RECENT ARTICLES

2010 LULAC NATIONAL WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

Gaps emerging in US census outreach to immigrants

The Loan Modification Scam Alert Campaign

Census Finds Huge Growth in Hispanic Voters

DTV Acceso Hispano Centers Achieve the Objective with Outreach to the Elderly in Puerto Rico

READ FULL ARTICLES

2010 LULAC NATIONAL WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

April 9, 2010

to

April 10, 2010

Excerpt from: www.lulac.net

“Latina Contributions…..To a Stronger Nation”

When: Friday, April 9 and Saturday, April 10, 2010

Where: Caribe Hilton
Los Rosales Street
1 San Geronimo Street
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901

LULAC is proud to request your presence and sponsorship at our annual National Women’s Conference to be held April 3rd and 4th at the beautiful Caribe Hilton in San Juan.

The theme for the conference is “Latina Contributions…..To a Stronger Nation”. We are doing so in the areas of business, education, and political empowerment. Now is the time to highlight the important accomplishments of women who have progressed in their areas of expertise and have them share their experiences with our participants.

To read more about the conference click here

Reservations: (800) 468-8585 or click here

Gaps emerging in US census outreach to immigrants

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the government is fumbling some efforts to assure immigrants that U.S. census data won’t be used against them, including gaps in outreach and foreign language guides that refer to the decennial count as an investigation.

With the launch of the head count weeks away, the Census Bureau’s outreach has been falling short in at least a dozen major cities, such as Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Jose, Calif., and Seattle, according to a report released Monday by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Many of their states are on the cusp of gaining or losing U.S. House seats and face a redrawing of legislative boundaries that may tilt the balance of political power.

The report generally praises the Census Bureau for improved efforts since 2000. But noting the large ramifications of even a small undercount, AALDEF is critical of the Obama administration. The legal group cited the government’s refusal to give fuller assurances that census data would be kept confidential and to suspend large-scale immigration raids during the count , as was done in the 2000 census. AALDEF said it wasn’t ruling out legal action to get stronger guarantees.

“We are running the risk of a real undercount,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “The next few weeks will be critical.”

The Census Bureau is printing instruction guides and sample forms in dozens of different languages for use in community help centers, since one in five residents speak a language other than English at home. But there have been errors due to poor translations, including material for Vietnamese speakers that describe the census as a “government investigation.”

Other gaps included a lack of specialists for the Bangladeshi community in Detroit; the nation’s third largest Korean-American population in Chicago; and the south Asian and Cambodian groups in Philadelphia and Rhode Island. In Virginia, when groups cited a need for census specialists for their Korean and Vietnamese communities, the agency responded by hiring someone who spoke Chinese.

Responding, the Census Bureau has emphasized it is devoting a large amount of its $133 million ad campaign to racial and ethnic audiences, including television spots in 28 different languages. It also worked with more than 150,000 business and community groups, hoping to build trust in its message that filling out the 10-question census form is safe and easy to complete.

To encourage participation, Census Director Robert Groves on Monday visited neighborhoods along the U.S.-Mexico border near Laredo, Texas. As many as half the residents were missed there in 2000 because they had little knowledge of English and feared being turned over to immigration agents.

Other trouble spots:

Latino groups are worried the Census Bureau’s ad campaign may neglect communities with higher numbers of immigrants in poverty. Census-takers also may be less adept in navigating some areas because of an agency requirement that employees be U.S. citizens.

In 2000, the Census Bureau noted for the first time an overcount of 1.3 million people, due mostly to duplicate counts of more affluent whites with multiple residences. About 4.5 million people were ultimately missed, primarily lower-income minorities.

To read the complete article click here

Source: www.philly.com

The Loan Modification Scam Alert Campaign

Loan modification scams are proliferating at a rapid pace. Every day, scam artists prey on unsuspecting homeowners who are facing foreclosure. These homeowners are losing thousands of dollars and their homes—lured by the promise of loan modification help. To combat this issue, Congress asked NeighborWorks America® to launch a national public education campaign. The campaign will empower homeowners to protect themselves against loan modification scams, find trusted help and report illegal activity to authorities. NeighborWorks America is working with national, state and local partners on the ground and 235 community-based affiliates. Together, we will alert thousands of homeowners in hundreds of at-risk communities through real-life scam stories, fliers, postcards, e-cards, posters, print advertising, local PSAs, events, word of mouth and social media activity.

We need help from partners like you to reach homeowners in your area with our important information to:

• Alert them about scams
• Help them spot a scam before it’s too late
• Encourage them to report scammers to authorities

Joining the nationwide public education campaign is easy!

Simply access the toolkit of ready-made graphics, creative elements and written materials for distribution in your community. Some campaign materials are downloadable directly from this page, while others will be available on-demand for purchase through the