Contact:  George Cushman

               202.296.3769

HISPANIC HERITAGE AWARDS FOUNDATION AND HISPANIC  COLLEGE FUND PARTNER TO DEVELOP INITATIVE TO BOLSTER AMERICA’S WORKFORCE WITH LATINO PROFESSIONALS

LOFT (Latinos on Fast Track) Seeks to Put Young Latino Leaders in a Position to Lead and Diversify the Private and Public Sector  

MIAMI, Fla.-The Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation (HHAF) and the Hispanic College Fund today announced the development of LOFT (Latinos on Fast Track), a new initiative designed to aggressively provide America’s workforce with premier, emerging Hispanic professionals. The LOFT initiative was created as an extension of the Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards and the Hispanic College Fund’s scholarship program, in which both nonprofit organizations, for more than six years, have recognized the top-performing Hispanic students across the United States for their accomplishments in the classroom and community. 

The discrepancy between the burgeoning Latino population and the composition of America’s work force is of great concern,said HHAF President and CEO Jose Antonio Tijerino. For the most part, the public and private sector simply have not kept up with the progress made by the burgeoning Hispanic population. There is a myth floating around about a lack of Hispanic talent in America. With LOFT, we are not only going to dispel that myth, we are going to bury it and stomp dirt on it. We are committed to putting our top-performing young Latino leaders in a position to lead. 

More than 2,000 former Youth Award and HCF scholarship recipients make up the starting base of candidates,who have been selected by independent committees of community leaders and specialists in various fields from tens of thousands of applicants. Each year, an additional 700 candidates will be added to the base. For instance, in 2004, 700 candidates were selected from more than 15,000 applicants.

The breakdown of the LOFT candidates area of focus is:

n     20% engineering, computer, math

n     32% sciences

n     26% business, management, economics, finance

n     22% communication, international, public policy and other

It is clear there are many highly qualified Latino professionals graduating from our nation’s best colleges and universities,said HCF President and CEO, Fernando Barrueta. It is also clear that Corporate America needs highly qualified professionals to continue growing economically, and take the organizations to higher levels in a very competitive environment.  The lack of clarity in putting Corporate America together with the highly professional Hispanic workforce that it needs is what LOFT is designed to overcome.  

The following statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey dated 2-11-2004 and Population Projections Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau January 13, 2000:

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n     Hispanics are largest minority in America at 13.5 %

n     Hispanics make up only 5.7 % of the management workforce, which is less than half of parity lowest of any race or ethnicity

n     Hispanics make up only 6% of the professional workforce or about half of parity

n     14.5% of the overall population is in a management, business and financial operation capacity, yet Hispanics make up only .08% (yes, less than a percent point), although they represent more than 12% of the overall workforce

n     Hispanic workforce will grow 53% by the year 2020 versus a negative growth of 1.7% for non-Hispanic Whites (as bad as ethnic diversity of management

n     The Hispanic workforce, by 2020, will nearly double the growth of Asians, African Americans and Whites combined

n     2/3rds of the overall workforce growth by 2020 will be Hispanic, however, less than 1% of the management growth will be Hispanic (this is a call to ACTION!)

Currently Hispanics only graduate from college at one-third the rate as non-Hispanic whites and from high school at 62% compared to 90%, respectively.  Because LOFT’s focus is solely on the future, the initiative will provide America’s workforce with potentially the biggest return on its investment (more than 35% of Hispanics are under 18 years of age).  Former 1998 National Youth Award recipient Michelle Mayorga, a recent graduate from Yale, has been selected to work with HCF Development Director George Cushman to coordinate the relationships between the candidates and the companies or organizations supporting the LOFT initiative.

Traditional approaches simply aren’t working, said 23-year-old, Miami native, Michelle Mayorga. I’m here to ensure America’s workplace gets a good look at our young professionals once they graduate from the top colleges in the country.  The mission of LOFT is not only important, but vital. Our directive is about taking action: instead of waiting for the workforce to find Latinos, we’re going to go and find the workforce.

Of Nicaraguan descent, Mayorga served as the catalyst for the creation of the program when she couldn’t find a job coming out of college with heavy credentials.  Upon receiving a call asking for help from Mayorga, Tijerino immediately started developing the initiative with Cushman, Barrueta and Robby Gregg, AOL’s Director of Diversity and Communications. Subsequently, Mayorga was tapped to implement the effort.

If we’re asking the public and private sector to trust our LOFT candidates with their business objectives, we can certainly trust Michelle to facilitate their relationship with top emerging Latino professionals. She will serve as an important communicator, bridging the gap between America’s workforce and the premier, emerging Latino professionals, said Cushman. 

LOFT’s priority will be building sustainable relationships. In working toward that goal, LOFT will implement a four-pronged approach, called the Diamond Method (see next page for graphic) to develop relationships not list serves and job fairs.

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For 18 years, the Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation has celebrated the outstanding achievements of Hispanic Americans and provided role models to inspire youth, through their stage and television production, which is broadcast nationally on NBC and Telemundo stations. The Youth Awards were founded in 1998 with the mission of identifying and promoting the next generation of role models. The program celebrates the accomplishments of a select group of Hispanic high school seniors in the classroom and community through regional ceremonies in 12 cities where, each year, half-a-million dollars in educational grants are distributed.  For more information, please visit www.HispanicHeritageAwards.org.

The Hispanic College Fund, Inc. is a private non-profit organization dedicated to educating and developing the next generation of Hispanic professionals in America. HCF accomplishes its mission by raising funds from individuals, corporations and other entities in order to award scholarships to students seeking a higher education in academic disciplines leading to careers in business, science, engineering and technology.  HCF has provided more than $3.5 million in scholarships to more than 1,600 Hispanic students since its founding in 1993. For more information, please visit www.hispanicfund.org.