La Communidad
compiled by M.V. Greene
editors@ccgmag.com
WITH U.S. COMPETITIVENESS AT STAKE, HISPANIC,
LATINO GROUPS STEPPING UP TO STEM SHARPENING AMERICA’S COMPETITIVE EDGE
Hispanic advocacy groups are working to make education a family affair.
Hispanic advocacy organizations long have sought to raise the educational literacy of Hispanic and Latino families.
One way to raise the bar, leaders believe, is through STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) educa- tion, training and outreach.
“We’re the fastest growing population, and the youngest,” says Michael Acosta, director of the Border Office of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science at the University of Texas at El Paso, and national president of the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES).
“Hispanics are now everywhere in the country. Traditionally, in the old days, they were concentrated in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, the Midwest in Chicago, and maybe in the Northeast. Now they are everywhere. Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi and Alabama,” Acosta adds. “We see this as an opportunity for more Hispanics to success- fully gain a higher education in the STEM fields and become professionals, whether that is in government, industry or academia.”
www.hispanicengineer.com
Acosta and others believe that American competitiveness will depend largely on increasing the numbers of Hispanic and Latino students plugged into the STEM pipeline – much like the earlier efforts of other minority groups, including African Americans and Asian Americans. “It will help our country in the challenge to retain its competitive edge in technology globally,” Acosta says, noting that less than 2 percent the na- tion’s STEM workforce is Hispanic.
A December 2009 study, “Benchmarking the Success of La- tina and Latino Students in STEM to Achieve National Gradua- tion Goals”, from the University of Southern California Center for Urban Education, reported that because Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States, and are expected to make up nearly 30 percent of the population by 2050, it is vital to the country’s future that the education system create robust ways to bring more of these students under the STEM umbrella.
In September 2009, MAES, the National Association for Hispanic Education (NAHE) and other advocacy organizations launched The Hispanic STEM Initiative at a series of events in
HISPANIC ENGINEER & Information Technology | 2010 13
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