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You can't escape Sofia Vergara these days.

She plays the loud Colombian wife with the tight tops and high heels on ABC'stop-rated sitcom "Modern Family."She's in ads for Diet Pepsi and Cover Girl cosmetics. The self-branding Latina, who's been known to split her time between South Florida and Hollywood, even has a clothing line at Kmart.

But is the actress and businesswoman a role model for Hispanic women, or is she helping to perpetuate a stereotype? Feelings are mixed.

Some celebrate her success story: the single mother who worked for years as a model and Spanish-TV host before crossing over in Hollywood.
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"She has always been a Latina icon,'' said Claudia Teran, a former Fort Lauderdale resident who was a community outreach coordinator at Miami Children's Museum. The single mother recently moved to Vergara's hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia. "She is one of the girls you always want to look and be like. She was a single mother, and that is one of the things I admire about her so much."

Others say she conforms to long-held stereotypes about Latinas with her character's loud, thick Spanish accent and revealing clothing. READ MORE

There's a man in Phoenix with a political playbook that has become valuable. So valuable, the Obama campaign believes it could help clinch the president's re-election.

Phoenix City Council Member Daniel Valenzuela is a fourth-generation Mexican-American. Last year, he won a seat on the Phoenix City Council in a traditionally Republican district, and he did it by increasing Latino voter turnout by 488 percent.

"I decided early on that this campaign would be a campaign for social behavioral change," Valenzuela tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz. "To get people active, register to vote, realize the power of a vote and to get them to cast that vote."

Latino voters continue to shape American politics, and this election season should see candidates on both sides courting the support of the fast-growing group. In Valenzuela's case, he did it the old-fashioned way. He recruited a group of local university students who knocked on 72,000 doors. READ MORE

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 9.6 million Hispanics called the United States home in 1970. Since then, the Hispanic population has grown tremendously every decade.

In 2010, when the last census report was issued, 47.8 million Hispanics lived in the United States.

Even more amazing is that the Census Bureau projects that by 2050, over 100 million Hispanics will reside in the United States.

Among the states with the largest reported Hispanic population are California, New York, Texas and Illinois.

Just like the Italian, Irish, Greek, German and immigrants from other countries in the early half of the last century, Hispanics have brought their cultures along with them, including foods that have been a part of their lifestyle for hundreds of years.

Many Hispanics were raised on root vegetables like yucca, malanga and boniato, and a fruit cornucopia that includes plantains, bananas and mangos.

“To Latinos and Asians, who are no strangers to tropicals, the larger displays in more mainstream supermarkets are welcome,” said Mary Ostlund, director of marketing for Brooks Tropicals in Homestead, FL. “These displays make Hispanic shoppers feel more welcome in the stores, and that is opening the way for more sales to this growing market.” READ MORE

As part of the Mujeres Latinas Brown Bag series, an ongoing effort to bring more exposure of Hispanic women to IU, graduate student Tanya Flores delivered a presentation Friday in Ballantine Hall about accommodation theory in Chilean Spanish.

The program was started by Leonice Santamaría, a visiting lecturer who teaches S280: Spanish Grammar in Context.

She said she wanted to allow for more presentations by Hispanic women graduate students, who she feels are underrepresented on campus and in academic life in general.

“I really wanted to focus on women,” Santamaría said. “I have seen Latinas being behind the Latinos in terms of hiring practices by universities and departments. There are more Latino men on campus than Latina women as professors, directors of programs and so on.”

Santamaría went to the Latino Faculty and Staff Council, which approved the program.
The program is also connected to La Casa Latino Cultural Center, the Latino Studies Program and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Aside from furthering the exposure of Hispanic women academics in general, the program has also functioned as a support system for Latinas on campus, according to La Casa Director Lillian Casillas-Origel. READ MORE

Hispanic voters in Florida and across the country give exceedingly high marks to President Barack Obama and overwhelmingly favor his re-election.

The findings come from a Fox News Latino/Latin Insights poll released Monday. But the poll also showed that in Florida and elsewhere, Hispanic support for Obama dips if the eventual Republican nominee picks U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for vice president.

Rubio, a telegenic presence with strong tea party support, is at the top of virtually every pundit's list of likely vice presidential candidates. The freshman Cuban-American senator from South Florida repeatedly has said he doesn't expect he'll be on the ticket, but that's de rigueur. According to custom, potential vice presidential candidates can't act as if they want the job.

Almost one-quarter of U.S. Hispanic voters polled said they would be more willing to vote for a Republican if Rubio was on the ticket. The number rose to almost four in 10 Florida Hispanics.
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Florida, which has a 22.5 percent Hispanic population, is the biggest swing state in November, awarding 29 electoral votes, more than 10 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency. READ MORE

A new report from the Pew Research Center shows that Hispanics will account for three-quarters of the growth in the nation's labor force for the years 2010 to 2020.

According to author Rakesh Kochhar, growth in the Hispanic workforce can be attributed to two factors: a rapidly growing population due to births and immigration and higher labor force participation than other groups.

"The nation’s labor force participation rate — that is, the share of the population ages 16 and older either employed or looking for work — was 64.7 percent in 2010. Among Hispanics, the rate was 67.5 percent. There are two main explanations for this gap: Hispanics are a younger population than other groups, and include a higher share of immigrants," the article stated. READ MORE

Time magazine’s March 5 edition is barrier-breaking, according to Richard Stengel, the managing editor. “For the first time in our history, we have a Spanish sentence as our cover line: Yo decido. I decide.”

Ugh.

Applause and gratitude to Stengel and his staff of distinguished journalists for choosing to feature the increasing clout of Latino voters, but I wish they had made history differently.

Yes, speaking to someone in their native tongue can be a sign of affection and respect. But here’s the problem: Speaking to Latinos in a language other than English promotes the myth that Hispanics don’t, can’t or won’t speak it.

Worse, it ignores the reality that though there are varying degrees of bilingualism in the community, Latinos will ultimately be no different than any other wave of immigrants who came to this country and eventually made English their family’s primary language.

And even worse than that, it fires up the people who look at such a cover and see concrete evidence that their beloved country is on its way to being drenched by a so-called demographic tsunami that will leave anyone who doesn’t speak Spanish behind.

Nothing could be further from the truth — for most Hispanics in the U.S., English is “our” language.

Last month, the Pew Hispanic Center released its most recent statistical portrait of Hispanics in the U.S., using updated 2010 Census figures. The data show that 25 percent of the Hispanic population ages 5 and up, including both the native and foreign born, speaks only English at home — up from 22 percent in 2005. Another 40 percent say they speak English “very well” and the trends point upward. Plus, even the 35 percent who speak English “less than very well” aren’t all Spanish-only speakers. READ MORE

Smartphone users now outnumber users of more basic mobile phones within the national adult population, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Nearly every major demographic group—men and women, younger and middle-aged adults, urban and rural residents, the wealthy and the less well-off—experienced a notable uptick in smartphone penetration over the last year, and blacks and Latinos are leading the way.

African-Americans and Latinos overall adoption of smartphone rates in 2011 was higher than the national average: smartphone penetration is 49% in each case, just higher than the national average of 46%.

Usage of smartphones as a primary internet access device is highest among several groups with relatively low rates of traditional internet and broadband adoption—for example, those with no college experience as well as those with relatively low income levels, according to a Pew report published last year.

“The reason for that, many say, is simple: It’s the most affordable way to get onto the information superhighway,” Jamilah King wrote in a story published on Colorlines.com last year. A couple hundred dollars for an Android and a data plan is much less than $1,000 for a laptop computer and broadband connection. READ MORE

There are 25 communities on this year's list of 100 Best Communities For Young People that are home to many Latinos. The 100 Best presented by America's Promise Alliance is an annual competition that showcases outstanding communities where young people can thrive. READ MORE

USHLI & HispanicPro Latino Professionals Conference Networking Reception & Entertainment Night Enjoy an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, comedy, live music, and dancing!!!

As USHLI celebrates its 30th National Conference, join USHLI and HispanicPro for the largest networking event of the year for Chicago's Latino professional community, and a fun-filled night of spirits, comedy, music, and dancing! The Celebration will be sponsored by Wells Fargo. Product will be provided by MillerCoors and Quaker Oats.

Comedian Shayla Rivera will be the host of the night and will share her 8-year career at NASA and her transition from rocket scientist to the comedy stage. Together, a highly talented eleven member band with diversified musical styles from pop to rhythm and blues to big band and Latin rock, will perform for the audience, showcasing an extraordinary and unique sound that is all their own.

Our Special Celebrity Guest will be Tejano Music Hall of Fame Inductee Johnny Hernandez.  For nearly five decades this music legend has entertained millions of fans along with his brother Little Joe, and their band La Familia.  He has also performed with other music greats including Santana, Los Tigres del Norte, and Willie Nelson.

Thursday, February 16
6 pm – 8 pm: Networking Reception – Open bar and hors d'oeuvres
8 pm – 9 pm: Together – Open bar and snacks
9 pm – 10 pm: Shayla Rivera Performance – Open bar and snacks
10 pm – 12 am: Together – Open bar and snacks

Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
River Exhibit Hall
301 E. North Water St., Chicago IL 60611 

RSVP is required to attend. Please RSVP here: http://2012ushlinetworking.eventbrite.com/

A suggested $10 minimum donation, at the door, is requested to support the USHLI Scholarship Fund.

Click here for full conference registration. Discounted registration ends February 3, 2012.

He's young, telegenic and charismatic. He's Hispanic, Catholic and the son of Cuban immigrants. He's a tea party favorite, a GOP star and, many say, the future of the Republican Party.

Sen. Marco Rubio's endorsement would be a big get for any of the presidential contenders ahead of the Jan. 31 Florida primary — if only he were the giving kind.

The freshman senator, who has ties to GOP presidential front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, has pledged to stay neutral as Republicans pick a challenger to President Barack Obama. But Rubio's refusal to pick sides hasn't squelched intense speculation about whether Rubio might make a surprise endorsement — and whether he'll end up as the vice presidential nominee.

Rubio publicly insists that he's not interested in either, saying recently that many of those running have been helpful to him and that he's not inclined to endorse anyone in the primary. On Monday, while he was racing to the Senate for a vote, he gave two answers to the endorsement question: a subtle "no" followed by a more emphatic "no." READ MORE

The Girls Scouts are turning 100 this year. One of the oldest and well-known organizations for girls is also one of the savviest marketers. From its annual promotion of its cookie sale to its upcoming anniversary float in the 2012 Rose Parade, it knows how to promote itself and its main mission: To build girls of courage, confidence and character. To its credit, the Girl Scouts has been quick to acknowledge the changing demographics of the country and understand what these changes mean to its future and mission. For the past decade the organization has run a series of campaigns that reassert what the Girl Scout are while simultaneously redefining WHO a Girl Scout is.

Actively reaching out to underrepresented communities and launching the national Hispanic Membership Marketing Initiative (HMMI) to recruit and retain Latinas. READ MORE

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign announced its first Spanish commercial on the same day that it proudly touted the endorsement by Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and the brains behind all of the anti immigrant state laws that are so odious to most Latinos.

It does seem like a contradiction: one action is meant to attract and respect Latino voters, the other one is certain to bring condemnation from many if not most of them. However, for political experts, including a Republican consultant, there seems to be a logical explanation: Romney strategists may be considering a path to victory that does not require him to pursue a significant percentage of the Latino vote, not even what George W.Bush earned in 2000 or 2004, which was over 30% or closer to 40%, depending who you ask.

"Romney's strategy has its risks, but the reality is that he will not be seeking the Latino vote in the same way George W. Bush did" said David Johnson, a Republican consultant and CEO of Strategic Vision in Atlanta, who was a consultant to the Bob Dole campaign in 1996.

According to Johnson, the reason is that Romney will have enough trouble proving to the conservative Republican base that he is "one of them", and in such a position, he can not afford the messaging and the effort to try to broaden the base. That is left for candidates considered strong conservatives like Ronald Reagan, who attracted conservative democrats to his coalition or to George W. Bush, who at the time he ran was a favorite of the Republican base and therefore could work on expanding the reach to get a larger share of the Latino vote than the typical presidential candidate had gotten in the 1990´s.

Romney will have to try to appeal to moderates though, and he will move to do that in the general election, Johnson said.

"I believe he´ll keep a very hard line on immigration in order not scare the conservative base," said Johnson. "But he will seek moderates by emphasizing that he favors legal immigration, which does not mean much because it is something that everyone favors. And that makes him look moderate."
The Republican potential nominee´s road to victory then, will most likely not include the states of Colorado, New Mexico or Nevada. Not even Arizona, which this year is considered in play and a possible win for the Democrats. These are states that by their demographic and according to all polls favor Obama. Romney will seek to talke states in the "rust belt" of the country like Michigan and Ohio, where many white blue collar voters supported the Democrat in 2008 amid a severe economic crisis. READ MORE

Hispanics used to come to Houston with a dream of starting their own businesses. Today they come with the dream of expanding existing ventures by setting up shop in one of the country’s fastest-growing business meccas.

Indeed, the Hispanic business community is on a new fast track, fueled by sophisticated immigrants from Latin America who are banking that Houston’s thriving community is a good fit for their companies.

Between 2002 and 2007, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the Houston region jumped 38.8 percent to 104,368 from 75,165, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau.. READ MORE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Chicago, January 19, 2012) Daniella Guzman is joining NBC 5 Chicago as co-anchor of NBC 5’s weekday morning newscasts starting in March, the station announced today.

“We are pleased to add Daniella to our news team,” said Frank Whittaker, Station Manager and Vice President of News for NBC 5 Chicago. “She will bring a fresh and new perspective to our morning team. I know our viewers will enjoy getting to know her.”

Guzman comes to NBC 5 News from KPRC-TV in Houston where she has been a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter since 2006. Before joining KPRC, Guzman worked for the Telemundo station in Houston and the Univision network in Miami. She’s also worked for Televisa Mexico and the Houston Chronicle.

Guzman graduated from the University of St. Thomas in Houston with a degree in bilingual journalism and communications. She is fluent in Spanish. She is married and has a young daughter. 

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It is a known fact that there are more female voters during Presidential primary elections than male. The National Tequila party movement is female led and we intend on appealing to compassionate female voters throughout the country and to open minded college students in an effort to sway public opinion in support of humane and compassionate views with regard to the DREAM Act, legal immigration that would benefit the American economy.

As a female leader, I have discovered several male writers, pundits, political leaders who really do take an issue with female leadership. I don’t know for certain if some of these chauvinistic males feel threatened by female leadership or not, but there is definitely an antiquated slant to their approach and attacks of females in general. It makes no sense for males to feel threatened by female leadership particularly when there are more female voters to begin with. READ MORE

The Republican Party is beefing up its minority outreach nationwide and preparing to put its rising Latino stars on the campaign trail amid concerns that tough immigration rhetoric in the presidential primary is taking on an increasingly anti-Hispanic tone.

But immigrant-rights groups and some political watchers say the damage may be irreversible. They argue that the GOP has severely hampered itself as it looks to woo the critical Latino voting bloc that could decide who wins key states like New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida next fall.

Mitt Romney “is done,” said DeeDee Blase, founder of Somos Republicans in Arizona. “He’ll be lucky to get 8 percent of the Hispanic vote” after saying he would veto legislation that would create a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants and accepting the endorsement of anti-immigration activist Kris Kobach, architect of two of the strongest immigration crackdown laws in the country.

The GOP front-runner, Romney has referred to the legislation — called the DREAM Act — as a handout. The measure would allow some young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to earn legal status if they went to college or joined the military. Challengers, including Texas Gov. Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, have also taken tough anti-immigration stances in the campaign. READ MORE

Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s (M) chief executive officer, has research showing that more than half the people in the biggest Macy’s urban markets—including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—are Hispanic, African-American, and Asian. The chain already uses various tactics to woo minority shoppers, such as its deal to sell an exclusive line from rapper-turned-clothier Sean “Diddy” Combs. Coveting a deeper relationship with minority customers, Lundgren decided to seek out mom-and-pop retailers already serving minority consumers and get their products on Macy’s shelves.

Small businesses, however, often lack the wherewithal to supply a behemoth like Macy’s, the second-largest U.S. department store chain after Sears Holdings (SHLD). So Macy’s last year developed a training program designed for minority vendors. Participants learn the basics of big-time retail, and the most promising get to sell through Macy’s. In November the retailer awarded its first orders to four graduates: two makers of cosmetics targeted at African-American and multi-ethnic women; a designer who makes dresses primarily for Hispanic women; and a designer of plus-size swimsuits. “We are doing this not just as a nice thing,” Lundgren says, “but as a business proposition.”

It’s a sizable one: By 2015, Hispanics will spend $1.5 trillion on U.S. goods and services, according to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, 50 percent more than they spent in 2010. Blacks’ buying power will expand by about a quarter, to $1.2 trillion, in that period, and Asians by more than 40 percent, to $775 billion. Macy’s forecasts its sales of goods from minority- and women-owned businesses will jump to $1 billion in two years, after rising a projected 22 percent, to $683.2 million, in 2011. (Macy’s total sales were an estimated $26.4 billion last year.) “When we get there,” he adds, “I can assure you I will raise that goal.” READ MORE

Alejandra Abad likes to read fairy tales, dance along to her favorite artist, Selena Gomez, and practice cheerleading.

But every Sunday after the Spanish Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Alejandra, 9, joins a handful of boys bouncing around the courtyard outside. Wearing neckerchiefs and navy shirts, these Cub Scouts eagerly await their weekly meeting.

Although Alejandra’s brother Luis is a Cub Scout, she doesn’t attend the meetings to observe like the other sisters. She is the lone female member of Pack 121. She's a girl in a Cub Scout pack.

“Technically, I’ve signed up Alejandra in the BSA Learning for Life program,” Cubmaster John Stansfield said. Sacred Heart, the pack’s charter organization, does not offer Girl Scouts.

According to John Fabsits, Boy Scouts of America director of development and marketing, Learning for Life is a coed character-building program.

Out of 27 Columbia Cub Scout packs and hundreds of children involved, Alejandra is the only girl participating in any scout activity.

She participates in all of the events and attends regular meetings like the rest of the scouts.

“She was out there with her earrings and headband, and nobody gave her a second look,” Stansfield said. He described Alejandra’s involvement in Pack 121 as welcomed by fellow packs, too. READ MORE

Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, and other states have recently enacted measures calling for stricter enforcement of existing immigration laws. Some of these measures even aim to deny birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. These initiatives, overwhelmingly supported by Republicans, drive Hispanics to vote increasingly for the Democratic Party.

The laws come as a reaction against profound changes in the U.S. population. According to U.S. Census projections, from 2000 to 2030 the Hispanic share of population of the United States will nearly double, from 13 percent to 23 percent. In the same period, the non-Hispanic white population is expected to drop from 69 percent of the total to 53 percent. The Census Bureau forecasts that by 2042 whites will be a plurality of the population, but no longer a majority.

That shift is already being felt in many states. California ceased to be majority white in 2000. The 2010 Census estimates that whites and Hispanics are nearly equal in numbers there, and the Bureau projects that by 2030 the largest state will be 45 percent Hispanic and just one-third white.

Texas—the second-largest state—is changing even faster. In 2000, 53 percent of Texans were white, and 32 percent were Hispanic. By 2010, whites had fallen to 45 percent of the population and Hispanics risen to 39 percent. By 2020, those numbers will be reversed. The Office of the Texas State Demographer predicts that in 2030 the state will be majority Hispanic. READ MORE