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For past generations of Hispanics in the United States, becoming part of a corporate entity was sometimes viewed as “selling out.” But for second and third generations, that attitude is changing.

Many Hispanics came to the United States to take advantage of college education, and young Hispanic professionals these days are beginning to reap the benefits. Not only are they climbing the corporate ladder at higher rates than in the past, many are becoming business owners in sectors where Hispanics were previously underrepresented—technology, engineering, finance and law.

Roberto Cornelio, 51, director of the chamber’s Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center, says it’s not just mom-and-pop businesses, either.

“Traditionally, the Hispanic business community focused on providing goods and services to the Hispanic community,” Mr. Cornelio says. “That’s changing. It’s still an important part of our community, but people have been exposed to many other opportunities. We’re seeing people go into technology, and a number of Hispanics have opened professional services business.”

A Chicago Business article quantifies the shift:

• Between 2003-2008, Hispanics in management, business and financial operations rose from 5.9% to 7.5%
• In the same period, Hispanics in chief executive positions rose from 3.3% to 4.8%
• The Illinois Chamber of Commerce has grown 1,000% in the last several years
• 6,787 Hispanics earned MBAs in 2007, making up 4.6% of the degree-holders

And still, there’s a long way to go:

• Hispanics comprise about 15% of the state of Illinois’s population, but only 4% of Illinois businesses are Hispanic-owned (the number is growing, however)
• Hispanics hold 234 seats on Fortune 1,000 corporate boards, only 2.3% of all seats
• There are just six Hispanic CEOs represented in the Fortune 500
• 71% of Fortune 500 companies have no Hispanics on their boards

Many Hispanic business leaders quoted in the article believe that Hispanics will continue to push for more recognition in the business world. Says Leopoldo Lastre, president of the Hispanic Lawyers Assn. of Illinois, “We will see more gains as long as there are opportunities. We’re not looking for the bar to be lowered.”

Click here to read the full article.

A Cafe Magazine article talks about the progress of dual-language schools in Chicago, and benefits their students are receiving.

To clarify: dual-language education is one of several approaches to bilingual education. Unlike ESL or transitional bilingual learning, the dual-language method teaches both English and Spanish to both English and Spanish native speakers. “Dual-language learning emphasizes the idea that English and Spanish are equal languages and that there is not a movement from a lesser language to a better language, but that both are beneficial to learning.”

St. Procopius Elementary protects the native language by teaching about 90% of the day in Spanish in Kindergarten, and progress to a 50/50 model by third grade. The school’s goal is to graduate completely bilingual and bicultural students.

Another dual-language model is Chicago Public Schools’ Inter American Magnet School, opened 30 years ago on the North Side.

Acting Principal Susan Kilbain states that the school’s program benefits all students. In a school of 650 students, about half of the students do not speak Spanish before entering the program. All teachers are bilingual and, unlike St. Procopius, it does not reach the 50/50 point until seventh and eighth grade. “It’s a very successful program,” Kilbain says. “It’s a schoolwide commitment.”

Dual-language education faces one problem: convincing parents, especially second and third generation Latinos who see a stigma associated with the Spanish language, that there is a benefit to being bilingual. Research aside, many parents tend to discourage learning Spanish.

Click here to read the full article.

Even though Tom Zabkowski has lived in the United States for almost 20 years after immigrating from Poland, he struggles to lose his accent. What’s more, he believes it’s holding him back in job interviews.

Many people with foreign accents have recently been taking accent-reduction classes because they don’t feel that they are being understood, and are therefore less marketable. Accent-reduction coaches interviewed for the Tribune report say they’ve seen a recession-related increase in students.

Employment experts say it’s not just Zabkowski who’s putting in the effort to make himself clearer and more marketable — in this down economy, every advantage helps when applying for a job, and accent reduction is part of that.

Stephanie Bickel, who runs a speaking firm with six instructors in Chicago, says that some people are not coming in to reduce a foreign accent, but to change the tone of their voice to sound more professional. “There’s been a noticeable increase in [American] men and women seeking to lower the pitch of their voices,” Bickel said. “It’s a trend that seems to be recession-related.”

Read the full story here.

Chi Town Daily News recently reported on the results of focus groups of young minorities and their perception of AIDS awareness campaigns.  The study found that minorities were distrustful of both the message and the medium used to convey the message:

Their attitudes demonstrated that AIDS awareness initiatives targeted at young people – and blacks, in particular – failed to resonate, says Anjanette Chan Tack, a doctoral student who worked on the study. A 30-second public service announcement bookended by sexually suggestive programming struck participants as ironic.

“They were saying, ‘OK, sure, you’ve got this flash on the screen for 30 seconds…but this in a sea of music videos where people are engaging in sex,’” she says. “You don’t see people using protection; all this stuff is glamorized, and in the middle there is a commercial telling you to protect yourself.”

Participants wondered how they could take the messaging seriously, Chan Tack says.

The article then moves on to describe how public health groups are using the lessons learned from these focus groups to create a message that resonates with minority populations.

With a fellowship from the University of Illinois Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership, a Spanish teacher at Parkland College will help her students with their Spanish skills while providing computer skills training to Latinos. 

Oliveras-Heras saw how computer-savvy her students were, and got the idea of teaching local Latinos computer skills. She contacted Shadowwood, which has a large number of Latino residents, and she is working with one of them in developing the project.

Oliveras-Heras said her students will teach word processing, e-mail skills and how to do research on the Internet. She said residents need to be able to access and complete the online applications that many employers require.

She said technology, while a great tool, can also create a divide between those with access to it and those without.

“I want instead to create a bridge,” Oliveras-Heras said, by using the project to introduce Parkland and what it has to offer to Latino residents.

She also plans to build in an assessment of her students’ knowledge and perceptions of Latino culture.  By paying attention to cultural competency and sensitivity, Oliveras-Heras will be able to create lessons that go beyond language acquisition.

Click here for the entire article.

An article in the Medill Report-Chicago touched on many of the salient issues in creating a culturally competent health care workforce.  An interview with Dr. David Baker, an internist whose career goal is to close health disparities, appears in the sidebar.  The article speaks to many of the barriers that make cultural competency training necessary, such as immigration status, language, and customs. 

It also includes an interesting perspective on melding traditional and non-traditional medicine so as to provide the most effective, inclusive health care:

Elizabeth Heinz, who has a degree in Oriental Medicine and works at “Well Spring: Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology” in Evanston, said Chinese medicine also gives a holistic approach toward curing the patient.

“A patient comes in and the diagnosis lasts about an hour,” she said. “You talk about the problem and also about everything else, like how do you sleep and do you get headaches. We get a good picture about what’s going on because everything hangs together.”

Heinz said the most effective treatments derive from a combined use of Chinese medicine and Western medicine. She said that in China the two healing methods can be found in the same facility and the patients are directed to one or the other according to their needs.

To read this comprehensive article and the interview, click here.

An article in Chicago’s ABC7 website provides some stats about the racial makeup of Fortune 500’s management.  The article also shares the experiences of two minority run companies, one an accounting firm and another an investment bank.  Founders of both companies expressed that they’ve had to continually prove themselves as competent because most of their employees are minorities.

The article quotes Maria Prado:

Staffed primarily by women, Prado and Renteria does audits and financial strategizing for Fortune 500 firms. Still, Prado often has to start her appeal to potential clients by allaying fears.

“The first time that you come in with a new client, I do feel we have to make the case that we know what we are doing. Once we are in the door, I feel the client sees it for themselves,” Prado said.

To read the full article, click here.

An Albany Business Review article offers some sound advice about why it’s dangerous to ignore diversity and inclusion even in this unstable economy:

Competing with diversity programs in corporate America, however, are bottom-line concerns. Steven L. Robbins, a Michigan-based consultant who has done diversity training for Toyota, McDonald’s and NASA, said he has seen companies scaling back on these types of programs. But that’s a mistake, he said, as diversity can pay.

People like Robbins point out that diverse companies better understand diverse clients, have improved productivity and are less likely to be sued. More important, Robbins said, is the link between diversity and creative thinking—something that’s key in a nation with a knowledge-based economy.

“In general,” he said, “the more perspective you have, the better you can solve complex problems.”

The article also cites a University of Illinois at Chicago professor’s study showing the connection between diversity and profits, something that flailing companies would do well to consider:

Herring studied 250 companies and looked at how well they performed. The more diverse companies, he found, were more profitable, had larger market share and had more customers.

To read the entire article, click here.