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Great post by Giovannie Rodriguez at New Generation Latino Consortium (NGLC) regarding multiple communication streams and social media. It seems social media has changed the way we should think about “reaching” groups or demographics. More importantly, the words or terms we use in this respect have also changed – from mainstream to multicultural – from melting pot to ethnic identity.

But therein lies the opportunity for Latinos or any other group vying for power on the new social web.  We are living in a time where the mainstream has been supplanted by multiple streams, the metaphor of choice, by the way, of social networking companies that trade in conversation.  The dream for Latinos may no longer be the crossover dream – i.e., the dream of entering the mainstream — but instead to create the dream stream, the one that everyone is watching, the one that most contributes to other streams, even the ones that pass for mainstream today.

These paradigm shifts have significant implications to communicating with Latinos, particularly in a work environment. How can an organization assure its message is reaching the intended internal audience, but more importantly, if it is – is it making sense?

Unemployment rate in U.S. fell to 8.8%. Hispanic unemployment rate came in at 11.3% – down from 11.9% in January and 12.5 in March, 2010.

Review the details via the BLS website.

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

As noted in this piece in the Economist last week, Latino demographic trends will have far-reaching implications in politics, education, and business:

But this divide—what William Frey of the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, calls “the cultural generation gap”—is very much wider in some states and cities. In Arizona, for example, 83% of the elderly are white and 42% of those under 25 are Hispanic. This can lead to divergent priorities, such as the reluctance of the old to pay for education, or even a political eruption. This year Arizona’s anti-immigration ordinance sparked protests far beyond the state’s borders and a lawsuit from the federal government.

Such conflict may well be replicated as other places welcome (or fail to) new residents. Immigrants are increasingly dispersed, settling in areas unused to outsiders. South Carolina’s Hispanic population expanded by 116% between 2000 and 2009. South Dakota, Tennessee and Alabama also saw big jumps.

Sorry for the lack of posts these last few days. Actually will be even busier the next 10 days or so working on different projects and taking a much anticipated R/R with the family.

I did want to let you know I’ll be part of Intern Bridge’s Diversity Recruiting Best Practices Online Conference on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to discussing a variety of topics related to college recruiting, particularly as it relates to Latino college students.

Brochure for the event can be found here.

A fantastic piece on State University of New York at Stony Brook and their Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). It’s a three part program that leads to 65% graduation rate for Latino students. An impressive number given colleges in general graduate about 40% of Latino college students.

Take a look – you’ll be impressed with the support and commitment given to these at-risk students. Stony Brook provides a model for other schools to follow. While there are many strategies “on the shelf,” here we have an approach that demonstrates solid results. It’s interesting to note funding is still an issue given the success of the program.   

Once again PBS provides a quality and insightful perspective regarding Latinos and other minorities in higher education. Enjoy!

I love Google Reader. I spend about an hour a day using it to keep up-to-date on Hispanic workforce and college-related information. It’s an invaluable resource for me. Every couple days I sort my feeds by “Starred” items – articles and information I find particularly interesting. Last night as I reviewed my starred feeds one thing became obviously clear.

Companies, colleges, and other organizations are working vigorously to increase the number of Latino employees, students, and leaders. Over the last week, I’ve read many accounts of what institutions are doing to make this happen. It’s great to see the efforts being put forth. However, I see one problem.

Each of them is functioning alone. It’s rare that I read that a college is partnering with a corporation or a non-profit is working with another institution. It seems everybody is working – but not many are collaborating. A landscape of silos.

The problem with silos is that there’s not a principal view of the overall and fundamental goal. Consequently, barriers are not accurately identified, issues become unmanageable, or core issues are unrecognizable. 

Bridging these silos requires collaboration, dexterity, facility, and relationship building. I realize this is challenging and easier said than done. To increase the representation of Latinos at all levels of the workforce, we must collaborate. It will require companies, higher education, and non-profits to coordinate and communicate around this central goal.

It’s well worth the effort.

I wanted to share some final thoughts regarding last week’s CHL Leadership Summit. Overall, I think everyone in attendance was provided with thought provoking dialogue and information.

There were many ideas and thoughts I took away from our meeting. Here are my thoughts at the 30,000 foot level not so much focused on the dialogue, but what our discussions mean for organizations functioning in a multicultural environment.

First, organizations are becoming more complex through internal and external partnerships with strategic groups. One perfect example of internal complexity was illustrated by our discussion regarding employee resource groups (ERGs), particularly culture-based ones. Their existence is changing.  In some instances, ERGs are trying to meet contradictory objectives simultaneously.

I attempted to come up with a term that would capture the multicultural ideas coming out of our discussions: “Glocalization.” This is the idea that many U.S. organizations have become microcosms of the global economy. Additionally, organizations are challenged to incorporate and manage a host of diverse cultures into 20^th century management structures. A difficult objective. Organizations must loosen their traditional leadership and management moors toward ones that address different workforce values and beliefs.

Third, common purpose, communication, and adaptation are essential organizational elements from a multicultural context. These elements will be needed to grasp and function in a complex multicultural environment.  As these elements are incorporated into structures, organizations will eventually change their culture and environment (“the tipping point”) to increase multicultural representation at the higher leadership levels.

Finally, organizations must look to the long-term when addressing multicultural leadership issues. It will require organizations to develop new employee engagement models; to find opportunities to celebrate and leverage diverse cultural values generated by a diverse workforce; and to assure leaders and managers are committed to this change.

I’m in Los Angeles Live Blogging the Center for Hispanic Leadership’s Leadership Summit. The event begins at 11:00 am EST.

If you have any comments or questions, please tweet them to me via #CHLSummit. I’ll be happy to incorporate them into my coverage of the event.

The link below will open a new window.   Enjoy!

Click Here

Yesterday an article by Ruben Navarrette regarding “hard work” reminded me of an important lesson I learned long ago. Please read it – it’s wonderful. It’s a lesson that keeps me grounded in what has already been a fortunate life and career.

I started working when I was about seven. Now before you go and contact someone regarding child labor laws, keep in mind this was back in the late 1960’s, and I was working at my elementary school.  At the time, I attended a small Catholic school in Los Angeles along with four other siblings. With three more sisters at a Catholic high school, paying tuition for all of us was always a challenge for my parents. When meeting monthly tuition bills was difficult, the nuns managing the school would come up with creative ways to “balance the books.”

In some instances, it meant my older brother and I would come in early on Saturday mornings to do some school cleaning: washing blackboards, dusting erasers, vacuuming rooms, and mopping hallways. My brother and I had a wonderful time doing it. Not only did we get to run in the hallways (always forbidden), listen to rock music, and invade the cafeteria’s food bank, we took a lot of pride in knowing that we were somehow contributing towards our education. Although we never revealed what we did to other kids in the school, we earned the respect of our teachers because of our work.

Years later as a sophomore in high school, a friend told me that a factory up the street was looking for a couple of students to do some part-time work. Again, mostly maintenance work including scrubbing down the factory floor bathrooms (yes, not fun). Some of the money went in my pocket, some towards paying for high school and the rest for gas money (I had a cool 1964 Ford Ranchero- a classic!).

I never felt embarrassed or regretful in taking on these jobs. I didn’t “miss out” on a regular childhood either.  In fact, these jobs and others growing up probably kept me out of trouble as a teenager – thankfully.  The experiences instilled a strong work ethic. Resilience. Self-respect.

Most important, it implanted in me the belief that anyone doing an honest days work, no matter what it is, deserves my respect.