Workforce Language Services

A “cesta” (”basket,” in English) is a lending circle in which 6 to 12 individuals contribute a monthly sum of money, and the pooled funds serve as a credit line for the members involved. It’s a model that’s well known in Latin America, but cestas are only now beginning to pop up in the U.S.

An organization called the Mission Asset Fund (MAF) is helping cestas in California link to the credit market, so that the peer-to-peer groups can establish credit histories. In San Francisco, 44% of households have no credit history at all, and more than half of Latino adults don’t have bank accounts.

“This data is very discouraging,” says MAF executive director José Quiñonez. “But we decided, really our whole approach has been, to try and view the community from a positive perspective, to appreciate what they have, not what they lack, and to build on what they have.”

The cesta banking model has been called a breakthrough, and one that non-profits can replicate.  Members must act democratically to decide how much to contribute, and who has priority to withdraw their credit. Groups are usually founded among family members or circles of friends where there is a high level of trust. “The pressure to obey the agreed rules, however informal, is more social than legal.” The goal for most members is to get out of credit card debt with other lenders, and expand business operations.

To read more about cestas and how they’re growing in Latino communities around the U.S., click here.

The NYTimes article “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap” was a most-emailed article last week. We’ve written about this issue before — job applicants with ethnic-sounding names are having a harder time getting interviews and jobs than their white counterparts, despite being equally qualified.

With the job market in a crunch, applicants are doing everything they can to gain an edge over their competitors. But when highly-qualified African-Americans are changing the way their names appear on their résumés just to get a call back, its obvious that they are facing a more devastating disadvantage.

Johnny R. Williams, 30, would appear to be an unlikely person to have to fret about the impact of race on his job search, with companies like JPMorgan Chase and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago on his résumé.

But after graduating from business school last year and not having much success garnering interviews, he decided to retool his résumé, scrubbing it of any details that might tip off his skin color. His membership, for instance, in the African-American business students association? Deleted.

Another applicant interviewed uses the name Barry J. Sykes instead of the full Barry Jabbar Sykes, even though he’s always gone by Jabbar.

Although discrimination is rarely overt, interviewees report surprised faces on interviewers once they do get their feet in the door, with waned interest after the interviewers see the applicant is not white. Surprisingly, education, which would seem to level the playing field between whites and blacks, has made it more difficult for black job applicants. The unemployment rate for black male applicants with college degrees is twice that of their white peers.

Read the full article and interpretation here.

A news story out of Columbia, SC, where the Hispanic population is 14%, reports that Hispanics are not receiving adequate healthcare. Specifically, certain perceived limitations, like having a foreign accent or not knowing a doctor, are preventing Latinos from receiving the care they need.

[Latinos are] three times less likely to have a consistent source of medical care and one and a half times more likely to use the emergency room as a primary source of healthcare. Making unnecessary trips to the emergency room is one of the most common mistakes Hispanics make, and it can cost them hundreds of dollars.

The article report on some recent data from the Pew Hispanic Center:

• 46 percent say they believe their accent contributed to their poor care.
• 43 percent say they believe their inability to pay contributed to their poor care.
• 37 percent say they believe their race or ethnicity caused them to receive poor care.

A group called “Promotoras de Salud” is trying to get information out to the Latino population about where to go when sick and other resources that will help make their experience with health care more successful.

Read the full article here.

Since 1880, the Social Security Administration has been tracking popularity of baby names. And even though the Hispanic population in the US is on the rise (by 2025, 30% of all American children will have some Latino ancestry), Spanish names are down in the US. Time Magazine reports.

First, Time looks at some findings from a recent Pew Hispanic Center study:

As recently as 1980, just 9% of U.S. kids under 18 were Hispanic, compared with 22% today. Only about a tenth of that population are first-generation Latin Americans — meaning they were born outside the U.S. More than half (52%) are second generation — born in the U.S. to at least one foreign-born parent; and 37% were born in America to American-born parents.

What happens, of course, when an immigrant group heads toward assimilation, is that each successive generation gets more educated and more proficient in the national language. Another thing that happens is that parents start moving away from baby names like Guillermo and closer to names like William.

“When [immigrant or later-generation] parents name their children, they are combining their own attachments and affinities with their hopes and aspirations for their children,” says Guillermina Jasso, a sociology professor at New York University and a second-generation Hispanic American.

In the past decade, “Juan” has dropped in popularity from the 48th spot to 66th. “Guillermo” slid from 369th place to 470. Names like “Angelica” and “Manuel” have seen downward drops as well. Many girls’ names seem to survive the crossover better than boys’ — the ‘a’ at the end of the name (Maria,Victoria, Diana) seems to do better than an ‘o’ (Antonio becomes Anthony; Marco becomes Mark).

The Time columnist wraps up his thoughts with this statement: “If the Elisas and Jorges and Angelicas of this era are fated to go the way of the Moeshes and Mitzis of an earlier one, the consolation is that with such nominative extinction comes melting-pot belonging. That’s always been at the heart of the American experiment — and it likely always will be.”

But there will always be two schools of thought: parents who want to honor their heritage with a Spanish name, and those who wish to assimilate to make the “mainstream” more comfortable. As another blogger points out, “if you pick an ‘assimilated’ name to fit in, do you perpetuate the myth that those without assimilated names are ‘out’?”

See other posts about Hispanic names:

• Hotel owner makes Hispanic employees ’shorten’ Spanish names
• What’s in a Hispanic name 

Click here to read the full article in Time.

A hotel owner in Taos, Texas recently asked that all his Hispanic employees “shorten” their names to something a little more “American.” According to an article posted by Asylum, the new boss mandated the following upon his takeover:

1. No speaking Spanish in front of the boss.
2. Everyone’s fired and has to re-apply for their jobs.
3. It’s “strongly suggested” that employees shorten their long, silly Spanish names. (”Who has the time to say ‘Marcos?’ Why not Mark or Bill?” That’s actually a real example.)

Roberto Ruiz of the San Antonio Public Policy Examiner sees this as a strong case against America’s declaration as of late that we live in a “post-racial” society.  He also points out that Hispanics make up the majority population in Taos.

It usually comes as a surprise to people when I mention that our republic does not have an “official language.” Wisely, this nation’s founders decided not to declare an official language, their reasons included “a belief in tolerance for linguistic diversity within the population, the economic and social value of foreign language knowledge and citizenry, and a desire not to restrict the linguistic and cultural freedom of those living in the new country.”

In a previous blog post, “What’s in a Hispanic name,” we’ve looked at the Hispanic naming system and how it is often confused in the United States, resulting in a loss of culture and identity for many Hispanic Americans (click here to go to the post).

Read Ruiz’s full column here.

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), and the Hispanic population in the U.S. is proudly celebrating their heritage. CNN’s series “Latino in America” takes a special look at largest part of this group: Mexican-Americans.

3 of 10 Mexican-Americans were born to parents who were also born in the U.S., meaning that their national heritage is as deeply rooted in the U.S.’s as it is the country of their ancestors. But a continuing wave of immigrating Mexicans means that their identity remains closely linked to current immigration issues and their “Mexicanness,” in both problematic and enjoyable ways.

Ask the later-generation descendants of earlier waves of Mexican immigrants, and they’ll tell you that “Where are you from … no, where are you really from?” are questions that they have to field all too often. And even if it’s clear that they are Mexican-Americans, they still get quizzed about how well they speak Spanish. Assumptions about them being foreign turn from annoying to downright scary when law enforcement personnel suspect them of being illegal immigrants.

On the other hand, Mexican-Americans and Hispanics that have assimilated into the fabric of life in the U.S. have an advantage that many other immigrants don’t—easy access to their roots. Opportunities to celebrate their culture are all around, in the food, language and cultural traditions that persist thanks to ongoing immigration.

In fact, corporations, politicians and retailers are trying to grab a piece of the Hispanic market more than ever these days, and many Hispanics see this as an opportunity for growth.

Read Tomás R. Jiménez’s full article on this issue here at CNN.com.

The census form will be published in Spanish and English for the first time, reports the AP. Many communities are counting on resources from Uncle Sam to fund local projects, and federal aid will be based on the 2010 census. Every person counted matters.

As we’ve seen before, both documented and undocumented residents (and other hard-to-reach populations) are wary of the count, and distrustful of the government after seeing immigration raids and deportations. But community outreach groups are doing everything they can to get all residents recognized.

One of those ways is publishing and distributing the census forms in Spanish.

“If the government is reaching out to you in a language you understand, it helps build trust,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “I think the community has become really sensitive to political developments, and the census is the next step in this movement that we’re seeing of civic engagement in the Latino community.”

The forms will be automatically mailed to households in areas where more than a fifth of the population is reported to speak Spanish as a primary language. Other languages are available upon request. The AP reports,

Latino advocates hope the bilingual forms will help show their strength in numbers to underscore their growing political influence and garner more in federal funds that are determined by population.

But the question remains: will this effort help promote the census to under-served groups, or will distrust of the government by Hispanic residents continue to prevent communities from receiving the resources they need?

Read the full AP article here.

Hispanic population growth leapt 15% from 2007-2008 in Luzerne County, PA, topping the nation with this milestone. Hispanics now make up about one-third of the small county’s population.

The county is opening its arms to the new diversity, whose growth could be caused by an exodus from more expensive urban areas like New York and New Jersey. In the city, jobs are harder to come by, and so is affordable housing. Linda Trompetter, director of the Luzerne County Diversity Commission and the Diversity Institute at Misericordia University, says she has noticed the changing face of the community and it’s new needs.

“We need a lot more education and working together to deal with the issues that arise because of it,” such as the need for increased English as a Second Language instruction in schools, healthcare services and issues of tolerance.

Trompetter is receiving more and more requests for cultural competency training from local businesses, hospitals and school districts. The trainings teach people how to “interact effectively with any group of people whose culture is different than our own,” and how to respect those differences.

To read more about this issue from the Hazleton Times, click here.

Advertising Age published a great article about the Spanish language in the U.S.—what it has meant in the past, and where it stands today.

Spanish is discussed in four sections: language as  differentiator, language as unifier, language as culture, language as currency. To start, Spanish has played an important role in American culture for many generations, although in the past, there was a strongly repressive attitude against its use. As a result, many children born to Spanish native speakers in the U.S. never learned their parents’ language.

This has resulted in a retro-acculturation trend, wherein the second generation seeks to reclaim their lost linguistic and cultural heritage. And that, in turn, has created birth of a new marketing industry to Hispanics living in the U.S.

Hispanic marketers have a lot to consider. For one, Spanish speakers are regionally very diverse, which can dramatically affect the target audience.

For years one of the biggest challenges for marketers targeting the Hispanic market has been about achieving a delicate balance between relevance and commonality. If we use Puerto Rican slang, will we offend the Domincans, Cubans and Mexicans in the same market? If we are too “current” and popular will we seem to “Naco” for the older and higher income consumers? Famous cases of language slip-ups and lack of sensitivity haunt the halls of most all Hispanic agencies that have been around any significant period of time.

Read more about the language and cultural implications of Hispanic marketing in the U.S. in the full article.

Every penny counts in this down economy, and every person does, too—the 2010 U.S. census will determine where money is allocated (from a pot of $400 billion in federal aid) based on community population counts. Undocumented immigrants and other hard-to-reach populations in the Chicago area and elsewhere have become the target of some creative census awareness outreach measures.

Telemundo, for example, has written in a main character on the Spanish-language soap “Mas sabe el diablo” (”The Devil Knows Best”) who’s a census worker.

Federal authorities have stepped up arrests of illegal immigrants, leading to worries that those residents will remain underground rather than report their presence to a federal census worker. Hence, the soap plot line, in which an unwed mother takes a census job and in the process educates her family — and immigrant viewers — about the government count.

“We’re going wherever the viewers are, even though you’re combining something that’s a little different with the steamy telenovela,” network spokeswoman Michelle Alban said.

Cook County, IL has already seen the hit from undercounting in the 2000 census: a consulting firm estimated that the county will have lost $200 million by the end of this decade. Researchers estimate that the states will lose about $12,000 in federal funds per uncounted person over the next decade.

Local community groups and churches are brainstorming about to reach out to underrepresented groups. At Rogers Park Community Council, members suggested census awareness T-shirts, street murals and multilingual mailers.

“This is not a joke,” Elizabeth Vitell, the council’s executive director, told fellow participants. “This is a chance to do something where we will see results in our communities for years to come.”

Read the full article in the Chicago Tribune here.