BAY AREA WELCOMES HISPANIC YOUTH SYMPOSIUM IN JUNE TO INSPIRE AND GUIDE 100 HISPANIC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTO COLLEGE AND CAREERS

Contact: Lisa Sandoval, Director of Communications, (202) 296-5400

Second annual symposium born of results-driven national program, offering students educational workshops, leadership opportunities, and mentorship support throughout the year

San Francisco, CA - An inspiring and expanding program to help develop and grow the next generation of Hispanic professionals is returning to the Bay Area in June to guide at least 100 promising high school students on a path to achieving college degrees and careers.

The second annual Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium will be launched at St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga on June 25-28, 2008, by the Hispanic College Fund, a nationally renowned nonprofit that provides scholarships and programs to Hispanic students eager to achieve a college education and professional careers. The symposium will serve promising students from Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Solano, and San Mateo counties, encouraging them to enter the fields of business, science, technology, engineering, and math.

“The Hispanic Youth Symposium is just an incredible experience to be involved in, and it’s turning out results,” said Elena Stonebraker, civil rights and equal opportunity manager of the Social Security Administration, San Francisco Region, in Richmond, Calif. As a lead partner for the program in the Bay Area, the Social Security Administration will mobilize 60 to 70 of its volunteer employees to assist with logistics and lead several workshops. It also has committed a full-time employee, as well as volunteers for Phoenix and Fresno symposia.

“In this region - one of the largest and most diverse in the country - programs like this are critical to helping young Hispanics to plan and be proud of their contributions,” Stonebraker said.

Boasting an impressive track record in several major U.S. cities - including the Bay Area and Fresno - the Hispanic Youth Symposium has grown into a four-day event and one-year follow-up program designed to increase Latino knowledge of the milestones and prerequisites needed to prepare for and attend college.

This year in the Bay Area, it will inspire more students to nurture their dreams and take pride in Hispanic culture with educational workshops, leadership opportunities, mentorship, and an emphasis on academic achievement.

“The number of students who applied to participate in this year’s symposium demonstrates genuine buy-in from the community. Contrary to popular belief, Latino students are hungry for the type of in-depth college and career exposure that we provide at the symposium,” said Andrew Gonzalez, the Hispanic College Fund’s Development Manager, Western States. “Our goal is to continue to mobilize the entire community to provide these services to as many students as possible. It is incredibly vital, especially in the Bay Area, where so many careers are increasingly focused on areas we are addressing.”

“Research has shown that one of the most significant barriers to Latinos attending college is a lack of knowledge about the college preparation process, but Latino families consider education to be very important,” according to Kathryn Grady, the Hispanic College Fund’s Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Western States. “The Hispanic Youth Symposium helps bridge this gap between a lack of information and the desire to pursue an education,” she said.

“Building this knowledge to increase college attendance is crucial to the future health care workforce,” according to Melissa Aboytes, coordinator of youth workforce programs for Kaiser Permanente, a lead partner of the Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium. Kaiser Permanente is organizing volunteers and will conduct workshops on health careers at the symposium, with a focus on growing opportunities in the medical field that are not as recognizable but in need of attention.

“Kaiser Permanente has a very strong commitment to diversity within the organization and, in terms of workforce planning, we are very dedicated to conducting outreach in order to help develop and train future health care workers for the benefit of a skilled work force in northern California,” Aboytes said.

Thanks to last year’s California programs in the Bay Area and Fresno combined, more than 200 high school sophomores and juniors continue to be assisted and guided in the college preparation process. Follow-up research by the Hispanic College Fund has shown that participants in the symposia significantly increased their knowledge of the college application process and interest in internships and community volunteering, as well as having gained a positive role model/mentor.

“It is these connections to mentors and others who are more advanced on their career paths that aspiring young Hispanics will come to appreciate in their professional lives,” said Richard Ventura, CEO and President of the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is the lead business community partner of the Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium.

“This symposium starts at the high school and college levels with introductions to Latino executives, and it creates that connectivity in relationships,” Ventura said. “A job isn’t simply a job; it’s who sees you in the job. It’s not really who you know, it’s who knows you. Forming these relationships gives students that competitive advantage. Without this experience, many of them would not have access to a network, or the confidence in knowing how to go about building one.”

St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga is serving again this year as university partner in the Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium, providing facilities and administration. Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium sponsors include the Federal Executive Board, the Hard Rock Café San Francisco, PG&E, Pier 39, Safeway, Union Bank of California, and Wells Fargo.  Community partners include Kaiser Permanente, Lambda Theta Phi, Latin Fraternity, Inc., League of Latin American Citizens Youth Program (LULAC), San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Forest Service Central California Consortium, and Univision Radio.

“The Hispanic College Fund depends on its community partners to help reach students and mobilize support from local donations to volunteers,” said Fernando Barrueta, CEO of the Hispanic College Fund. “We bring national sponsorships and visibility to the communities that we serve - and national opportunities for students - but we rely on the local support to make the program as successful and personal as it is. It truly will help shape the next workforce of scientific and technical graduates in these communities,” Barrueta said.

Local support in the Bay Area includes the League of United Latin American Citizens Youth Program (LULAC), where youth coordinator Silvia Andrade said she has found observable value in the symposium’s reach and impact in the Bay Area.

“This symposium focuses directly on the Hispanic students, and that’s a wonderful thing also for the parents, where cultural understanding is so important,” Andrade said. “It’s an excellent tool for our community to excel in higher education, especially when the high school isn’t focusing on certain students or even giving them a chance to dream about going to university. These young people can come to the symposium and say, ‘Wait a minute, I think I can do this.’”

More than one-third of California’s population is Hispanic, but as recently as 2006, only 12.5% of Hispanics in the U.S. had a college degree - the lowest rate of any group in the United States. This is especially problematic for Northern California, where the majority of high-paying jobs are heavily concentrated in areas on business, science, technology, engineering, and math.

Andrade encourages young professionals across the Bay Area community step up and offer what they have to give.

“We just cannot just sit back and enjoy our title or professional status. All of you young professionals - we need you - we need you to be out there inspiring our young people,” she said. “We have a lot of work to do. Get out there and let them see that you’re successful and involved, and you’ll be changing someone’s life.”

The symposium reaches out to student participants who meet the following criteria:

* Have a minimum 2.5 GPA
* Are Hispanic
* Have completed the application to participate
* Are rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors in high school
* Are residents of Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Solano, or San Mateo counties
* Pay a $10 participation fee (which can be waived upon request)

In addition, from 100 to 150 community volunteers will be engaged to assist with everything from logistics coordination to talent show judging. Approximately 20 college student resident advisors also are being recruited to help with the symposium management.

In order to track the results of each symposium, the Hispanic College Fund will conduct pre- and post-event surveys to determine whether students show a marked improvement in their understanding of the college application process, the financial aid process, and the role that community involvement and high school academic achievement play in the college preparation process. Also, the Hispanic College Fund will conduct a longitudinal study of its student participants to track how their college preparation improves, whether they go to college, the caliber of the college they attend, and the kind of career they pursue upon graduation.

Kaiser Permanente continues to support the Hispanic Youth Symposium because it has shown positive results in terms of student development and follow-up, Aboytes said. “The Hispanic College Fund really takes a strong commitment to students and the follow-up is significant,” she said. “We are looking for that longer-term vision, for an understanding of where the students are coming from and where they are going.”

In early May, the website of the Bay Area Hispanic Youth Symposium will be released. For more information on the national Hispanic Youth Symposium, go to www.hispanicyouth.org.