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Why Hispanics need relevant news in English to stay informed to realize their power

“33.5 million Hispanics speak only English or are bilingual and speak English well. Rub your eyes and read that again. 33.5 million Hispanics speak English or are bilingual. They are spread out around the country, in every state and probably in almost every community. Yet this diverse group representing millions of votes and a trillions dollars in terms of purchasing power have few ways of staying informed in English about issues that are important to them. I would even say that many would have a hard time imagining what relevant news in English would look like as many have never been exposed to it.

I keep hearing that knowledge is power. Who wouldn’t agree that education is essential to the improvement of one’s life and one’s role in society? Corporations and government give money to education because of this. Yet there are surprisingly large (and seemingly invisible) holes in the education and knowledge that not only affects us as Hispanics (or Latinos or Chicanos – use your word and be proud) but the entire nation as well.

I am talking about the fact that national Hispanic news, as I refer to it, almost does not exist. I am talking about a systemic lack of access to useful, organized, timely and relevant information for, from and about Hispanics from around the country in English.

Without good information about issues that are important and relevant to who we are, how can we make sound decisions when it comes time to vote or buy something? How can we increase our power in order to help ourselves and this nation? How can we inform non-Hispanics about us and our issues? How can we celebrate who we are for all to see?

I seek to tackle this problem head-on. Before HispanicTips.com, news about Hispanics was out there but it was scattered and not easily accessible to everyone. I strongly believe that this situation, this lack of accessibility, hinders both the Hispanic community and the nation economically, politically and culturally. So I made it my goal to provide easy access to Hispanic news so that people could stay informed.

In pursuing this goal over the past two years I have, on an almost daily basis, handpicked, collected and organized 40,214 posts (a feat no other individual Hispanic or organization can claim). HispanicTips.com serves as both a living archive of Hispanic news and information, as well as being the best way to stay informed on a regular basis. Blogante news and a daily email newsletter reaches informed Hispanics with news spanning every state in the union and covering a variety of subjects like business, politics, entertainment, and immigration.

Readers have let me know what they think of HispanicTips.com saying: ‘love it,’ ‘addictive,’ ‘informative,’ ‘helpful,’ ‘useful,’ ‘great,’ and ‘invaluable.’”

If knowledge is power then I am sorry to say that the power of millions Hispanics has not yet been realized to the detriment of all.”

PS In October of 2007, I realized that I was missing an aspect to my mission of providing relevant news for, from and about Hispanics & Latinos that is accessible & useful. I had heard over and over from Hispanics and Latinos that they wanted exposure for their information and that they couldn't get it. So while I was doing my best to inform the world, I was only providing a one way street in many ways. There were still many who felt that their information wasn't getting noticed especially in English mainstream media. To combat this problem, I created CIMS (a Community Information Management System) with the goal of providing a free database of information for Hispanics and Latinos to control their own information for the world to read. You really need to read the site's homepage to understand exactly what I am providing. CIMS is and will always be ad free. This is where I want Tierra Sponsors to step up and support a tool for the Hispanic community and our nation.

In English - Recently this came out of AdAge.com “Paul Mendieta, director of Hispanic marketing at Coors Brewing Co., said, “Hispanic media is not doing a great job. They depend upon the fact that Latinos like to communicate in Spanish. But more and more of the growth is coming from the U.S.-born Latino who is bilingual and chooses according to content [quality], not langauge.”