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As the country as a whole continues to become younger and more diverse, the Latino community is fueling much of this trend.  In 2009, Hispanics accounted for 55 percent of the total US population growth, with 68 percent of this number being a result of births as opposed to immigration, reflecting a trend that began a few years ago.

The growth rate of the Latino community is fueled by its younger age and birth to death ration.  For every nine Latino births there is just one death of a Hispanic.  At the same time, the white population is at a zero percent growth rate.

The average age by ethnic groups varies widely with Hispanics at 27.4 years;  Asians 35.3 years; blacks 31.3 years; and 41.2 years for white.  The national average is 36.8 years.

Already the majority of the populations of the states of New Mexico, Hawaii, California and Texas, as well as the District of Columbia, are comprised of “minority” ethnic groups.

The numbers released were the most recent that the Census Bureau has tabulated.   Well underway in conducting their 2010 Census, the Bureau is expected to release its full findings at the end of the year.  These numbers will help determine a wide array of federal spending measures and be used to re-draw congressional districts.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=358521&CategoryId=12395

“Most politicians understand the importance of the Latino vote in presidential years, but what we’re saying is that Latino voters will have a huge impact in the mid-term elections,” Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said on a conference call with reporters Monday. “The number of voters coming of age and registering continues to grow. You have seen growth even when a presidential race isn’t at the top of the ticket.”

According to the report, nearly 20 percent of congressional districts that will hold elections during the upcoming midterm cycle have a Latino population of at least 25 percent. And Latinos are also the fastest growing segment of the electorate in the United States. From 2000 to 2008, Latino voter registration increased 54 percent, and Latino voter turnout increased 64 percent.

The report argues that the way in which parties handle their midterm congressional elections can influence Latino voters in presidential election years. While the GOP’s image has been tarnished in the eyes of Latinos because of their position in the immigration debate, Democrats will also be under continued pressure to meet expectations and promises made to the Latino community in campaigns past. Latinos are most concerned about the economy and jobs; but according to Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza, a candidate’s stance on immigration reform has become an issue of baseline respect for many Latino voters.

Washington Post

A comment by former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R, CO) at last week’s Tea Party convention in Nashville has raised concern among immigration activists and Hispanic groups.  During a speech, Tancredo said, “People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House — name is Barack Hussein Obama.”  Additionally, he also suggested that President Obama was only elected because “we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

Immigration reform activists are now worried that the Tea Party movement could adopt a more hardline nativist tone.  Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice, has said that if the Tea Party antagonizes Latinos, Republicans will pay the price in upcoming elections.

“Republicans who are pandering to the Tea Party movement, who are afraid to speak up and quite frankly, brave and smart Republicans who understand that if they continue to alienate this fast-growing population, they’re going to make it harder and harder to regain majority status and certainly regain the White House are the ones who are on the right side of history,” he said.

As evidence of the risk involved with attacking immigrants and Latinos, Sharry points to California’s Proposition 187, a voter-approved initiative that denied healthcare and education to undocumented immigrants.  Despite being soon-after invalidated by a judge, the initiative has led to more than a decade of backlash against the GOP by Latino voters.

Latinovations would like to thank Wendy Bruget for her contribution to La Plaza.

When the team at Latinovations asked me to reflect on my recent trip to Copenhagen, I wasn’t sure that my focus area of garbage would be of particular interest to their blog readers. Alongside the Cinderella of the United Nations Summit was its less publicized sister, the International Solid Waste Association’s Conference on Waste and Climate Change( http://www.wasteandclimate.org/.) The purpose of the conference I attended was to bring attention to the relationship of waste and climate change.

Trash is largely overlooked when it comes to examining the causes of global warming, yet landfills are significant emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane which is 21 times more damaging to our environment than carbon dioxide because it is much more efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere. According to the United States EPA, the second-largest source of methane emissions into the atmosphere is landfills, accounting for over 22.7 percent of all methane emissions from the US. (http://epa.gov/methane/sources.html.)  For this reason, a significant reduction in GHG emissions could be attained through the proper management of waste.  In other words, landfilled garbage is the low hanging fruit of the carbon food chain.

While Western Europe is slowly abandoning the practice of burying their waste in landfills,the US currently landfills 137 million tons of trash per year.  The European Union waste policy is based on a hierarchy of prevention, preparing for reuse, recycling, recovery (energy recovery) and disposal. Germany is on course to eliminate the practice of land filling its trash by 2020; they have achieved this goal by both recycling and the use of highly efficient and non-polluting waste to energy facilities.

Denmark can boast of 90% efficiency waste to energy plants supplying district heating to local residents. Danes use less than half as much energy per-capita as the average American, yet their gross national income is larger by 24%. The Danes have a higher standard of living. One theory is that they are multi-taskers, by commuting to work on bicycles they get high on endorphins contributing to happiness and greater productivity rates and of course they transform garbage into heat.

But how does this apply to us as Latinos?  According to a report on the National Resources Defense Council website (link), 3/4th of hazardous landfill sites are located in urban Latino & African American communities.  Mix that with the fact that our community is underinsured and has a better chance of living in a “non-attainment” air quality area, which means that you live in a community that does not meet the Federal EPA air quality standards you can get a real picture of the crisis we are facing.  While Denmark may seem far away and the global issues discussed there seem too technical to be relevant, we can see the effects of this problem everyday in our neighborhoods and communities.  And, we can imagine the dire consequences of not acting.

While we have instituted some form of recycling in almost every community, the reality is that landfills are the status quo, often in urban Latino communities. As we look to the next decade, the time is now for us as a community to get involved in the dialogue of what exactly is the next generation of landfills and why will it matter to the air we collectively breathe. Air quality and climate change are issues that matters to us; they impacts us, and we need to be part of the solution.

Wendy Bruget is a Los Angeles based public affairs consultant where she represents a diverse client base ranging from redevelopment issues to waste to energy projects before the City and County. She is a board Member of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality PAC and the Carbon Credit Foundation.

On Wednesday, actor Wilmer Valderrama joined members of Congress and national Hispanic leaders at the Capitol Hill launch of Voto Latino’s census campaign, “Be Counted, Represent!”. Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), and Michael Honda (D-Calif.) along with Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC, which is an official partner, spoke in support  of the effort to ensure participation of Latino youth in the upcoming Census.

This new outreach campaign includes a combination of multi-platform web, mobile, direct and traditional media in order to reach young people in whatever way they are most likely to get information.
Maria Teresa Kumar, co-founder and executive director of Voto Latino, an official US Census partner, said, “Our work with the census is to both educate Latinos about the importance of taking it and re-imaging it as a means of personal empowerment and taking ownership of one’s future and one’s family’s.”

Census data affects everything from the allocation of federal budgets for education, health care and transportation to the drawing of Congressional districts. This year’s 2010 census is of critical importance to all Americans because it will decide how more than $400 billion in federal funds is spent and will determine congressional representation.

LULAC President Rosa Rosales recognizes that Latino youth will be critical in the 2010 Census, “They’re familiar with government processes, they are English-speakers and consume mainstream media, and they influence their households with everything from politics to household purchases. Empowering them to take the census is at the core of our strategy.”

“Be Counted, Represent!” will be hosting events and conducting census outreach operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, upstate New York, Long Island and San Francisco. Voto Latino will also distribute iTunes cards, t-shirts and other collateral materials, including direct mailers to its key target areas. The campaign will send targeted text messages to tens of thousands of U.S. Latinos to ensure that they and their families understand the importance of the Census and being counted.

“ “BeCountedRepresent.com” will serve as the campaign’s center, featuring US Census information, and prompting viewers to “Take the Pledge” to participate in the census. Anyone who takes the pledge will also receive a free 25-song soundtrack courtesy of iTunes.  Beginning this month, the website will also include PSA with a number of Latino actors including Rosario Dawson, Luis Guzman, Demi Lovato (Disney’s Camp Rock franchise), Ana Ortiz (“Ugly Betty”), Wilmer Valderrama (“That Seventies Show”), Jorge Garcia (“Lost”).

Maldonado has been reserved in his commentary leading up to the hearings, stating “All I’ve wanted is a fair hearing.” He added that the Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, has promised a fair hearing, but offered “no guarantees”.

Maldonado’s senate district has more registered Democrats than Republicans according to state records.  This has provided an argument for some Democrats who are enthusiastically supporting his confirmation.  ”The lieutenant governor’s office is a low priority compared to the two-thirds majority,” said Robert Cruickshank, Monterey County Democratic Party vice chairman.  Indeed, a two-thirds majority would allow senate Democrats to pass budgets and tax proposals.

However, Maldonado’s confirmation has opponents within the Democratic ranks as well.  Confirming Maldonado “is putting a Latino on the Republican ticket statewide that could help the Republicans” in later elections, says California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in November that he would be nominating Maldonado to be his second-in-command, stating that the Santa Maria Republican is “into bipartisanship and post-partisanship.”  The lieutenant governor’s seat had previously been held by a Democrat, John Garamendi, who left the position to run for U.S. Congress for California’s 10^th district, a seat which was left vacant when former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher accepted an appointment to the Department of State by President Obama.

Now, state legislators have until February 21 to either confirm or reject his nomination.  Absent a vote at that time, he would automatically become lieutenant governor.  If, however, he is confirmed before February 16, Democrats might be much closer to a dominant majority in the California Senate – at the cost of giving a Latino Republican a visible and high-ranking position.

http://www.sacbee.com/politics/v-print/story/2509151.html

On February 2^nd and 3^rd, business leaders from around the country convened in Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress and voice their support for comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in 2010.  The group included several prominent Latino business leaders who support climate legislation that will limit emissions and create incentives for the development of cleaner, more efficient technologies.  They also stressed that clean energy is a way of expanding business opportunities and creating jobs.

“Business owners recognize that clean energy legislation is vital to our long-term economic competitiveness. Latino business owners are no exception,” said Adrianna Quintero, director of La Onda Verde de NRDC. “Latino businesses have come out en force to support what they recognize will be a key to creating economic opportunities and jobs for the Latino community, a group hard hit by the economic downturn.”

“The United States has all the tools to be the leader in the global clean energy marketplace,” said Rosa Sugranes, President and CEO of Iberia Tiles.  “Thousands of business leaders like me know that unless we move quickly, we risk losing the progress we’ve made on clean energy technology.”

According to many in the business community, legislation to limit carbon emissions is fundamental to the establishment of market conditions that would make the clean-energy sector lucrative and prosperous.

“Those who oppose common sense policies to our nation’s economic and energy woes do not speak for the entire business community,” said Nicolas Ibarguen, Publisher and Editor of Poder Magazine. “This meeting shows the breadth of business support for legislation that will create economic opportunities for this country while giving us much needed energy independence.

The conference has been organized by Clean Energy Works, We Can Lead, and Voces Verdes.

www.vocesverdes.org

One veteran Senate lobbyist said that “immigration is deader than a doornail”. Further adding to advocates frustration is that fact that President Obama devoted only a single sentence to immigration in his 71 minute State of the Union speech last week, in which he ranked health care and an energy bill as his top legislative priorities.

But despite this lack of perceived momentum on the complicated issue of comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama has stressed several times that it remains a top priority for his administration.  Most recently, the President renewed his promise during the State of the Union speech, where he stated: “We should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system.. And ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.”

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who introduced a House bill favored by immigrant groups, said there was “disillusionment” among advocates across the country.

Gutierrez said of the President, “He was very weak on immigration, lackadaisical.”

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said, “I had very low expectations, but he [the president] surprised even me with how little he said.” Sharry and other advocates are pushing to legalize many of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, strengthen enforcement of immigration laws and provide a mechanism to control the flow of immigrant workers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), are drafting a their version of a bill and reassured immigrant advocates and Latino groups that they were still working with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) to find Republican backers for a bipartisan bill.

Reid, who did not offer a date yet, said, “It’s something we’re committed to do, and we’ll do it as soon as we can.”

A White House official said Obama’s mention of the issue meant that it was on the agenda for the year: “What he said in the speech was that we should move the process and legislation forward this year.”

Several stakeholders said immigration reform is possible only if Schumer strikes a deal with at least two Republican cosponsors. Adding to the pressure is the need to make a springtime deadline to move a bill in the Senate.  Any major legislation is unlikely after that time as midterm elections draw near.

Opponents of immigration reform say they see little political will in Congress to help illegal immigrants at a time when unemployment is near 10 percent, and jobs are such a critical issue for the American people. In a poll last month by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the public rated the importance of immigration near the bottom of a list of issues.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks reduced immigration said, “The chances that potentially vulnerable congressmen and senators will want to vote on legalizing illegal aliens is now zero.”

Washington Post

In a recent article published in the San Antonio Express-News, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, argues that if 2009 was the year in which Americans developed a grasp of the importance of health care reform, 2010 must be the year in which it is implemented.

Last year was marked by a large-scale effort to educate the American people about the debate surrounding health care reform.  This campaign was certainly not controlled by any one side of the argument, but rather featured an intense wrangling between conflicting opinions and variously interested groups.  The Senate held over 100 committee meetings to discuss the subject, and the entire Senate dedicated 25 full days to the health care issue.  The House of Representatives and its committees held nearly as many hearings as the Senate, and representatives participated in more than 3000 town halls.

Early in 2010, both houses of Congress have presented bills that contain essential components with which to finalize one of the most longstanding and pressing legislative endeavors of the last several decades.

The House and Senate bills contain many of the same provisions.  Among these are the prohibition to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions; the creation of a national health care exchange; the expansion of medical benefits to include annual check-ups; tax credits for small businesses to help them pay for their employees’ health insurance; and the goal of covering the 31 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

These measures would improve access to health care in the United States and they would also offset the expenses associated with caring for untreated, uninsured Americans.  Concretely, the bills aim to keep costs under $900 billion over 10 years while reducing the deficit by $132 billion.

The final bill ultimately produced by Congress will not contain all the provisions advocated by all parties, but it will nonetheless represent an accomplishment of public debate and a step toward universal access to health care in the United States.

Henry Cisneros is a former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

In 1981 Mr. Cisneros became the first Hispanic mayor of a major U.S. city when he was elected Mayor of San Antonio, the Nation’s 10th largest city. In 1985 Mr. Cisneros was elected president of the National League of Cities. He also has served as chair of the National Civic League, deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and board member of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Mr. Cisneros received a B.A. and an M.A. in Urban Planning from Texas A&M, an M.A. in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Public Administration from George Washington University.

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