Mentoring program helps Latino students
By Rodrigo Muzell, Inquirer Staff Writer
Wender Ozuma, 18, is prepared to face the world and his future.
"I want to manage a company," Ozuma said recently, attired in blue shirt and a black tie. "I feel comfortable in an office environment, dressed up professionally."
Ozuma and others recently attended a celebration on the 43d floor of the Comcast Center marking the third anniversary of the Professional Mentoring Network run by the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
It is a venture that Ozuma and others described as allowing Latino youths to believe in their dreams.
"It's just up to you," said Ozuma, who recently graduated from Thomas Edison High School and will begin studies in business administration this fall at East Stroudsburg University. "I could have just given up and dropped out, but I opted to become top of my class."
The program connects students with Latino business people and executives from large corporations, such as Bank of America and Comcast, who serve as mentors. The youths attend seminars and other activities that stress career goals. The program also mentors Latino business professionals, who are advised by other high-level corporate executives.
Varsovia Fernandez, president of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the youth program stresses the message that it's "OK to be Hispanic and be successful."
Nearly 200 students have been mentored by the business community. Fernandez estimated that from 35 to 60 youths will participate in the program this year.
Fernandez said successful role models are important to fight the perception that a Latino heritage can be a disadvantage in the quest for a career.
"Some Latino girls say they were told by people that they are not college material," said Fernandez. "But in fact, I've seen many of them going to college."
Clarissa Velazquez, 18, who just graduated from Edison, joined the mentoring program last year and is headed to Holy Family University in the fall.
In high school, she considered becoming a doctor. After attending career seminars offered by the mentoring network, she said, she sees other opportunities.
"The business classes opened my eyes to different things I can do and the variety of successful positions I can have," she said. "There are so many things going on, and you just have to say yes. You can't close the doors and just lock yourself out of things just because where you came from."
At the recent anniversary celebration, David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast, was honored for his work with the Professional Mentoring Network.
He said companies that "truly represent the cultural diversity of America" will be the successful ones in the future, and embracing programs like the mentoring network is "the right thing to do."
"The kids blow me away every time. This program shows what they can be if they work hard and finish school. They can end up working in a building like this," Cohen said.
Ozuma, preparing for a business career, agreed. And his dreams go even further.
"My dream would be to become an executive like David Cohen. I want to be at where he is now - or higher."
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Lone Hispanic fire fighter speaks out
Bias Suit a Test of Resolve for Hispanic Man
By A. G. SULZBERGER, NY Times, July 2, 2009
NEW HAVEN — The two dozen firefighters who packed into Humphrey’s East Restaurant were celebrating a coming marriage, drinking and jawboning in the boisterous style of large men with risky jobs, but Lt. Ben Vargas spent the evening trying to escape the tension surrounding his presence.
A clipping depicting the first major fire that Lt. Ben Vargas fought.
During a trip to the bathroom, he found himself facing another man. Without warning, the first punch landed. When Lieutenant Vargas awoke, bloodied and splayed on the grimy floor, he was taken to the hospital.
Lieutenant Vargas believes the attack, five years ago, was orchestrated by a black firefighter in retaliation for his having joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city over its tossing out of an exam for promotion that few minority firefighters passed. (No arrests were made in the attack, and the black firefighter vigorously denies having been involved.)
When the Hispanic firefighters’ association and its members — including Lieutenant Vargas’s brother — refused to publicly stand behind him, he quit the organization.
Lieutenant Vargas, who posted the sixth-highest score on the exam, was ridiculed as a token, a turncoat and an Uncle Tom — all of which, he said, “made my resolve that much stronger.”
When the United States Supreme Court ruled this week in the firefighters’ favor, Lieutenant Vargas, 40, the son of Puerto Rican parents, found himself celebrating amid an awkward racial dynamic: As the lone Hispanic among the 18 plaintiffs who had challenged an affirmative action policy, he had also challenged an appeals court decision joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court.
“She’s from Puerto Rico, and I’m from Puerto Rico,” he said. “She obviously feels differently than I do.”
The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision is expected to have repercussions on employment discrimination law that go well beyond fire departments, where minority groups have been woefully underrepresented, particularly in leadership positions. On the steps of the federal courthouse in New Haven on Monday, a lawyer for the firefighters, Karen Lee Torre, said they had “become a symbol for millions of Americans who have grown tired of seeing individual achievement and merit take a back seat to race and ethnicity.”
For Lieutenant Vargas, the ruling will probably mean a long-awaited promotion to captain in a 350-member department that he has admired since childhood but that has been plagued for decades by racial tension and recriminations.
“I consider myself an American — I was born and raised here,” he said in an interview on the porch of his home in the wooded suburb of Wallingford. “I love my people. I love my culture. I love our rice and beans, our salsa music, our language — everything my parents raised us with. But I am so grateful for the opportunity only the United States can give.”
He grew up in the troubled Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, a complicated city known for Yale University but also for urban decay, high crime rates and failed prospects, roots he sees as similar to Judge Sotomayor’s in a Bronx public housing project.
His father was a factory worker, and his mother took care of the couple’s three children. (In addition to his brother, David, who did not respond to interview requests, he has a sister who now lives in Puerto Rico.) The family spoke Spanish at home, making his adjustment to school “traumatic,” he said.
Lieutenant Vargas decided to follow the path of an older friend, John Marquez, whom he looked up to. Mr. Marquez had worked his way out of the neighborhood by joining the Fire Department.
“I used to tell him, ‘You know where I came from — if I can make it, anyone can,’ ” Mr. Marquez, now a deputy chief in the department, said in an interview. “ ‘But don’t expect anything to be handed to you. Work for it.’ ”
But Lieutenant Vargas’s aspirations were stymied by a 1988 lawsuit, filed by black firefighters, that shut down hiring for years. The lawsuit challenged a written test that relatively few nonwhites passed. In 1994, the city agreed to disregard the test, over union complaints, and hire 40 firefighters — 20 white, 10 black and 10 Hispanic, according to The New Haven Register.
Lieutenant Vargas was among those hired. That later led some people to criticize him as trying to shut the door that welcomed him, though he maintained that it was impossible to know how he would have done under the old hiring process.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 2000, and he now leads a four-person crew at a red-brick single-engine firehouse not far from where he grew up. He also works part time as a consultant for a company that sells equipment for firefighters.
“When I leave the firehouse, I bring it home with me,” he said. “I read about it. Think about it. I love this job. I don’t think there’s anything else I could do better.”
In 2003, Lieutenant Vargas was one of 56 people in the department who passed a test for promotion; 15 were black or Hispanic. When city officials discovered that only two of those were likely to be immediately promoted, they decided to throw out the test, citing concerns that minority candidates might again sue, alleging discrimination.
Instead, a group of white firefighters sued. The results had been posted by race, without names, and when Lieutenant Vargas learned that a Hispanic firefighter had scored sixth among 41 lieutenants on the test to become a captain, he joined the suit. Only later did he discover that the score was his.
“I would have carried the load all by myself,” he said of filing the suit. “Luckily there were enough people out there who felt like I did that we could stand together.”
But Lieutenant Vargas bore more than his share of the criticism, said Lt. Matthew Marcarelli, who was among the plaintiffs and has known Lieutenant Vargas since they were classmates at the fire academy. “Why the other guys viewed him as a turncoat I really don’t understand. He did it because he’s principled and he thought it was the right thing to do. Benny’s nobody’s token.”
Chief Marquez said his old protégé was “an easy target because he didn’t fall in line.”
“It seems that if you’re not the right type of minority, you get hammered,” he said.
The president of the black firefighters’ group in New Haven did not return calls seeking comment.
Despite the ugly episode at Humphrey’s East shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Lieutenant Vargas said that little tension remained in the department, and that he was hopeful that the court decision would end the rest.
He noted that the Hispanic firefighters’ association reversed course in February, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and publicly endorsed his position.
Gesturing toward his three young sons, Lieutenant Vargas explained why he had no regrets. “I want them to have a fair shake, to get a job on their merits and not because they’re Hispanic or they fill a quota,” he said. “What a lousy way to live.”
By A. G. SULZBERGER, NY Times, July 2, 2009
NEW HAVEN — The two dozen firefighters who packed into Humphrey’s East Restaurant were celebrating a coming marriage, drinking and jawboning in the boisterous style of large men with risky jobs, but Lt. Ben Vargas spent the evening trying to escape the tension surrounding his presence.
A clipping depicting the first major fire that Lt. Ben Vargas fought.
During a trip to the bathroom, he found himself facing another man. Without warning, the first punch landed. When Lieutenant Vargas awoke, bloodied and splayed on the grimy floor, he was taken to the hospital.
Lieutenant Vargas believes the attack, five years ago, was orchestrated by a black firefighter in retaliation for his having joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city over its tossing out of an exam for promotion that few minority firefighters passed. (No arrests were made in the attack, and the black firefighter vigorously denies having been involved.)
When the Hispanic firefighters’ association and its members — including Lieutenant Vargas’s brother — refused to publicly stand behind him, he quit the organization.
Lieutenant Vargas, who posted the sixth-highest score on the exam, was ridiculed as a token, a turncoat and an Uncle Tom — all of which, he said, “made my resolve that much stronger.”
When the United States Supreme Court ruled this week in the firefighters’ favor, Lieutenant Vargas, 40, the son of Puerto Rican parents, found himself celebrating amid an awkward racial dynamic: As the lone Hispanic among the 18 plaintiffs who had challenged an affirmative action policy, he had also challenged an appeals court decision joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court.
“She’s from Puerto Rico, and I’m from Puerto Rico,” he said. “She obviously feels differently than I do.”
The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision is expected to have repercussions on employment discrimination law that go well beyond fire departments, where minority groups have been woefully underrepresented, particularly in leadership positions. On the steps of the federal courthouse in New Haven on Monday, a lawyer for the firefighters, Karen Lee Torre, said they had “become a symbol for millions of Americans who have grown tired of seeing individual achievement and merit take a back seat to race and ethnicity.”
For Lieutenant Vargas, the ruling will probably mean a long-awaited promotion to captain in a 350-member department that he has admired since childhood but that has been plagued for decades by racial tension and recriminations.
“I consider myself an American — I was born and raised here,” he said in an interview on the porch of his home in the wooded suburb of Wallingford. “I love my people. I love my culture. I love our rice and beans, our salsa music, our language — everything my parents raised us with. But I am so grateful for the opportunity only the United States can give.”
He grew up in the troubled Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, a complicated city known for Yale University but also for urban decay, high crime rates and failed prospects, roots he sees as similar to Judge Sotomayor’s in a Bronx public housing project.
His father was a factory worker, and his mother took care of the couple’s three children. (In addition to his brother, David, who did not respond to interview requests, he has a sister who now lives in Puerto Rico.) The family spoke Spanish at home, making his adjustment to school “traumatic,” he said.
Lieutenant Vargas decided to follow the path of an older friend, John Marquez, whom he looked up to. Mr. Marquez had worked his way out of the neighborhood by joining the Fire Department.
“I used to tell him, ‘You know where I came from — if I can make it, anyone can,’ ” Mr. Marquez, now a deputy chief in the department, said in an interview. “ ‘But don’t expect anything to be handed to you. Work for it.’ ”
But Lieutenant Vargas’s aspirations were stymied by a 1988 lawsuit, filed by black firefighters, that shut down hiring for years. The lawsuit challenged a written test that relatively few nonwhites passed. In 1994, the city agreed to disregard the test, over union complaints, and hire 40 firefighters — 20 white, 10 black and 10 Hispanic, according to The New Haven Register.
Lieutenant Vargas was among those hired. That later led some people to criticize him as trying to shut the door that welcomed him, though he maintained that it was impossible to know how he would have done under the old hiring process.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 2000, and he now leads a four-person crew at a red-brick single-engine firehouse not far from where he grew up. He also works part time as a consultant for a company that sells equipment for firefighters.
“When I leave the firehouse, I bring it home with me,” he said. “I read about it. Think about it. I love this job. I don’t think there’s anything else I could do better.”
In 2003, Lieutenant Vargas was one of 56 people in the department who passed a test for promotion; 15 were black or Hispanic. When city officials discovered that only two of those were likely to be immediately promoted, they decided to throw out the test, citing concerns that minority candidates might again sue, alleging discrimination.
Instead, a group of white firefighters sued. The results had been posted by race, without names, and when Lieutenant Vargas learned that a Hispanic firefighter had scored sixth among 41 lieutenants on the test to become a captain, he joined the suit. Only later did he discover that the score was his.
“I would have carried the load all by myself,” he said of filing the suit. “Luckily there were enough people out there who felt like I did that we could stand together.”
But Lieutenant Vargas bore more than his share of the criticism, said Lt. Matthew Marcarelli, who was among the plaintiffs and has known Lieutenant Vargas since they were classmates at the fire academy. “Why the other guys viewed him as a turncoat I really don’t understand. He did it because he’s principled and he thought it was the right thing to do. Benny’s nobody’s token.”
Chief Marquez said his old protégé was “an easy target because he didn’t fall in line.”
“It seems that if you’re not the right type of minority, you get hammered,” he said.
The president of the black firefighters’ group in New Haven did not return calls seeking comment.
Despite the ugly episode at Humphrey’s East shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Lieutenant Vargas said that little tension remained in the department, and that he was hopeful that the court decision would end the rest.
He noted that the Hispanic firefighters’ association reversed course in February, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and publicly endorsed his position.
Gesturing toward his three young sons, Lieutenant Vargas explained why he had no regrets. “I want them to have a fair shake, to get a job on their merits and not because they’re Hispanic or they fill a quota,” he said. “What a lousy way to live.”
Latino U.S. citizenship promoted by advocate groups
Human Rights Campaign to help Latinos residents become U.S. citizens
Kathy Young, Phoenix LGBT Issues Examiner
The Human Rights Campaign will be participating in the “Ya Es Hora” campaign in Arizona. The campaign is working to help get 1 million Latinos that are eligible legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens during 2009 and 2010. “Ya Es Hora” has helped process U.S. Citizenship applications for more than 1.4 million Latinos since 2007. Ya Es Hora is a multi-layered integrated campaign which provides a comprehensive approach that links naturalization to voter participation and Census enumeration under a single message: “it’s time.” HRC will be working with Mi Familia Vota, National Council of La Raza, NALEO Education Fund, SEIU, Somos America, Campesina, AILA, and ACORN.
After the recent election, HRC has realized that the time for coalition building has never been greater. Cynthia Leigh Lewis, HRC Arizona Political Co-Chair, comments,
“The time has come to unite the LGBT and Hispanic Community. We have more in common than differences and we should work on our common issues. We need more legal residents becoming citizens so they can vote and make the much needed changes in both communities, especially related to civil rights and immigration.” Lewis continues, “Our communities have endured the use of wedge issues used against us by socially conservative politicians and civic leaders. In 2004, we saw gay marriage used as a divisive issue. In 2006, social conservatives resorted to “illegal immigration” to drum up their base, creating a terrible backlash among Latino voters against the Republican Party. The use of wedge issues will continue to be used against us and urgently requires us to develop a strategy to blunt the effectiveness of wedge issues by building new allies and coalitions.”
Arizona is just one of a handful of pilot locations for HRC to participate in the Ya Es Hora event. Other locations include Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Washington, DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland, Orlando, Atlanta, and Charlotte and Raleigh, NC. Mi Familia Vota’s goal is to draw 200 people to the fair and HRC is planning to recruit 20-30 volunteers. Volunteers are needed to assist Latino/a individuals and families in completing their applications to become US citizens.
Saturday, July 11
Iglesia Discípulos del Reino
116 N Lindsay Rd, Suite 9
Mesa, AZ 85204
Or
Somerton Middle School
AWC Learning Center.
1011 N Somerton Avenue,
Somerton, AZ 85350
Volunteers needed: 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 5 p.m. or both shifts
(Workshop is open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
Spanish fluency helpful, but not necessary.
Volunteers are required to attend the following trainings:
For the Mesa location:
SEIU
3707 N 7th St, Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85014
July 6, 6 p.m. for general volunteers
July 7, 6 p.m. for lawyers
For the Somerton location:
Public Safety Building (Yuma)
July 8, 6 p.m. for all volunteers
If interested, please RSVP to Kathy Young at kjkicks@gmail.com by July 5.
Kathy Young, Phoenix LGBT Issues Examiner
The Human Rights Campaign will be participating in the “Ya Es Hora” campaign in Arizona. The campaign is working to help get 1 million Latinos that are eligible legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens during 2009 and 2010. “Ya Es Hora” has helped process U.S. Citizenship applications for more than 1.4 million Latinos since 2007. Ya Es Hora is a multi-layered integrated campaign which provides a comprehensive approach that links naturalization to voter participation and Census enumeration under a single message: “it’s time.” HRC will be working with Mi Familia Vota, National Council of La Raza, NALEO Education Fund, SEIU, Somos America, Campesina, AILA, and ACORN.
After the recent election, HRC has realized that the time for coalition building has never been greater. Cynthia Leigh Lewis, HRC Arizona Political Co-Chair, comments,
“The time has come to unite the LGBT and Hispanic Community. We have more in common than differences and we should work on our common issues. We need more legal residents becoming citizens so they can vote and make the much needed changes in both communities, especially related to civil rights and immigration.” Lewis continues, “Our communities have endured the use of wedge issues used against us by socially conservative politicians and civic leaders. In 2004, we saw gay marriage used as a divisive issue. In 2006, social conservatives resorted to “illegal immigration” to drum up their base, creating a terrible backlash among Latino voters against the Republican Party. The use of wedge issues will continue to be used against us and urgently requires us to develop a strategy to blunt the effectiveness of wedge issues by building new allies and coalitions.”
Arizona is just one of a handful of pilot locations for HRC to participate in the Ya Es Hora event. Other locations include Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Washington, DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland, Orlando, Atlanta, and Charlotte and Raleigh, NC. Mi Familia Vota’s goal is to draw 200 people to the fair and HRC is planning to recruit 20-30 volunteers. Volunteers are needed to assist Latino/a individuals and families in completing their applications to become US citizens.
Saturday, July 11
Iglesia Discípulos del Reino
116 N Lindsay Rd, Suite 9
Mesa, AZ 85204
Or
Somerton Middle School
AWC Learning Center.
1011 N Somerton Avenue,
Somerton, AZ 85350
Volunteers needed: 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1 p.m. 5 p.m. or both shifts
(Workshop is open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
Spanish fluency helpful, but not necessary.
Volunteers are required to attend the following trainings:
For the Mesa location:
SEIU
3707 N 7th St, Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85014
July 6, 6 p.m. for general volunteers
July 7, 6 p.m. for lawyers
For the Somerton location:
Public Safety Building (Yuma)
July 8, 6 p.m. for all volunteers
If interested, please RSVP to Kathy Young at kjkicks@gmail.com by July 5.
Utah law promotes Latino racial profiling
Latino leader says new immigration law led to racial-profiling incident
KSL.COM, July 2nd, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY -- Leaders of the Latino community held an emergency meeting Thursday. Many immigrants are afraid of what the new law, formerly Senate Bill 81, means for law enforcement and them during a routine traffic stop.
Now Hispanic community leader Tony Yapias says Utah has it's first case of racial profiling thanks to enforcement of the new law.
Yapias says an officer in Utah County went too far Thursday morning when he stopped a mother and son near Benjamin because they were driving with their lights on high-beam.
The officer then asked about their legal status and put them in the Utah County Jail on what's called an "INS" hold.
"They better be doing that to every single person regardless of their color of skin or what they look like, because to only arrest people who look brown and Latino, I mean, that is racial profiling," Yapias said.
In the last couple of days, community leaders and immigration attorneys have received hundreds of calls from immigrants concerned about this very issue. At Thursday's meeting, many came to get their questions answered.
"This is the Constitution of the United States, in English and in Spanish. Everybody has the right to remain silent. You never have to give information that can or will be used against you," immigration attorney Mark Alvarez told the group.
Right now, only officers in Weber and Washington counties have fulfilled federal requirements to handle illegal immigrants if they are arrested.
"In the state of Utah, we allow them to have a driver privilege card, it's mandatory to have insurance and they have proper registration. So, if they are complying with, if it's a traffic violation, the most that they should get is a traffic ticket," Yapias said.
Hesays they'll be ready legally for rogue police officers. "If there's an overzealous police officer out there who thinks he's the law and he's going to go enforce the law and question someone's legal status, we have some safety measures for that where the community can report these police officers," Yapias said.
Those at the gathering were told again and again: As long as they obey the law, they have nothing to worry about.
"They are not actively on the streets looking for people who violate immigration laws, so a subject is only questioned, as to their immigration status, after having been arrested for a state violation," explained Steven Branch, ICE field office director.
Those words brought relief to some, but most are confused about how individual police officers will treat them. Many who have lived and worked in Utah for at least 15 years are still hoping to reach legal status.
"I think this is the best country in the world; but like I said before, they need to work better, they need to think about humans, about human rights," Arsenio Gonzales said.
The majority of immigrants remain concerned about how police officers will handle them as individuals.
Story compiled with contributions from Carole Mikita and Andrew Adams.
KSL.COM, July 2nd, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY -- Leaders of the Latino community held an emergency meeting Thursday. Many immigrants are afraid of what the new law, formerly Senate Bill 81, means for law enforcement and them during a routine traffic stop.
Now Hispanic community leader Tony Yapias says Utah has it's first case of racial profiling thanks to enforcement of the new law.
Yapias says an officer in Utah County went too far Thursday morning when he stopped a mother and son near Benjamin because they were driving with their lights on high-beam.
The officer then asked about their legal status and put them in the Utah County Jail on what's called an "INS" hold.
"They better be doing that to every single person regardless of their color of skin or what they look like, because to only arrest people who look brown and Latino, I mean, that is racial profiling," Yapias said.
In the last couple of days, community leaders and immigration attorneys have received hundreds of calls from immigrants concerned about this very issue. At Thursday's meeting, many came to get their questions answered.
"This is the Constitution of the United States, in English and in Spanish. Everybody has the right to remain silent. You never have to give information that can or will be used against you," immigration attorney Mark Alvarez told the group.
Right now, only officers in Weber and Washington counties have fulfilled federal requirements to handle illegal immigrants if they are arrested.
"In the state of Utah, we allow them to have a driver privilege card, it's mandatory to have insurance and they have proper registration. So, if they are complying with, if it's a traffic violation, the most that they should get is a traffic ticket," Yapias said.
Hesays they'll be ready legally for rogue police officers. "If there's an overzealous police officer out there who thinks he's the law and he's going to go enforce the law and question someone's legal status, we have some safety measures for that where the community can report these police officers," Yapias said.
Those at the gathering were told again and again: As long as they obey the law, they have nothing to worry about.
"They are not actively on the streets looking for people who violate immigration laws, so a subject is only questioned, as to their immigration status, after having been arrested for a state violation," explained Steven Branch, ICE field office director.
Those words brought relief to some, but most are confused about how individual police officers will treat them. Many who have lived and worked in Utah for at least 15 years are still hoping to reach legal status.
"I think this is the best country in the world; but like I said before, they need to work better, they need to think about humans, about human rights," Arsenio Gonzales said.
The majority of immigrants remain concerned about how police officers will handle them as individuals.
Story compiled with contributions from Carole Mikita and Andrew Adams.
Latinos comprise 14 percent of Naval Academy class
Plebes report for duty
Home Town Annapolis, 07/02/09
About 1,230 freshman, or plebes, reported to the Naval Academy Wednesday to start their military careers.
Going through in-processing took about 2 1/2 hours, and included physical exams, haircuts, being issued uniforms and learning to salute.
'Sir, yes, sir!' they quickly learned to shout out in response to any and every question, comment or bit of instruction. Later in the day, they took the oath of office.
The next six weeks will be spent in Plebe Summer, or boot camp, a time when, according to an academy statement, 'There is no television, music or leisure time...'
The Class of 2013 is the most diverse in academy history, consisting of about 35 percent ethnic and racial minorities. Blacks make up 10 percent of the class, and Hispanics 14 percent, according to academy officials.
Responding to recent accusations that the academy was lowering its standards, officials noted that SAT scores for African-American plebes were in the top 6 percent of those for all college-bound blacks, while Hispanic plebes scored in the top 5 percent of all college-bound Hispanics. White freshmen ranked in the top 11 percent nationally.
Home Town Annapolis, 07/02/09
About 1,230 freshman, or plebes, reported to the Naval Academy Wednesday to start their military careers.
Going through in-processing took about 2 1/2 hours, and included physical exams, haircuts, being issued uniforms and learning to salute.
'Sir, yes, sir!' they quickly learned to shout out in response to any and every question, comment or bit of instruction. Later in the day, they took the oath of office.
The next six weeks will be spent in Plebe Summer, or boot camp, a time when, according to an academy statement, 'There is no television, music or leisure time...'
The Class of 2013 is the most diverse in academy history, consisting of about 35 percent ethnic and racial minorities. Blacks make up 10 percent of the class, and Hispanics 14 percent, according to academy officials.
Responding to recent accusations that the academy was lowering its standards, officials noted that SAT scores for African-American plebes were in the top 6 percent of those for all college-bound blacks, while Hispanic plebes scored in the top 5 percent of all college-bound Hispanics. White freshmen ranked in the top 11 percent nationally.
Arizona rejects Latino racial profiling bill
Arizona House rejects immigration enforcement bill
By JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona House has defeated a bill that would have made it the only state in the nation to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants by expanding its trespassing law.
The House voted 26-15 for the bill to expand Arizona's trespassing law Wednesday morning, but that was five votes short of the 31 needed for passage. The Senate approved the bill 16-11 earlier Wednesday.
Supporters say an expanded trespassing law would provide a second layer of enforcement to help local police catch immigrants who slip past federal agents.
Opponents predicted it would lead to racial profiling for thousands of Latinos who are U.S. citizens.
Illegal immigrants account for an estimated 500,000 people in Arizona's 6.5 million population.
By JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona House has defeated a bill that would have made it the only state in the nation to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants by expanding its trespassing law.
The House voted 26-15 for the bill to expand Arizona's trespassing law Wednesday morning, but that was five votes short of the 31 needed for passage. The Senate approved the bill 16-11 earlier Wednesday.
Supporters say an expanded trespassing law would provide a second layer of enforcement to help local police catch immigrants who slip past federal agents.
Opponents predicted it would lead to racial profiling for thousands of Latinos who are U.S. citizens.
Illegal immigrants account for an estimated 500,000 people in Arizona's 6.5 million population.
Latinos gain training through stimulus funding
Stimulus paying for training in Phila.
By Athena D. Merritt, Philadelphia Business Journal, July 1, 2009
The award of $2.92 million in federal stimulus funds to organizations to provide work force training programs in Philadelphia was announced Wednesday.
The bulk of the funding, which will be administered by the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, will go toward training in high-growth industries, including: clean energy; business and financial services; education and social services; hospitality; health care and life sciences; construction, logistics and transportation.
The following programs will receive funding:
Entry-level construction trades: JEVS/Orleans Tech will receive up to $264,000 for telecomm installer and cabler positions. The Mayor’s Office of Re-Entry will receive up to $240,000 for ex-offenders to receive telecomm installer and cabler training.
Health care: District 1199c Training and Education Fund will receive up to $300,000 for certified nursing assistant training and KRA Corp. will receive up to $125,000 for phlebotomy training. Allied Technical Institute of Philadelphia will receive up to $140,000 for medical billing and coding training and Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for similar training.
Education: Congreso de Latinos Unidos will receive up to $300,000 for a childhood development associate program. Holy Family University will receive up to $240,000 for a teacher certification program. Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for a social service assistant program.
Logistics and transportation: Congreso de Latinos Unidos will receive up to $150,000 for a truck driving CDL training program, as will All State Career. Congreso de Latinos Unidos will subcontract its program to All State.
Business and financial services: Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for a network administrator program and the Center for Innovative Training and Education will receive up to $129,000 for a secretarial program.
Also:The Doe Fund (Ready, Willing and Able) will receive up to $108,000 to train homeless men in entry-level work and work readiness skills.
The Maxwell Education Group will receive up to $150,000 for training in solar panel installation and sales.
Educational Data Systems, Inc. will receive up to $60,000 for 50 new job placement slots and Impact will receive $60,000 for 50 retail job placement slots tied to a Kensington economic development project.
By Athena D. Merritt, Philadelphia Business Journal, July 1, 2009
The award of $2.92 million in federal stimulus funds to organizations to provide work force training programs in Philadelphia was announced Wednesday.
The bulk of the funding, which will be administered by the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, will go toward training in high-growth industries, including: clean energy; business and financial services; education and social services; hospitality; health care and life sciences; construction, logistics and transportation.
The following programs will receive funding:
Entry-level construction trades: JEVS/Orleans Tech will receive up to $264,000 for telecomm installer and cabler positions. The Mayor’s Office of Re-Entry will receive up to $240,000 for ex-offenders to receive telecomm installer and cabler training.
Health care: District 1199c Training and Education Fund will receive up to $300,000 for certified nursing assistant training and KRA Corp. will receive up to $125,000 for phlebotomy training. Allied Technical Institute of Philadelphia will receive up to $140,000 for medical billing and coding training and Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for similar training.
Education: Congreso de Latinos Unidos will receive up to $300,000 for a childhood development associate program. Holy Family University will receive up to $240,000 for a teacher certification program. Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for a social service assistant program.
Logistics and transportation: Congreso de Latinos Unidos will receive up to $150,000 for a truck driving CDL training program, as will All State Career. Congreso de Latinos Unidos will subcontract its program to All State.
Business and financial services: Community College of Philadelphia will receive up to $120,000 for a network administrator program and the Center for Innovative Training and Education will receive up to $129,000 for a secretarial program.
Also:The Doe Fund (Ready, Willing and Able) will receive up to $108,000 to train homeless men in entry-level work and work readiness skills.
The Maxwell Education Group will receive up to $150,000 for training in solar panel installation and sales.
Educational Data Systems, Inc. will receive up to $60,000 for 50 new job placement slots and Impact will receive $60,000 for 50 retail job placement slots tied to a Kensington economic development project.
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