Staples Celebrates Opening of First Houston Store with $25,000 Donation to Hispanic Scholarship Fund

Staples, Inc., (Nasdaq: SPLS) the world’s largest office products company, today announced it will celebrate the opening of its first Houston store with a $25,000 donation to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF).

At noon today, Houston City Councilman James Rodriguez and Ryan Goodland, legislative director for State Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston, will join Staples General Manager Ruben Chapa at a unique ribbon-shredding ceremony to officially open the new Staples store. Christa Noland, regional director of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, will also attend.

The new Staples store, at 10045 Almeda-Genoa Road, is the first of four stores planned for Houston in 2008. Each will employ approximately 30 full- and part-time associates. More than half of the Almeda-Genoa store’s staff is bilingual to better serve the area’s thriving Hispanic-owned small businesses.

The donation to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, made by Staples Foundation for Learning, Inc. (SFFL), will help advance the organization’s mission to double the rate of Hispanics earning college degrees. HSF is the nation’s leading non-profit organization supporting Hispanic higher education, and will use the SFFL grant to provide Latino students in the Houston-area with college scholarships.

“Staples is excited to enter the Houston market to make it easy for businesses to get the office products and services they need,” said Ruben Chapa, general manager of the Almeda-Genoa Staples. “As a company, Staples is committed to supporting organizations like the Hispanic Scholarship Fund that develop the local community through education. With this contribution, we’re pleased to give back to a community that has welcomed Staples as a new neighbor.”

“Our relationship with Staples Foundation for Learning will enable Latino youth to receive the financial support needed to complete their undergraduate education and prepare for college,” said Christa Noland, regional director for HSF in Texas. “Hispanic Scholarship Fund shares Staples’ commitment to improving the Houston community and increasing the educational opportunities available to area youth.”

Since 2007, Staples Foundation for Learning has provided $65,000 in grants to Houston non-profit organizations providing educational and job skills programs for disadvantaged youth. These groups include Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, Hispanic Scholarship Fund and I Have a Dream Houston.

In addition to expanding its retail presence, Staples will continue to serve Houston businesses through its Staples.com and catalog delivery businesses, as well as through its contract business, which has been serving medium-up-to-Fortune 1000 companies in the market since 2003.

Regular store hours are Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Sun. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.”*

*From: http://www.businesswire.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

• About 350 Latino underclassmen from 11 northwest suburban high schools explored the campus of Harper College, getting a sample of what their lives could be like if they pursue higher education. 8th annual Latino Summit
• Bilingual ballots may be coming to Hall – Growing Latino population could require voting material be available in Spanish – Gainesville, Georgia
• At-risk Hispanic students get a hand up in after-school program at Bonnabel – Louisiana
• Yeri Lopez: Student loan rules hamper best and brightest
• The University of Panama indefinitely suspended classes on Wednesday after confrontations between students and police during a protest against alleged U.S. involvement in plans to build new military installations.
• Over the last 3 years, high schools that received the lowest marks from the city have been the ones with the highest percentages of poor, black and Hispanic students, despite an evaluation system that was meant to equalize differences among student bodies, according to an analysis by The New York Times of school grades released this week.
• Hispanics are 9% of the Virginia’s schoolchildren, but 5% of gifted students.
• Deporting undocumented students affects the chances for legal return if Congress doesn’t address it in immigration reform bill
• Hispanic Graduate Students Benefit from Online Education Grant – University of St. Thomas in Houston strives to improve retention and graduation rates for Hispanic graduate students. UST received a $2.8 million education grant to offer two options
• Speaking Out: Students Support Latino Studies Program – Cornell University
• A Chicago City Council committee wants federal officials to halt deportation proceedings against immigrant students. – The Human Relations Committed on Friday approved a resolution urging the Department of Homeland Security to allow immigrant students to stay in the U.S. – Rigo Padilla
• Founded in 1973, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus is a 501(c)(6) non-profit, non-partisan organization composed of 44 members of the Texas House of Representatives committed to addressing the issues that Latinos face across the state of Texas.
• Oregon universities try to recruit more Latino students – In 2007, Latinos made up nearly 12% of the 12th-grade class and less than 6% of freshmen in the university system. About 20% of first-graders that year were Latino.
• Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School officials have worked to make sure their school’s English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ needs are met. The school received 12 mini-laptops last month to help those students with their online ESL courses.- Kinston, North Carolina
• Officials at U.T. Permian Basin are hoping to making this weekend’s Hispanic Youth Summit a regular event. – More than 200 high school students from around the Basin and Big Bend have been in Odessa for the Summit.
• Few Latinos in leadership positions at California nonprofits – hold only 6% of executive director positions and 9% of board seats but are 36% of the state’s population
• Ill. Board of Education Chair Ruiz, State Senator Lightford & State Representative
• More than 1,200 students are registered to attend the 10th Annual Latino Youth Conference hosted by the Latin American Association in Atlanta.
• Texan Students Debate Financial Aid for Illegal Immigrants
• The scheduled appearance next week of an anti-illegal immigration activist at a student-sponsored forum on the University of Nevada, Reno campus is causing outrage among some faculty, students and members of the community.