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Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is trying to end the deficit it's running with Latino voters by stepping up its outreach efforts.

President Barack Obama leads the presumptive Republican nominee by 40 percentage points among Latinos, according to the latest Pew Research Center poll.

In 2008, Obama carried two-thirds of the Latino vote, and just this week, the Obama re-election campaign released four Spanish-language ads.

The Republican National Committee's director of Hispanic outreach, Bettina Inclan, spoke to NPR's Scott Simon on Weekend Edition to explain how Republicans expect to close that gap.

Inclan acknowledges that the GOP has a lot to of work to do to connect with Hispanics. This week, the RNC announced the appointment of six Hispanic outreach directors in the key swing states of Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia.

"The reason that we are putting people on the ground is because each of these communities is different. Hispanics are not a monolithic vote. They're different communities with different priorities," says Inclan.

She says Republicans can gain ground by focusing the discussion on the economy. A Pew Research Survey conducted last December, found that half of the Latino voters surveyed considered jobs to be an extremely important issue; only a third of those surveyed considered immigration an extremely important issue. READ MORE

Many of the Latino baby boomers born from 1946 through 1964 are moving into elder years without the possibility of retiring. For instance, Patricia Aristizábal started her business of promotional products two years ago.

Although many of Aristizábal’s contemporaries are about to retire, the Colombian immigrant began a new career. For her, retirement is not around the corner.

“I don’t want to think that tomorrow I'm going to retire, or even in five or 10 years. I think I started to work late and still have much energy and time to continue doing it,” she said.

In the United States there are about 8 million Hispanic boomers, almost10 percent of all who make up that generation, said Fernando Torres-Gil, vice president of the National Council on Disability and director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Recent U.S. Census data show that Georgia has a total of 2.5 million boomers. Of those, almost 80,000 are Latino.

Gaps Between Latino, White Boomers

Torres-Gil, who also headed the U.S. Administration on Aging under President Clinton,has researched this generation. He explained that Latinos boomers have made more progress than their parents, who made sacrifices for their children to enjoy a better life.

According to Torres-Gil, these sacrifices have helped many Latinos reach for the American dream. However, the situation of this generation cannot be compared with their peers of other ethnicities. READ MORE

In the partisan general election environment, the importance of the Hispanic electorate is one rare area of agreement between the two parties.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Obama campaign launched dueling outreach programs this week to court this growing bloc of voters — a pitch to Latino voters that's likely to continue throughout the 2012 cycle.

The two camps are focusing on different issues to appeal to Latinos. The Obama campaign is emphasizing the work the administration has done to expand educational programs and health care access. Republicans' pitch will focus on the economy and promises they say were broken by the Obama administration. READ MORE

What's in a nombre?

Apparently, for some Latinos, er, I mean Hispanics, it matters a lot. When researchers asked a group of people with roots in Latin America what they wanted to be called, they got a variety of responses.

According to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, the preferred term for many is "Hispanic." People prefer that word over "Latino" by a two-to-one margin, 33% to 14%.

But the study also revealed that most Latinos/Hispanics (51%) don't use either term and couldn't care less what they're called.

Also, in a fascinating trend, the survey found that for those who want to affix their own label, the first preference is tied to an individual's country of origin or that of their parents. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they describe their identity by using country of origin.

Surprise. Come to find out that we're not "Hispanics" or "Latinos" after all. We're Dominicans, Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, Brazilian and a couple dozen other possibilities drawn from this hemisphere. The more specific, the better.

According to the survey, only 24% of respondents said they use catchall phrases like "Hispanic" or "Latino." And in a finding that will almost certainly rattle the nativists, even fewer -- only 21% -- say they typically describe themselves simply as "American." READ MORE

Hispanics embrace social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Google+ more than the general population. But when it comes to sharing personal information about themselves, Hispanics are more cautious, according to survey results announced today.

uSamp, a leader in providing targeted audiences for global consumer insights, engaged 650 members from its newly inaugurated Hispanic panel, SuperOpinion.com, to survey participants on their attitudes toward social media compared to the general population.

The survey, captured in an INFOGRAPHIC, found that 90 percent of Hispanics are likely to be on Facebook compared to 81 percent of the general population; 57 percent of Hispanics access YouTube compared to 46 percent of the general population. Hispanics are also overwhelmingly more likely to be on Google+, 47 percent compared with 18 percent of the general population. The only social media platform that Hispanics largely ignore is LinkedIn. Only 4 percent of Hispanics surveyed said they use LinkedIn vs. 21 percent of the general population.

“Social media is a natural fit for Latinos. Latinos, by nature, are innovators. Social media allows us to create, recreate and take a shot at building communities around content that we want,” said Lance Ríos, president and founder, Being Latino, Inc. “Secondarily, Latinos are very loyal consumers. But in order to gain their trust, you have to assure them that you are legitimate. Culturally we tend to be sensitive to giving personal information so easily. Once trust is gained, Latinos will usually open up.” READ MORE

RedMas, Hispanic Mobile Ad Network and Mobile Studio, revealed the results of their survey of a sampling of the over 28 million Hispanic mobile users in the United States who responded to questions about their vacation preferences and the use of their mobile devices during this time of leisure.

Under the title “De Vacaciones: U.S. Hispanics Vacation Trends 2012,” conducted through RedMas’ network of mobile sites, found that Hispanics prefer to spend their vacations with family and at locations with personal significance. According to the study, 40% of those surveyed planned to take vacations this calendar year 2012, with 57% going on vacations at least once a year.

“Hispanics are becoming the fastest growing consumer force in the United States with a purchasing power in excess of $1.1 trillion, according to 2011 estimates. Marketers and brands are continuously searching for relevant information in their quest to better serve this affluent demographic and this survey definitely provides us with valuable insight into the Latino community’s preference and behavior when planning and enjoying their leisure time. Expect RedMas to continue to provide such resourceful marketing tools to target the ever-growing U.S. Hispanic consumer group. It’s our corporate mission,” emphasized Jorge A. Rincon, CEO of RedMas. READ MORE

Hispanic evangelical leader Samuel Rodriguez said Christians must realize the importance of dealing with the issue of illegal immigration, and urged them to rise up and apply biblical principles rather than leave it to "self-seeking" Republican and Democrat lawmakers.

Dealing with the immigration issue "may very well be the salvation of American Christianity," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, pastor and president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, in an interview on Christian TV program Life Today with James and Betty Robison on Monday.

Rodriguez pointed out that of the 50 million Hispanics in America, 69 percent identify themselves as Roman Catholic – and more than half of them say they are Catholic Charismatic. And 24 percent of all Hispanics are born again or evangelical. Hispanics, he stressed, are "the only ethnicity where the majority identify themselves as spirit-empowered… This is a Christ-centered, Bible-based … a prophetic community." READ MORE

This weekend’s 15th Annual Latino Law Policy and Business Conference celebrated the rise of Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America, but also revealed Harvard’s most glaring weakness: After forty years, a Latino Studies Center is still missing on campus.

Among the topics discussed at the Conference, which featured former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, was a session focused on the possibility of a Latino Studies Center at Harvard and hosted by the Harvard Latino Student Alliance, a university-wide student organization. The session is part of a wider HLSA campaign that aims to establish a Latino Studies Center at Harvard University.

The motivation is simple: If you were a Colombian student or professor, would you go to the Argentine Center for support? If you were Ghanaian, would you get a degree in Nigerian Studies? Why should a U.S. Latino restrict themselves to issues and studies about Latin America? It essentially neglects their experience north of the border and ignores the fact that Latinos have a range of identities that include aspects of their countries of origin and the United States.

Since 1994, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has been a great resource to students on campus. But the Center’s leadership also recognizes that their charter, focused on Latin America, cannot provide adequate coverage of the “U.S.” part of the Latino identity. In fact, in our Spring 2011 efforts to establish HLSA, the Rockefeller Center was unable to serve as our sponsoring entity because of this very issue. Fortunately, our application to become a university-wide organization received the support of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, which has been an incredible resource and partner and is a key reason why HLSA exists today. READ MORE

Equal Pay Day tomorrow highlights the fact that women, particularly Latinas, still earn significantly less than men despite working just as hard and often harder. Additionally, Latinas’ earnings continue to lag behind those of their white, African American, and Asian counterparts. Latinas overall earn less, on average, than men and other women, which means that they must work longer for the same amount of pay. This puts Latinas at greater risk of economic insecurity for themselves and their families. Here are 10 key facts on this prominent sector of our nation:

1. 25 million—the number of women in the United States who identify as Hispanic or Latina according to the 2010 American Community Survey.

2. $518—the median weekly earnings for Latinas compared to white women ($703), black women ($595), and Asian women ($751).

3. 56.5 percent—the percentage of working-age Latinas who were participating in the nation’s workforce in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

4. 29.1 percent—the percentage of Latino women who were uninsured in 2010.

5. 25 percent—the percentage of Hispanic families headed by women without a spouse in 2010, compared to 15 percent of white families, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. READ MORE

A new cable network for Latino audiences will mark the culmination of two decades of filmmaking for writer-director Robert Rodriguez, who is leading the ambitious effort.

"I've been on this journey for 20 years now ... and this seems to be the reason," " Rodriguez said Friday during a conference of independent Latino filmmakers and documentarians.

"What's great about this is that no one is doing this for an audience that is growing so fast," Rodriguez said, referring to how Latinos are now the nation's No. 2 group in the latest census, surpassing the 50 million mark.

"When you think that there's nothing on television like this, it boggles the mind."

The El Rey network starts broadcasting between September 2013 and January 2014. It is a daunting venture as talk show queen Oprah has discovered at her struggling OWN Network, whose woes have resulted in recent layoffs.

But the film maker of "El Mariachi," "Spy Kids" and other features isn't deterred.

"I'm glad I'm so naïve," Rodriguez said. "I don't think about the obstacles too far in advance."

The response has been overwhelming, according to Rodriguez, who was attending the Friday opener of the annual NALIP conference.

The network will allow Latino filmmakers to tell stories about the Latino community from their own point of view, he said. El Rey network will also appeal to general audiences, he added.

"It not only reflects the identity of a culture but shapes it," Rodriguez said of the new network.

Rodriguez is Mexican-American with deep roots in Texas, where his family can trace its history to a land grant in 1760, he said. He grew up making movies in his backyard with a home video camera and proved to the world that a film can be made "with very little money and no film crew" when he enjoyed widespread success with "El Mariachi" in the early 1990s.

The El Rey network will offer "an action-packed, general entertainment network in English for Latino and general audiences that includes a mix of reality, scripted and animated series, movies, documentaries, news, music, comedy, and sports programming," according to Comcast. READ MORE

Florida makes the grade in a report recently released by one of Florida College Access Network’s national partners. Excelencia in Education’s “Finding Your Workforce” provides an analysis of the top 25 institutions graduating Hispanics nationally. The project’s goal is to help employers recruit recent Latino degree recipients in key sectors.

In the opening report of the “Finding Your Workforce” series, several Florida institutions come out on top of their national peers in the total number of degrees or certificates awarded to Latinos during the 2009 to 2010 school year. Top Florida institutions include Florida International University, Miami Dade College, the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida.

Florida International University ranks #1 in the nation for the amount of bachelor and master degrees it awards Hispanics. FIU also ranks 10th for professional degrees and 19th in doctoral degrees awarded to Latinos during the 2009-10 school year.

The report also shows Miami Dade College awards more associate degrees to Latinos than any other institution in the country. During the 2009-10 school year, 65% of all Miami Dade College graduates were Latino.

The University of Florida scores high in the report as well, placing 6th for professional degrees, 9th for doctoral degrees, 11th for bachelor degrees and 21st for master degrees awarded to Hispanics.

The University of Central Florida is in at #14 of U.S. institutions awarding the most bachelor degrees to Latinos.

Private universities round out the top 25 as well, including the University of Miami, which is 9th on the list of national institutions that award professional degrees to Latinos. READ MORE

It's been redone nearly 400 times over the last 17 years, but one thing has stayed the same about ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” advertisement: It’s always been in English.

That will change on Wednesday when ESPN introduces the first Spanish television ad for the network’s signature news program.

The ad follows the Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano as he makes his way around ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters giving high-fives and elaborate handshakes to staff members while unknowingly spreading a cold.

Pegged to Major League Baseball’s opening day, the ad, known as “Handshakes,” is the first time the network will show a Spanish ad on both ESPN Deportes, its Spanish-language sports channel, and its English-language sister channel ESPN2. A slightly modified English version will be broadcast during ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” program.

The Hispanic audience for ESPN has increased by 15 percent over the last five years, outpacing non-Hispanic audience growth.

Each quarter 29 million Hispanics connect with ESPN either through the cable channels, Web sites or apps, according to the network. Some 60 percent of those viewers will watch only ESPN’s English-language channels, while 20 percent watch only ESPN Deportes. READ MORE

As Mitt Romney steadily ties up the GOP nomination, he’s begun to etch-a-sketch his campaign toward winning “the Hispanic vote.” As America’s largest minority, Hispanics are seen as critical to victory in the presidential race.

Only there’s an awkward problem for Mr. Romney. And it’s not just a Hispanic tendency to vote Democratic. A new survey shows only a quarter of Hispanics actually see themselves as Hispanic.

In fact, of the Hispanics born in the United States, about half say they view themselves as simply American, according to a survey by the Pew Hispanic Center. And more than two-thirds of all Hispanics say they do not see a common culture among Hispanics. In the 2010 Census, more than half of Hispanics checked off the box for “white.”

Identity politics in the US may need a big rethink.

OPINION: Latinos have no single leader

A good example of this is current speculation about Romney possibly picking Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate, in large part because of the Floridian’s Cuban-American heritage. That may not be such a wise move.

More than half of Hispanics identify most often with their family’s place of origin, such as Mexico, according to the Pew poll. And many non-Cuban Hispanics resent the special political and immigration status given to Cuban immigrants.

This problem of clumping together all US residents with roots in Spanish-speaking nations began in 1976. That’s when Congress mandated the collection of official information about this loose, panethnic category. In 1997, the government created even more confusion by adding the term “Latino.” And then there’s the issue of Portuguese-speaking Brazilians in the US who resent being called Hispanic. READ MORE

The president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said Friday that he is proud to advocate on behalf of business owners who happen to be of Hispanic decent. But he reminded a Pasco audience they must never forget that first and foremost they are American businesses.

"Every tax bill we pay, every person we employ and every product we manufacture ... goes to support this American economy," Javier Palomarez said.

Palomarez was the featured speaker at the annual Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Shining Lights Gala and Leadership Awards, held at TRAC. He also is CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber, which is the leading advocate for nearly 3 million Hispanic-owned businesses and about 200 local Hispanic chambers throughout the country.

Palomarez, who is based in Washington, D.C., said he travels around the country meeting the owners of Hispanic businesses, which are the fastest growing segment of American enterprise. Today, one in every six people living in America is of Hispanic decent, he added.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy," and Latinos are becoming entrepreneurs three to one to the general American market, he said. They are taking risks, starting new ventures, providing jobs and creating a strong economic tax base.

Palomarez acknowledged that the nation continues to face unprecedented economic challenges. That's why the U.S. Hispanic Chamber needs to continue engaging corporate partners and chambers to work together and provide training for the benefit of communities like the Tri-Cities.

"We have to fight to make sure that America continues to be the greatest country in the world. Part of the reason we are is we have a strong and vibrant work force, a willing work force that will not be outdone by any other nation," he said. "If you support American small business then you support Hispanic small business, and here in Washington state I believe you are."

Palomarez thanked the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the privilege of speaking to a group he said is supporting the American way of life.

"We get to go all over the country ... and the community that I've witnessed here, the warmth and decency and just the good American values with everybody that I've met, are wonderful," he said. READ MORE

Is the new face of American Catholicism a Hispanic one?

In Fall River, the overall population may be dropping. But census figures show the Hispanic population rising from 4.3 percent of total population in 1995 to 7.4 percent in 2010.

The new Fall Riverites who speak Spanish are mostly Puerto Ricans, but El Salvador, Guatemala and Ecuador are also represented.

“We’re also seeing a lot of Brazilians, particularly on Cape Cod, where many of them do seasonal work,” said Doug Rodrigues, director of the Diocese of Fall River Office for Pastoral Planning. “We are seeing a lot more Latinos throughout the diocese.”

Other parts of the country have already seen an influx of new Hispanic immigrants into Catholic churches, Rodrigues said.

“In the Southwest, growth in Catholic parishes is driven by Hispanics and retirees from the Northeast,” Rodrigues said. READ MORE

When forms for financial aid or the recent U.S. Census come around, checking off the "Hispanic" box gives the majority of Latinos pause, according to a report released last week.

It's a feeling Veronica Culbertson can relate to.

As head of the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, she sees some aspects of a common culture — hugging and kissing during greetings, strong personalities and close relationships "make us who we are," said Culbertson, an El Salvador native.

But the majority of Hispanics see more differences than similarities among themselves, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study.

"When Hispanics meet, we ask each other where we're from, like Colombia, Venezuela," Culbertson said. Once that's established, she said, "it's like, 'Ah, now we have an identity.'"

Regardless of being first or third generation, English or Spanish speaking, or educational attainment, only 29 percent of the individuals polled believe Latinos in the U.S. share a common culture. Instead, the majority chooses to identify themselves by country of origin.

Where you come from "culturally is what defines you as an individual," said Albert del Valle, a Lee County resident who moved as a child from Puerto Rico to New York. "No matter how long you are in this country, you still keep those cultural ties." READ MORE

Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Helen Iris Torres responded to questions about her identity by telling people she was Puerto Rican. It didn't matter that schoolbooks referred to her as Hispanic.

Now, as head of an organization that supports women of Latin American heritage, Torres still says she's a "proud Puerto Rican" but prefers the term Latina, which she says encompasses the larger community of Spanish speakers in the country.

Torres' quandary is reflected in a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center, which suggests that the majority of people of Latin American descent choose to identify themselves by their countries of origin, over either Latino or Hispanic. When choosing between the latter terms, the majority, 51%, were ambivalent.

The findings shed light on the social and political complexities of identity in a community that is growing but includes dozens of nationalities.

"The notion of a pan-ethnic Hispanic identity is uniquely American," said Mark Hugo Lopez, a lead author of the report. "Latinos have not fully embraced the terms Hispanic or Latino when it comes to describing themselves."

Only one-quarter of those polled used the terms Hispanic or Latino most often, while about 21% said they predominantly use the term American. Most of those polled did not see a shared common culture among Latinos — as sometimes is assumed by politicians courting a voting bloc. READ MORE

It is an ongoing debate: should birth control pills be covered by insurance or not?

Some women are resorting to desperate measures just to get birth control despite the health risks, according to a recent study.

With the current state of healthcare, a new study by the American Journal of Public Health said more Latinas are crossing the border for birth control.

In Mexico, birth control is cheaper and more easily accessible since it is sold over-the-counter.

The study also said that undocumented immigrants are following the trend and buying birth control on the black market.

Dr. Jorge Galdamez with the San Ysidro Health Center said though he can understand the desperation, but these women are taking huge health risks.

He says using the wrong form of birth control can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, and if used inappropriately, even a stroke.

"These medications are not necessarily safe. They need to be discussed with a primary care doctor or a physician because they come with their own side effects and they come with their own interactions and they might not be the right medication for the patient," said Dr. Galdamez. READ MORE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Denise Stennis
312/226-0963 ext 296
dstennis@gadshillcenter.org

Maricela García to Assume Leadership Role of Gads Hill Center

Chicago, IL April 1, 2012 – The Board of Directors of Gads Hill Center announced today the appointment of Maricela García as its new Chief Executive Officer. Ms. García is the first Latina in the agency’s history to hold this position and succeeds Barbara Castellan who led this 114-year old non-profit organization for the past 19 years.

Ms. García has extensive experience in nonprofit management. She held the position of Executive Director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and of the Latino Policy Forum. These organizations became strong and influential institutions under Ms. García’s leadership. Most recently, she held the position of Director of Capacity Building and Juvenile Justice Policy at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Ms. García has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a policy fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University’s Leadership Program.

“The Board of Directors is very excited about bringing Maricela García to lead Gads Hill Center into the future” stated Jorge Cazares, Board President. He added, “After an extensive national search, we are pleased that we selected a Chicago resident who knows the City and especially the communities we service. Maricela has demonstrated experience leading and building organizations with vision and integrity.”

Gads Hill Center was founded in 1898 as part of the Settlement House Movement in Chicago. Maricela García is the sixth Chief Executive Officer in the 114 years that the organization has served Chicago families in the Lower West Side. “I am excited to join an organization that for more than a century has helped families make a better life. I pledge to work hard to accomplish the mission of Gads Hill so that our children and youth have the opportunity to achieve their full potential,” stated Ms. García.

Gads Hill Center is a family resource center that serves economically disadvantaged families to make a better life for their children with programming that provides learning support and educational enrichment, early childhood development, and out-of-school care and support for children and youth. Every year, the Center provides services to over 2,500 children, youth, and adults from the Pilsen, Little Village, Brighton Park, and North Lawndale communities. Gads Hill Center has been a constant in Pilsen throughout its history. The Chicago community of Pilsen has an ethnically rich and diverse history. The Irish and Germans were the first to occupy the neighborhood, arriving after the Chicago fire of 1871. Czechs, Bohemians, Lithuanians, Poles and Italians settled in the neighborhood at the turn of the 20th Century. Since World War II, Pilsen has welcomed Latino immigrants, mainly of Mexican origin.

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Immigration is one of the issues that will be put on the backburner as U.S. President Barack Obama focuses on the campaign trail in the hopes of winning his second term in office.

Obama has been blunt about election-year constraints. At a March 6 news conference, he acknowledged Hispanic supporters' anger over his failure to achieve immigration changes, including paths to legal status for some undocumented immigrants.

"When I came into office, I said, 'I am going to push to get this done,'" Obama said. "We didn't get it done. And the reason we haven't gotten it done is because what used to be a bipartisan agreement that we should fix this ended up becoming a partisan issue."

Obama said a presidential election can change the policy landscape.

"My hope is that, after this election, the Latino community will have sent a strong message that they want a bipartisan effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform," he told reporters. READ MORE