Illinois

The 37-year-old Latino from Logan Square represents the type of educators being funneled into the system by Grow Your Own Teachers. GYO was established by the state Legislature in 2004 to prepare 1,000 new teachers by 2016 to work in schools with disadvantaged populations and high turnover rates.

Now seeking from the Legislature a $1.5 million increase in its $3 million appropriation of the last two years, GYO partners community groups, colleges and local school districts to recruit candidates of diverse backgrounds to work in schools in their own communities statewide. About 545 candidates currently are in the pipeline — 87 percent of them minorities.”*

Two Latinos who are the first in their families to attend college have taken student leadership roles at Harper College.

Miguel Hernandez, 25, of Hoffman Estates, was elected student senate president, while Alaine Garcia, 32, of Wheeling, is the Harper board’s latest student trustee.

Both said they’re excited to give Latinos, who make up 18 percent of Harper’s 25,300 students, proper representation within the college’s bodies of government.”*

George de Lama, the Chicago Tribune managing editor for news and the first Latino ever to appear on the newspaper’s masthead, announced today he is leaving the paper after 30 years.

His successor will be Hanke Gratteau, who in March was elevated to deputy managing editor for news from associate managing editor for metropolitian news.

“His wisdom, humor and passion have been the source of great inspiration for me and this newsroom,” Chicago Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinski said in a note to the newsroom. “He remains my dear friend but I will miss him, and not just a little.”*

Extra Bilingual Newspaper (http://www.extranews.net) won the most awards out of any newspapers in Chicago and received two 2008 Jose Marti silver awards in the National Association of Hispanic Publications 23rd annual conference. One award was for Best Health Section, and the second for Best Hispanic Success Story, “Magazine Helps Ex-Gang Member Help Himself, Others,” written by Jessica Del Curto, former managing editor at Extra.

More than 500 entries from dailies, weeklies, bi-weeklies and monthlies were submitted to the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP). A panel of 12 judges selected gold, silver and bronze awards for categories of General Excellence, Outstanding Sections, Written Word, Design, Photos, Cartoons and Marketing.

Abel Arciniega, Extra Bilingual Newspaper’s design director and photographer, won a 2008 American Inhouse Design Award, presented by Graphic Design USA.

Arciniega’s winning submission, “Los Bellos Colores de México,” (The beautiful colors of México) was the front page of Extra Newspaper’s 2007 Mexican Independence Day Edition, in which he created the Mexican flag using miniature limes and chiles.

“There are so many aspects to the Latino culture - food, music, religion. I get a lot of ideas from my mom, small things I see her doing around the house, or from my dad. There is so much inspiration all over, not just from my family but from la raza in general,” commented Arciniega.

GDUSA, a monthly magazine for graphic design professionals received a record breaking 5,500 entries, with a little over 10 percent being honored with an embossed award certificate. The annual awards were created for design, marketing and communications departments to be recognized for their creativity and contribution to their businesses and institutions.

Extra Bilingual Newspaper is an award-winning community newspaper. With a current circulation of over 67,500, the newspaper is published weekly and free to the public. The family-owned newspaper was founded in 1980 and was one of the first bilingual (Spanish and English) newspapers in America. Extra is the voice of the Latino community targeting first, second and third generation Latinos. Its editorial content focuses on neighborhoods and local news important to the Latino communities as well as information on education, health, entertainment, and financial literacy.”*

Goodman Theatre’s Fourth Biennial Latino Theatre Festival — featuring visiting artists and performances by local troupes — will take place in Chicago Aug. 8-24 in both the Albert and Owen Theatres.

The festival is curated by resident artistic associate Henry Godinez.

The festival includes Culture Clash’s Culture Clash in AmeriCCa; Barcelona-based Marta Carrasco’s J’arrive, a compilation of her works over the past ten years; Al Son Que Me Toques, Lorca, Laura Crotte’s Mexican-musical adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding; Taking Flight by Adriana Sevan; and De La Oreja Al Corazon, an imaginative puppet piece from Mexico City.”*

To solve the chronic teacher shortage problem in its public schools, Chicago is reaching deep into its own neighborhoods.

Ten years ago, Latina mothers were actively participating in a thriving parent mentor program in Chicago’s north side community of Logan Square. They were trained and placed in classrooms to help a teacher for about two hours a day.

While motivated mothers were doing good work in the local schools with no intention of leaving, for certified classroom teachers it was a revolving door. So new teachers had to be hired to replace them, but the newcomers too had no long-term plans to stay.”*

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than to announce that Mayor Richard M. Daley has declared 2010 The Year of México in Chicago!

The National Museum of Mexican Art proposed the idea to the Mayor in recognition of two very important Mexican anniversaries and celebrations. The year 2010 marks:

* The 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence.
* The 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution

The National Museum of Mexican Art will be coordinating cultural activities throughout the city for this celebration.

Anthony “Tony” Guerrero’s eyes grew large as he listened to Sonia Reising rattle off his new responsibilities.

Laid out, they could seem a little daunting: Develop expectations and goals for his other team members; determine the dates and times of a year’s worth of meetings; establish monthly goals for the coming year; participate in at least one community service activity.

But Guerrero took a deep breath, glanced around at his hand-selected teammates on the new McHenry County College Student Senate executive board, and squared his shoulders.”*

The choir had just finished raising the roof inside St. Basil/Visitation Catholic Church in Englewood when a visitor, Mauro Piñeda, stepped up to the pulpit with an unexpected invitation.

March with us on May 1, Piñeda urged the mostly black parishioners, invoking Martin Luther King Jr.’s call in 1963 to “lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice.”

As another Immigration march is scheduled to wend through Chicago on Thursday—now an annual rite of political passion for some and traffic frustrations for others—such pleas to African-Americans represent a new experiment in the fight for immigrant rights.”*

Memories of Mexico are as much a seasoning in the kitchens of Maria Solis and Carmen Darville as freshly squeezed lime juice, chopped cilantro and a judicious pinch or two of cumin. For these two abuelas, or grandmothers, food is a way not only to link the generations but to tie life in Chicago today with their Mexican heritage.

“It’s important for me so he can remember me,” Solis said, gazing at her 9-year-old grandson, Jason McGrath, who was happily slurping down a cantaloupe agua fresca, a drink made of pureed fruit and water. Gathered around them in the dining room of Solis’ Bridgeport apartment were two of her three sons, Omar and Christian; her daughter, Michelle, and her friend, Martha Vargas, who had a theory about what makes Solis’ food so good.”*

Brenda Estrada, 13, embraces the exhilarating beat of Mexican folkloric dance.

The vivacious seventh-grader practices the traditional dances of Jalisco, Sinaloa and Veracruz, all states in Mexico, at least four nights a week in her family’s trailer home.

“I want to share my culture with others,” she said. “I try to get as much time in dancing as I can on my break and still have to come and eat.””*

DePaul University has appointed 21-year DePaul veteran Marisa Alicea as the new dean of the School for New Learning ( SNL ), a leader in adult student learning since 1972.

“Marisa has a proven track record of leadership and a firm commitment to both DePaul’s and the School for New Learning’s mission of serving adult learners,” Provost Helmut Epp said. “She is a natural choice for this position, and I am confident she will strengthen the school’s mission while maintaining the excellence that defines the school.”

Alicea brings a wealth of experience as an educator and administrator to the deanship, having served as the interim SNL dean since July 2007 and in a number of leadership positions in the school and throughout the university. As interim dean, she has been guiding SNL through a comprehensive program review designed to refine and update the strong, original concept of the school. Under her guidance, SNL has enhanced its distance learning program so that its students, who are age 24 or older, can complete a degree online from anywhere in the world. The school also has capitalized on DePaul’s suburban campuses, making a DePaul education available to adults who live or work south, west or northwest of the city.

As interim dean, Alicea encouraged greater faculty participation in decision making, and she strengthened the curriculum and pool of faculty while at the O’Hare Campus in Des Plaines, Ill. In 2006 she was named a Vincent de Paul Professor, an honor that recognizes top teachers. Alicea began her tenure at DePaul as associate director of the Center for Latino Research and as a lecturer in DePaul’s sociology department. From there, she moved to SNL where she has served in a variety of roles, including associate professor, director of undergraduate programs at the O’Hare campus and associate dean for curriculum and instruction. Prior to joining DePaul, she lectured at Northwestern University and worked as a graduate research fellow in Northwestern’s Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research. She earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University and writes and teaches about issues related to U.S. Latinos.

As SNL dean, Alicea leads one of the first schools in the nation created to serve the specific needs of adult students. SNL has earned a national reputation for offering innovative, adult-focused curricula and degree programs. SNL is expressly designed to meet the needs of older students balancing work, family and school. One of SNL’s most unique features is that it allows students to receive class credit for life experience.

In addition to its presence on DePaul’s Loop and suburban campuses, SNL offers programs at several U.S. corporations as well as in Nairobi, Kenya, and Bangkok, Thailand.

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to nurture and lead a school and faculty that has set a unique course to address the needs of adults,” Alicea said. “I look forward to helping them reach their educational goals.”

Alicea plans to continue SNL’s drive to create several new degree completion and joint degree programs with other colleges at DePaul, such as the two programs she helped spearhead in the past year: a bachelor of arts for early childhood educators with the School of Education, and the bachelor of arts in general business with the College of Commerce. “Our students like what we have to offer, and this will provide them even more opportunities.”

Media Contact: Deborah Snow Humiston, ( 312 )362-8508 “*

The massive Immigration marches of 2006, including the May 1 rally that brought 400,000 people to Grant Park, helped drive Immigration reform to the top of the national agenda and gave new focus to the immigrant community in the Chicago area.

Two years later, Spanish-language morning talk shows are buzzing about a new march. But some community leaders in the suburbs, a vital source of support in past demonstrations, are expressing doubts about whether massive rallies are the right tactic this year.

With five days, supporters point out that there is still time to organize a strong showing. Earlier marches picked up much of their momentum in the final days and hours. “*

It wasn’t easy launching the Latino Union, which works on behalf of day laborers. And it hasn’t gotten any easier four years after the agency opened a small storefront at 3416 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in the Albany Park neighborhood so the workers do not have to stand on street corners to get hired. Chicago also has four main hiring corners for day laborers.

Yet the problem faced by Aranda, executive director of the Latino Union, pales in comparison to other places across the U.S. where a groundswell of anti-immigrant sentiment has led to demonstrations, counterdemonstrations, legal battles and the closing of some centers.

Indeed, day labor supporters worry that many of the nation’s 60 centers like Chicago’s, as well as the more than 1,000 street corners nationwide where day laborers gather, will face problems in the coming months as rising unemployment and anti-illegal-immigrant attitudes congeal into a potent brew.”*

Looking smart in a yellow dress shirt and a navy blazer, Saul Arellano was a reluctant speaker at the service in his honor Sunday.

Although he stood on an orange chair to deliver a brief statement in Spanish, the language he says he’s most comfortable with after nearly 8 months living in Mexico, the 9-year-old son of controversial Immigration activist Elvira Arellano was shy in front of the television cameras pointed in his direction.

But the 30 people gathered at Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood doted on their “Saulito” all the same..”*

“Chicago ARTEahora,” dubbed Chicagos first Latin American art fair, is being staged this weekend at the River East Art Center in downtown Chicago.

Curators Aldo Castillo and Thomas Monahan, along with adviser Hernan Carrara, put together nearly 300 contemporary and modern art works by more than 120 artists from Latin America, including Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador and other countries.”*

Sergio Gomez lived the classic entertainment success story: small-town boy moves to the big city and becomes a star.

But the lead singer of the beloved Chicago-based band K-Paz de la Sierra also suffered the tragic coda of the star who dies young. Five months ago, Gomez was tortured and killed after a concert in Morelia, a hotbed of drug-related violence.

That might have ended the tale of Sergio Gomez.”*

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

Name not withstanding, the National Museum of Mexican Art is a rather unprepossessing place: a smallish stucco–brick building in a suburb 20 minutes away from campus. One would not expect a fascinating, if somewhat unfocused, collection of contemporary Chicano art in such a place. The National Museum, however, has found its niche, and has collected a testament to the wildly different artistic reactions to the movement and culture of economically dispossessed Mexicans.

This is an ambitious plan, of course. The exhibit does strive for a kind of comprehension, but unfortunately fails to construct Con Safos showcases a remarkable variety of media and styles.”*

*From: http://maroon.uchicago.edu
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Every member of Teatro Luna, from the stage director to the set designer to the writers and directors, is Latina.

The non-profit theater group performs at the Chicago Dramatists’ theater at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue. The group also tours college campuses across the country, with the goal of providing a space for Latinas to tell their stories in their own words. Those stories are connecting with audiences in new ways.

Irasema Gonzalez, whose Tianguis Bookstore in Pilsen collaborates with the theater group to produce spoken-word performances featuring Latina talent, says her first experience with Teatro Luna was unique.”*

*From: http://www.chitowndailynews.org
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Rebecca Illingworth Radilla, President and Founder of Illingworth Communications, a Minneapolis-based media buying agency, is re-launching her firm as a new full-service agency — Radilla Advertising — headquartered in Chicago.

Radilla Advertising (www.radillaadvertising.com) will focus its business on the vertical markets such as the Hispanic, Alternative Lifestyle, African American and other rapidly expanding markets, as well as sports media buying and overall arena marketing. Radilla Advertising will specialize in building national and regional strategies — from the NFL to NASCAR, and from the Hispanic market to Gay Pride.

“We take the cliché out of niche,” said Illingworth Radilla. “We are seeking the ‘forgotten’ budget. We optimize the budgets companies establish as quota fulfillments. Inevitably the forgotten budget becomes a dominant voice for a company’s brand image … a secure revenue builder.”

Radilla’s vast knowledge of these vertical landscapes allows them to execute plans that demonstrate proven success in their clients’ ROI. Current and recent clients include Northern Tool and Equipment, 3M, Renewal by Anderson Windows, Kawasaki, 555 Soul, and Mountain Dew among others.

“Radilla Advertising is excited to call Chicago home where we focus on doing creative work that is client-focused as opposed to agency-focused,” said Creative Director, Brian Willette. “The vertical marketplace is a strategic method of targeting today’s consumer in an ever-so-challenging economy.”

Illingworth Radilla worked on both sides of the advertising spectrum as a Media Director and as an Account Executive at top 10 agencies and has worked on accounts such as Target, Marshall Fields (previously Dayton’s), Cub Foods and Dow Brands. Raised in Mexico, she is fluent in both English and Spanish. She founded Illingworth Communications in 1998.

Willette has consulted as a Creative Director on projects with BBD amongst other highly respected agencies. He has been called on as a trend-spotter in Chicago and has focused on hospitality and lifestyle. Willette is an accomplished photographer, having been published in Time Magazine, Details, CS, Chicago Magazine, ID, Index, Flaunt, Mass Appeal and Wallpaper Magazine.”*

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

In an election year full of debate about Immigration enforcement, area Latino leaders say other issues affecting their communities are getting short shrift, from high school dropout rates to job training.

A new report, set for release Friday, highlights recommendations gathered during meetings with more than 600 Chicago-area civic leaders, religious representatives, elected officials and community activists over the last two years.

Nearly 70 percent of Latinos in the Chicago area are U.S. citizens, and 90 percent of Latino children were born here, according to “An American Agenda From a Latino Perspective,” by the group Latinos United.”*

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

The International Latino Cultural Center presents the 24th Chicago Latino Film Festival, which continues Friday through Wednesday, April 11 through 16, at Instituto Cervantes (31 W. Ohio), Landmark’s Century Centre, Pipers Alley, and smaller venues throughout the city. Tickets are $10, $9 for students, and $8 for ILCC members. Following are selected films screening this week, all in English and/or subtitled Spanish. For more information call 312-431-1330 or see latinoculturalcenter.org.”*

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

It was a massive mistake that stared scholar and Latino political analyst Federico Subervi in the face as he analyzed and assimilated major American media coverage of the Latino population during his research beginning in the early 1980s.

“The Latino vote is not monolithic,” Subervi said.

And it’s disastrous today for political leaders and those aspiring for office such as the current presidential candidates to even consider that notion.”*

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

Not that the Sox manager is a stranger to hearing that kind of talk, but now seemed the time to set the record straight on a few fronts.

Especially concerning the idea that he favors Latino players more than the ”white guys.”

”I got a bunch of e-mails that said I played the ‘Cuban Missile’ [rookie Alexei Ramirez in the season opener] because he’s Cuban,” Guillen said. ”Wow, did you see the spring training the ‘Cuban Missile’ had? You would play him, too. I don’t make a lineup because of who is Latino and who is not. That’s ignorant. The ‘Cuban Missile’ had bad games because he went against C.C. [Sabathia] and [Fausto] Carmona.”*

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