attempting to improve their representation. Money quote from the interview which resonated with me:

“When I got my Ph.D. (at Tulane University), I didn’t have a black professor, and New Orleans is 70 percent black. As an undergrad I didn’t have one either,” Baskerville Watkins said. “So much of what we think we can do is based on what we see. So if I don’t see anyone who looks like me, it is easy to think, ‘oh that’s not for me.’”

Second, an interview with newly elected chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democratic Representative Charlie Gonzalez. A good discussion regarding the recent PEW poll regarding national Latino leaders (I blogged about it here) among other issues important to Latinos – including the Dream Act.

Enjoy!

A lot of discussion in the Latino social media world regarding a recent PEW study on Latinos and national leadership. Interestingly, the study found that 64% of Latinos couldn’t identify a leader on a “national level. PEW does a good job of identifying relevant cultural factors for this number; the fact that Latinos not being a monolithic demographic being among them.

My doctoral work centered on Latinos and leadership which is an area that has received minimal attention in the leadership literature. And while the PEW study is indirectly associated with this topic, it does highlight how leadership is perceived differently depending on one’s culture. Many studies provide evidence that people of different ethnicities and cultures have different leadership perspectives – someone’s norms and values create assumptions and expectations. Certainly a complex issue but an interesting one!

If you’re interested in reading one of the most well-known studies examining the role of culture in organizational settings (including leadership), I’d encourage you to browse through House et al’s “Cultural Influences on Leadership and Organizations: Project GLOBE.”