By Margaret Rock

The Hispanic population’s embrace of mobile technology is increasing community awareness and organization of specific political issues, which may catapult the group to the political forefront in the upcoming election cycle.

A survey last year by Pew Research found that more than 87 percent of English-speaking U.S. Hispanics owned a cell phone, as opposed to 80 percent of non-Hispanic whites, and 53 percent of them used mobile devices to access the Internet, compared to 33 percent of non-Hispanics. And, compared to the general U.S. population, Hispanics reportedly use their mobile phones more often and take advantage or more features on the devices.

“The use of cell phones builds upon the cultural affinity for close connections and opens the way for organized political and social action,” said a recently published report, “Connected Hispanics and Civic Engagement,” published by the Hispanic Institute, or HI.

The growing mobile networks centered on civic engagement comprise of “feature phones,” a less expensive smartphone which still has text messaging, e-mail, mobile web and social media features, as well as smartphones.

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Click to find out the latest research from Flor Lozano, and hear professional insights from Martin Lopez.

Comcast launches a national marketing campaign for its offerings of Hispanic channels and a Spanish-language XfinityTV.com website.

Washington Post Staff Writer

As the economy emerges from the recession and the national debate turns to limiting the cost of the social safety net, only one in four African Americans and one in six Hispanics reported owning stocks, bonds or mutual funds, a new poll shows.

In addition, only 46 percent of blacks and 32 percent of Hispanics said they had an individual retirement account or any similar retirement arrangement, according to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation-Harvard University poll. Half of whites said they had stocks, bonds or mutual funds, and two in three said they had IRAs, 401(k)s or similar holdings.

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By Karen Stabiner

The New York Times

Fabiola Santiago lives in the Miami suburbs, two miles from her 81-year-old mother and 87-year-old father, whom she looks after. As the single mother of three grown daughters, she might live in the city or in Miami Beach if she had no family responsibilities — but to her, that’s like saying she’d fly if she woke up tomorrow with wings. It’s a fantasy.

For Ms. Santiago, 51, as for many other Hispanic adults, familialismo — the expectation that family members will support and assist one another, including aging relatives — defines adult life. “Family takes care of family,” she said.

Her parents fled Cuba in 1969, bringing Ms. Santiago and her brother to the United States. When Ms. Santiago’s first daughter was born, her mother quit her job to care for the child, enabling Ms. Santiago to pursue a career in journalism. Eventually she became a staff writer at The Miami Herald.

“My parents left everyone they loved and everything they had so that my brother and I could live in a democratic country,” said Ms. Santiago. “How could I not take care of them now?”

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By Tatiana Pina and Paul Edward Parker

Hispanic or Latino? Do people prefer one over the other?

Roberto R. Ramirez, head of the ethnicity and ancestry branch of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division, says, “They are considered interchangeable,” by the Census.

Do Hispanics or Latinos feel the same way, or do they have a preference? Do they give it much thought these days?

Sen. Juan Pichardo, 44, who was born in the Dominican Republic and came here as a teenager, says that for him, the two words have become interchangeable enough that people don’t think about them as much.

“Latino and Hispanic are pretty much the same. Early on, about 10 or 15 years ago, that used to be the question. ‘Are you Hispanic or Latino?’ As people did soul searching, we see that we are descendents of Spanish-speaking people. The conclusion is that they are interchangeable. You could identify with both. I think we put it to bed.”

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Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, Latinos and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.

But now some see a new “digital divide” emerging — with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology.

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By Mansha Daswani

NEW YORK: Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa has completed its investment in Univision, which was first announced in October, as well as expanded and extended its programming licensing agreement with the U.S. Hispanic broadcaster.

As previously announced, Grupo Televisa has invested $1.2 billion in Univision Communications for a 5-percent equity stake and debentures convertible into an additional 30-percent equity stake in the future. Televisa also secured the option to acquire an additional 5-percent equity stake.

The expanded program licensing agreement grants Univision an enhanced portfolio of exclusive U.S. Spanish-language broadcast rights, as well as exclusive U.S. Spanish-language digital rights to Televisa programming.

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Local educators not surprised by new Hispanic majority in state’s schools
By Tracy Garcia, Staff Writer

Hispanics may have only recently become the official majority in California’s public school classrooms, but San Gabriel Valley and Whittier area schools have been watching that population shift take place for several years now.

And although some are now calling on school leaders to focus on these students to improve their chances of success in college or the workplace, area educators say they’ll keep working to get all students to the finish line – regardless of ethnicity.

“I think it’s always important to know who you’re teaching, as far as where they’re coming from and their background,” said Pasadena Unified School District board President Bob Harrison.

About 58 percent of PUSD’s 20,000-student enrollment in 2009-10 was Hispanic, according to state statistics.

That’s compared to the nearly 51 percent – or about 3.1 million – of California students who identified themselves as Hispanic in the 2009-10 school year, as reported by the California Department of Education last month.

By contrast, Hispanics made up about 37 percent of the state’s public school enrollment in the 1994-95 school year.

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Advertising Age
By Peter Francese

What will finally drive some growth in the housing industry? It might be nothing more dramatic than a release of demand that’s been pent-up since the start of the recession.

Last week the Census Bureau published results from a March survey that found 117.5 million households in the U.S., up a mere 0.3% from 2009. That’s about one-third the average annual increase over the past decade. Coming on the heels of an equally meager increase of 400,000 from 2008 to 2009, this suggests a coming wave of new households once the economy loosens.

As of March, 12 million American families are living with 21 million of their adult children, a record high. One fourth of those “kids” are age 25 or older. As the economy improves, most of these adult children will probably (hopefully?) leave the nest and jump start the housing market’s recovery.

Other noteworthy trends
The fraction of households that are married couples with children under age 18 is edging ever closer to just one in five households. The number of U.S. married couples with children has not changed in over 40 years. Now, as in 1967, there are 24.6 million of them.

One-person households, at 31.4 million, are significantly more numerous than married couples with children and now make up 27% of all households. The reason: People who live alone (most of whom are women) have more than tripled since 1967, while married couples with children have stagnated. Another reason is the aging population: The average age of people who live alone is 56.6 years old, and among ages 65 or older, almost half of all households (45%) are single individuals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. still faces a significant gap in residential broadband use that breaks down along incomes, education levels and other socio-economic factors, even as subscriptions among American households overall grew sevenfold from 2001 to 2009.

What’s more, even when controlling for key socio-economic characteristics, the U.S. continues to confront a racial gap in residential broadband use, with non-Hispanic white Americans and Asian-Americans more likely to go online using a high-speed connection than African-Americans and Hispanics.

Those are some of the key conclusions of a new analysis of Census data released Monday by the Commerce Department.

It found that the percentage of households that connect to the Internet using broadband grew to 63.5 percent in 2009 from 9.2 percent in 2001, reflecting increases across nearly all demographics.

The report — prepared by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration — is based on a Census survey of about 54,000 households conducted in October 2009.

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By Carol Morello and Dan Keating

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Washington region, with the most affluent and one of the most highly educated Hispanic communities in the nation, has lots of people like Charles Vela.

A Salvadoran-born research engineer who runs his own consulting company, Expertech Solutions, Vela came Washington to work on a National Academy of Sciences brain-mapping project. He stayed to develop new ways for the IRS to handle tax returns, for the State Department to detect fraudulent visa applications and for NASA to operate its space telescope.

Now Vela earns a six-figure income, and he and his family live in Potomac, where he said he moved partly to give the children he mentors a taste of the affluence that a science career can bring.

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From HispanicPR Blog

Today Myspace announced a new brand, beta website, and a suite of products that together redefine the company as a social entertainment destination for Gen Y. Myspace is creating a rich, highly-personalized experience for people to discover content and connect with other fans who share similar interests. The entertainment experience will span music, celebrities, movies, television, and games and will be available through multiple platforms, including online, mobile devices and offline events.

With young Hispanics, 16 to 25, making up 18 percent of the U.S. Gen Y population and approximately 20 percent of Myspace users, the redesign will be particularly attractive to the fast-growing bicultural young Hispanic market segment. Hispanic youth are characterized as the country’s fastest-growing market segment; early adopters to social media; trend setters; and technology savvy, and the new Myspace content mix speaks directly to their entertainment interests.

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Norwegian American Hospital named José R. Sánchez as its new President and CEO.

Sánchez, who has built a distinguished 30-year career as a health care executive and urban health care expert, will be the city’s only Latino to serve as a hospital CEO.

As Chair of the Illinois Senate’s Public Health Committee, William Delgado (D-Chicago) noted the significance of the Norwegian American Hospital’s choice of Sánchez.

“It is an honor to welcome Sánchez to Chicago,” Delgado said.  “As the only hospital CEO in our city who is Latino, the Latino community should take pride in this development.  Sánchez brings a unique understanding of the health service needs and challenges facing urban communities.”

During Sánchez’ three-decade career as a health care leader, he has focused much of his effort addressing care and accessibility for low-income and disadvantaged populations.  Sánchez makes his way to Chicago from New York, where he served as senior vice president of the Generations/Northern Manhattan Network.  During his tenure, he oversaw three acute care hospitals of which two were level one trauma centers and 34 community-based health centers in East Harlem, Central Harlem and the South Bronx in New York City.

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Batanga is adding an owned and operated site called LolaSabe.com to its online ad network.

Lolasabe.com is in Spanish and offers tips and advice about beauty, cooking recipes, home decoration and motherhood. Most articles have a practical edge (how-to form).

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By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA – U.S. Hispanics outlive whites by more than two years and blacks by more than seven, according to the government’s first calculation of Hispanic life expectancy.

The startling report released Wednesday is the strongest evidence yet of the “Hispanic paradox” — long life expectancy for a population that has a large share of poor, undereducated members. A leading theory is that Hispanics who manage to immigrate to the U.S. are among the healthiest from their countries.

A Hispanic born in 2006 could expect to live about 80 years and seven months, the government estimates. Life expectancy for a white is about 78, and for a black, just shy of 73 years.

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By Amy Norton
Reuters Health

(Reuters Health) – Young Hispanic children may be more likely to have the vision defect astigmatism than their African-American peers, a new study finds.

Astigmatism refers to a distortion in the curvature of the cornea that can blur near and distance vision. Fairly little has been known about how widespread the problem is among preschool children, and how their susceptibility may vary by ethnicity.

In the new study, researchers found that among 3,000 Hispanic children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years, 17 percent had at least mild astigmatism and 3 percent had a significant degree of astigmatism that would generally require corrective lenses.

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MIAMI, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Hispanic moms that live in the United States can now rely on a Spanish network solely dedicated to them and to their preschool-aged children. Discovery Familia has been redesigned to reflect and speak to the needs of Hispanic women and what they value most in their lives: their kids, their home and their time. Beyond a new look and feel that is warm and inviting, the network is also premiering “Nuestros hijos” (“Our Children”), a series of informative on-air segments hosted by Jeannette Torres-Alvarez, early childhood expert, wife and mother and the networks new brand ambassador.

“Discovery Familia is the only Spanish network in the U.S. dedicated to Hispanic moms. It is a place where they can go if they need advice, support or simply to know that they are not alone. Through rich programming offerings that entertain and the advice of experts like Jeannette, the channel is a great resource that supports mothers in the education of their children, care of their home and encourages them to take time out for themselves,” expressed Bilai Joa Silar, Vice President and Channel Director, Discovery Networks U.S. Hispanic Group.

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MINNEAPOLIS, Oct 08, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) – General Mills Inc. today launched its first Spanish-language application for the Apple(R) iPad platform, which will provide Spanish-speaking consumers with instant access to more than 900 Latin-inspired recipes, in 12 different categories, such as appetizers and snacks, breakfasts, salads, garnishes, drinks and beverages, breads, pastas, pastries and cookies, entrees, desserts, sauces and soups. The app, Que Rica Vida Recetario, is available at no charge on iTunes.

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