NewsTaco

By Rocio Gonzalez, Voxxi

Third time’s the charm. President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Labor Department, Thomas Perez, was finally approved by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, after this vote was postponed two other times.

Republican opposition was not enough to stop Perez’s nomination. This was the third time a vote had been scheduled, since the first time the vote was postponed at the request of Republicans, who said they needed more time to evaluate the candidate, or else. The second time, a Republican member of the Senate invoked an infrequently used procedural tactic that prevents committees from meeting on days when the Senate meets, a rule that is usually ignored.

This time around, the committee approved Perez while sticking to party lines in a 12 -10 vote. All Republicans voted against the Dominican’s appointment. That’s enough indication that this won’t go smoothly when it is time for the entire Senate to vote, especially with the controversy the Department of Justice is currently involved in. Perez is currently the assistant attorney general for the department’s Civil Rights Division, and would become the first Hispanic to join the Obama cabinet for the president’s second term, after Hilda Solis left her post at the Labor Department and Ken Salazar stepped down at the Interior Department.

“Republicans have accused Perez of making decisions guided by left-wing ideology rather than the pursuit of justice,” writes Sam Hananel for the Associated Press. “His supporters call Perez a consensus builder who is the target of politically motivated attacks.”

A small victory for Obama to fill the Labor Department post

For now, it’s a small victory for the majority. Sen. Bob Menendez released a statement saying he was pleased with today’s development, although not with the fact that there wasn’t a bi-partisan effort to pass Perez.

“Republicans continue to try and block Mr. Perez’s confirmation for no reason, without any real objection — only an ideological objection to allowing this President or this Congress to govern, or at least to select a Cabinet that will help us do so.

“At a time when Republicans should be reaching out to Hispanic Americans rather than reverting back to the same-old political strategies that failed them during the last election, it is unfortunate that the President’s first Hispanic choice for his second-term cabinet continues to be under attack. I urge my Republican colleagues to stop the obstructionism and do what’s right for the country: vote to confirm Tom Perez as the next Secretary of Labor when his nomination comes before the full Senate for consideration.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Rocio Gonzalez is a multimedia editor for VOXXI. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she is an avid reader, amateur baker and a journalism graduate from American University in Washington, D.C.

[Photo by Center for American Progress]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

At first glance, yeah, Latino voters are “punching below their weight,” as a Pew press release succinctly put it. The Latino voter turn-out rate in the past presidential election was a paltry 48% – to quote Pew again – ,”far below that of whites (64.1%) or blacks (66.2%).”

And if that were the simple malady then the logical prescription would be more gym time and a change of diet to add some bulk. But there’s more to it than that.

Lets switch metaphors, abruptly, and reach for the proverbial glass to see if it’s half-empty or half-full.

First, turn away from percentages and look at real numbers. A record 11.2 million Latinos voted in 2012, an increase of 1.2 million over the 2008 presidential election.

Now, get a little closer to the glass and look at this: every month, according to Voto Latino, 50 thousand Latinos turn 18 years of age. Do the math, that’s 2.4 million new eligible Latino voters between 2008 and 2012. Hold that thought, and consider this:

• According to Census Bureau data the number of eligible Latinos who chose not to vote in 2012 was 2.3 million.
• 24% of the U.S. population under 18 years of age is Latino.
• According to the Census Bureau report, the turnout rate among 18- to 24-year-olds fell to 41.2% in 2012 from 48.5% in 2008.

Now step back and look at the glass again.

The problem isn’t that it’s half-anything. The problem is that the glass is the wrong size. The Latinos that didn’t bother to vote are young, so they belong in two bins and their voter behavior responds more to their youth than to their ethnicity. With time, as the 50 thousand a month accumulate birthdays, and jobs and families they’ll see the value in casting a vote and the 1.2 million voter participation increase that we saw between 2008 and 2012 will increase even more and astonish people.

It’s going to take a while – time at the gym, carbo-loading. And when it happens the headlines will yell about the incredible jump in voters. But between you and me, we know they’ve been here all along. And we know it’ll take work to get them all registered and plugged-in.

The first wave should be primed and ready by 2016…

[Photo by whatatravisty]

Tweets about “#LadyProfeco”

By Damien Cave, New York Times

MEXICO CITY — Andrea Benítez simply did what many rich, connected Mexicans have always done: she used her influence to step on the lower born. Witnesses said that when she was not given the table she wanted on Friday at Maximo Bistrot, a popular Mexico City restaurant, she called in inspectors who worked for her father at the country’s main consumer protection agency to shut it down.

“Dreadful service,” she wrote on Twitter, before announcing she had arrived at the agency to complain. “They have no manners.”

What followed, however, caught much of Mexico by surprise.

Read the full story HERE.

[Photo courtesy Maximo Bistort]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

What. A. Week.

Let’s just say…sigh…glad it’s Friday.

Here’s the trick, though: Don’t live for Friday, ’cause that makes the week longer.

But now that the weekend is here, it’s Jazz time at NewsTaco!

It’s the best Latino jazz musicians and composers, brought to you by San Antonio KRTU 91.7′s Jorge Canavati, recorded in the studios at Trinity University.

Click below, sit back, listen, relax.

This program was first broadcast on KRTU.

[Photo by malojavio. El Saucejo]

By Melissa del Bosque, Texas Observer

The so-called “Gang of Eight,” a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, released their much-awaited comprehensive immigration reform bill late Tuesday. It’s thrilling to finally see a reform bill which looks like it has some momentum come out of Congress—until you see the first section devoted to border security, which is like a kick in the gut for border communities.

Get ready for more fences, more invasive surveillance and more “boots on the ground.”

The bill appropriates $1.5 billion for the “Southern Border Fencing Strategy” to identify where fencing, including double-layer fencing, infrastructure, and technology would be deployed along the Southern border.

Here we go again. For anyone who has closely followed the building of the border fence in Texas, this is an immediate red flag. Landowners like Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez have been fighting the condemnation of their land since 2008. Much of the unfenced land left along the southern border is in Texas and it is owned by private landowners.

The proposed fencing means another round of land condemnations and costly court battles for landowners and business owners. Since 2007—when the Department of Homeland Security first started land condemnations under the 2006 Secure Fence Act in Texas—the agency has never adequately explained the decision-making process that determines where the fencing is built. And border residents say DHS seldom confers with communities before they start building.

Even worse, the immigration status of millions will hinge on the building of these border fences by the National Guard, as well as adding more drone surveillance to the border. And then finally a determination by a hyper-partisan Congress on whether the border is secure.

The bill creates a new class of immigrant called the “Registered Provisional Immigrant.” The bill says “RPIs” can travel outside of the country for up to 180 days a year and they can work. But it is a provisional status, presumably with even less rights than a Legal Permanent Resident status. According to the bill, immigrants cannot begin the process of becoming Legal Permanent Residents, (aka securing a green card) until the Homeland Security secretary submits a notice to Congress and the president that the Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy is “substantially deployed and substantially operational,” and that the Secure Fence Strategy is implemented and “substantially completed.”

This could take years. Government officials have been trying to form a coherent border security strategy ever since 9/11 with little success. The past decade is littered with ideas and technologies that were once touted as the latest and greatest only to be later scrapped because they didn’t work and cost taxpayers too much. For instance, the virtual fence project was canceled in 2011 because of cost overruns and technical glitches. The radar sometimes mistook desert brush for border crossers when it was windy. And when it rained, the radar often didn’t work at all. The whole experiment cost taxpayers $1 billion.

Kathleen Campbell Walker, an El Paso immigration attorney with the law firm Cox Smith, says she was disappointed to see the fence provision in the bill. “A lot of communities—like El Paso where I live—have found the border fence to be a very offensive symbol,” says  “I’m sorry to see the building of a fence used as a prerequisite for immigration reform.”

Rio Grande Valley resident Scott Nicol, chair of the Sierra Club Borderlands Team, has been a steadfast opponent of building more fence, which he sees as environmentally destructive and an ultimately ineffective security tool. “If they’re talking about basing immigrant adjustment on the completion of the wall it’s going to take years because of the condemnations that will have to take place,” says Nicol. “The walls have already been built where it’s easy to condemn properties. They can destroy nature refuges without blinking because they’re on federal lands. But what’s left now is private property and most of it is in Texas.”

Even worse, he says, is that the walls are often ineffective. They clog with debris and flood communities or they fall over in flash floods. People can scale them with relative ease. “When the Gang of Eight was visiting Nogales they watched a woman climb the fence,” says Nicol.

For those already weary from fighting the U.S. government for their land for the past five years, the specter of another round of land condemnations is frightening. “My sense is that the government is plowing ahead on a security plan and the indigenous people in this community are still in the dark,” says Dr. Margo Tamez, daughter of Eloisa Tamez, who are of members of the Lipan Apache tribe.

As we spoke Tuesday, Margo said her mother was in federal court in Brownsville, still fighting to hold onto their property in El Calaboz, a tiny border community outside of Brownsville. The U.S. government is trying to take the land underneath the 18-foot border fence it already built in the middle of her property. They are offering the family $100. “We are subjected to decisions made from far away and not consulted about the things being done to our land,” says Margo, who now works as an assistant professor in Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia.

The comprehensive immigration reform bill is a hefty 844 pages. Many border residents are anxious to examine it in greater depth and weigh its impacts on their communities. “I’m still digesting this,” says Campbell Walker of the bill. “It’s going to be controversial and it still has a long way to go before it’s signed by the president.”

This article was first published in The Texas Observer.

By Ignacio Torres, NBCLatino

A high school umpire may be caught in a pickle after asking a Latino player to stop speaking Spanish during a game in Las Cruzes, New Mexico.

A group of baseball coaches from Gadsden High School, are filing a formal complaint with the New Mexico Activities Association against umpire Corey Jones, according to The Albuquerque Journal.

Witnesses report that after Jones allegedly asked the first base player to stop speaking Spanish he proceeded to tell coaches, “anyone who speaks Spanish – coaches or players – will be ejected.”

According to assistant coach, Emmanuel Burciaga, Jones went on to justify his comments by saying he was doing it for the sake of sportsmanship and didn’t know if the players were insulting their opponents in a different language.

The situation simmered down after another umpire who spoke Spanish said he would put a stop to any cursing if that was the case.

The high school is part of the Gadsden Independent School District that currently serves 97 percent Hispanic students whose primary language is Spanish.

This story was first published in NBCLatino.

Ignacio Torres, Video/Web Producer: Graduated from University of California, Davis and The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism where he specialized in immigration reporting. Ignacio is a California native but born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico, where his parents currently reside. A foodie at heart, Ignacio is always in search of the next best taco truck. He has worked for the TODAY Show, Rock Center and has covered politics for La Opinion newspaper based in Los Angeles.

[Photo by gwilmore]

By Raul A. Reyes, NBCLatino

The path to comprehensive immigration reform has never been smooth. Coming the day before the Senate’s “Gang of 8” were to present their immigration proposal, the tragic events in Boston may have delayed its official announcement. It is a long-awaited proposal that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) called “a starting point” on Sunday’s Meet The Press. In anticipation of its imminent unveiling, here are the major takeaways of the Senate plan.

Illegal Immigration

1. The Senate plan includes a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented that will take 13 years. Undocumented immigrants who can prove continuous presence in the country before December 31, 2011 will be eligible to adjust their status. They must have clean records and pay taxes and a $500 fine, in addition to any fees. Then they can apply for “Registered Provision Immigrant” status.

2. People with Registered Provision Immigrant status can live and work legally in the U.S., and travel outside the country. After 10 years, a Registered Provision Immigrant may apply for a green card if they know English, pay taxes, and pay a $1,000 fine. It will take an additional three years for a green card to be converted into citizenship. However, these provisions are all dependent upon the Department of Homeland Security meeting their border security goals.

3. DREAMers and agricultural workers will have a shorter path to citizenship. People who were brought illegally to the U.S as children and would otherwise qualify for the DREAM Act can obtain green cards in five years (and are exempted from the $500 fine). They will then be eligible for citizenship immediately. The Senate plan also includes the AgJobs Act, which will allow current agricultural workers to obtain legal status through the Agricultural Card Program.

4. Some deportees will be allowed to legally re-enter the U.S. Undocumented immigrants who were here before December 31, 2011 and were deported for non-criminal reasons can apply to re-enter the country if they are the spouse or a parent of a citizen or lawful permanent resident. This is good news for many of the nearly 250,000 deportees with citizen children; they will have a chance to reunite with their families.

Legal Immigration

5. More visas will be allocated on a merit-based system. Our current system allows roughly two-thirds of legal immigration on the basis of family unification, and 14 percent based on employment. Now the allotment for employment visas for skilled workers and professionals will gradually rise.

6. The number of H1B visas will be increased. H1B visas are for workers with college degrees or in skilled occupations. They are capped at 65,000 per year, with an additional exemption of 20,000 for people with advanced degrees. This has often proved inadequate for the number of applicants; the 2014 cap was reached in only 5 days. The Senate plan raises the yearly cap to 110,000, and the advanced degree exemption to 25,000. To prevent employers from seeking to undercut American workers, employers will be required to pay H1B workers higher wages. Employers will face additional scrutiny from the government in order to prevent abuse of the H1B program.

7. Family-sponsored immigration will be somewhat curtailed. Within eighteen months of the bill’s enactment, citizens may no longer petition for visas for their siblings. Still, clearing the existing backlog of family-based visa petitions is a key goal of this proposal. And the existing V-visa program will expand to cover sponsorship of single adult children and married adult children under age 31.

8. Lower-skilled immigrant workers will be eligible for the new W-Visa. The W- Visa will cover people working in the service sectors as well as agriculture. Employers can petition the government to allow 20,000 such workers beginning in 2015, with this number rising as high as 75,000 within four years (The construction industry is limited to 15,000 workers a year).Immigrants on W-visas can move to other employers if they choose, and will be eligible for residency and citizenship. W-Visa immigrants may not be hired to replace striking American workers. Once the W-Visa program is operational, the much-maligned H2A visa program forseasonal agricultural workers will end.

9. No more Diversity Visas. The Senate proposal will end the “Diversity Lottery,” which allots 55,000 random visas to countries that are underrepresented in our immigration system. But people who were selected for the 2013 or 2014 Diversity Visas will still be eligible to receive them.

10. No immigration equality for same-sex couples. To the almost certain disappointment of the LGBT community and their allies, the Senate plan contains no provisions for immigration equality for same-sex couples.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and member of the USA Today Board of Contributors.

Read more related stories here:

Key provisions expected in immigration legislation proposal, Washington Post

[Photo by SEIU International]

Have you read an article you’d like to suggest for the NewsTaco community? Let us know at: tips@newstaco.com

By Teresa Puente, Chicanísima

We’re still waiting for spring to arrive in Chicago, but there are plenty of reasons to get out of the house this month. Here is a selection of events that may interest Chicanísima readers.

Chicago Latino Film Festival
The film festival in its 29th year began April 11 and continues through April 25. There are films from 25 countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Spain and the United States.

Poesía en abril
Poetry in April is the name for a poetry series in Spanish this month organized by Contratiempo magazine. Upcoming events are scheduled for April 15, 19 and 30 at various locations.

Mariachi Opera
“Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” or “To Cross the Face of the Moon” was performed at the Civic Opera House last weekend. Now the world’s first mariachi opera will travel to Pilsen and Waukegan. It will be performed at Benito Juarez Community Academy on April 19 and 20 and at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan April 21.

María de Buenos Aires
This tango opera by the Chicago Opera Theater is set during the military junta in 1970s Argentina. It will be performed April 20, 24, 26 and 28 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, Chicago.

Patria Libre
This is a play running through May 4 about a woman who lived through the war in Nicaragua and then fled to the United States. It is showing at the Rivendell Theater, 5779 N. Ridge Ave., Chicago.

This article was first published in Chicanísima.

This article was suggested by Taquista Jules Garza.

Have you read an article you’d like to suggest for the NewsTaco community? Let us know at: tips@newstaco.com

Teresa Puente is a Chicana from Chicago. That’s what inspired the name of her blog. She’s also journalist. She worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune from 1995 to 2002. She covered many different stories but mostly wrote about immigration and the Latino community. In 2000, she was awarded the  Studs Terkel Award by the Community Media Workshop for coverage of Chicago’s diverse communities.

[Image courtesy Chicago Latino Film Festival]

Have you read an article you’d like to suggest for the NewsTaco community? Let us know at: tips@newstaco.com

By Francois Grosjean, Ph.D., Psychology Today

Most bilingual children acquire their languages “naturally” in the sense that they are brought up in a home and/or an environment which require the use of two or more languages. Usually no planning takes place but because a number of factors are favorable, these children end up becoming bilingual.

However, an increasing number of families plan the bilingualism of their children, and parents spend a lot of time and energy thinking about how best to go about it. Many read articles and books on the subject, join support groups, as well as visit the many websites dedicated to the topic.

Among the questions that parents may want to consider, here are five that are important:

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by hawaii/Radio Netherlands worldwide]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

Another week, another Friday, another chance to hear great jazz from the the best jazz musicians!

Jazz de Mexico!

It’s the best Latino jazz musicians and composers, brought to you by San Antonio KRTU 91.7′s Jorge Canavati, recorded in the studios at Trinity University.

Sit back, click below, and listen…

This program was first broadcast on KRTU.

[Photo by malojavio. El Saucejo]

By Nina Terrero, NBCLatino

Food-loving culture is everywhere these days and nowhere is it more prominent than on television. Thanks to the popularity of shows like “Top Chef,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” and “The Next Food Network Star” and other shows, foodie-loving programming on network and cable television is being broadcast to millions of American households.  And these shows bring the culinary personalities who host them more than just face time: one list put together by Serious Eats estimates that Rachael Ray (“30 Minute Meals” and “The Rachel Ray Show”) earns 18 million a year, with chefs like Mario Batali and Paula Deen raking in huge salaries (3 and 4.5 million, respectively)

But Latino cooks – the ones who pride themselves on making perfect tamales, healthy makeovers of classic Puerto Rican meals or intricate desserts – aren’t waiting for casting directors to turn them into the next Aarón Sanchez or Daisy Martinez. Instead, a growing number of Latino foodies are turning to YouTube with great success, proving that you may not need the support of the Food Network or Cooking Channel to make a splash.

Take for example, blogger Raiza Costa. Shortly after moving from Brazil to New York City in 2009, Costa began her blog Dulce Delight as a way to feature her intricate, mouth-watering desserts. Costa felt that sticking to a traditional blog didn’t fully convey her personality – fun, bubbly and girly – and decided to film short cooking segments, using a hand-held video camera propped on moving boxes. Four years later, the 25-year-old food vlogger has more than 2 million views on her YouTube channel, has a line of vintage-inspired whimsical kitchen wear in production and has a contract for her show to be developed for broadcast in her native Brazil.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Nina Terrero is a Web Producer at NBCLatino. she’s passionate about social issues, health, education, discovering untold stories among U.S. Latinos and exploring Latino culture through food, literature, theatre and the arts, she holds a B.A. in Government from Cornell University. She is also a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts & Science, where she received an M.A. in Political Science. Of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, Nina worked at ABC News as a digital reporter before joining the team at NBC Latino. Feel free to ask her about the latest films, urban political policy or her most recent forays in cooking and eating around New York City.

[Photo courtesy NBCLatino/Raiza Costa]

By John Rosales, Voxxi

In my 20 years as a resident of Washington, D.C., I have visited a lot of dead white generals sitting on horses. Outdoor monuments dedicated to our war heroes dot the nation’s capital city. You can’t miss them.

They are usually in prime locations near Pennsylvania Avenue around the White House and U.S. Capitol building or in the heart of the city along the famous pedestrian mall that boasts some of the world’s greatest art and history museums as part of the Smithsonian Institution. Prime real estate. A tourist mecca.

Only pigeons might love outdoor monuments more than I do. And none impress me more than the statue of Mexico’s most celebrated president Benito Juarez, sans caballo. He stands near a nest of highways in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Off the beaten path, in front of the Watergate Hotel and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Not a bad location, but probably overlooked by most tourists and pigeons.

Benito Juarez: Mexico’s George Washington

I wonder how many Watergate residents and Kennedy Center theater-goers who drive past the statue will acknowledge Benito Juarez’s birthday. He was born on March 21, 1806. I usually visit the statue around this time as homage to the full-blooded Zapotec Indian who was born to illiterate parents in an Oaxacan village. Taught to read and write by a Catholic priest, he became a lawyer and a judge who helped draft the Mexican constitution.

The statue was a gift in 1969 from the Mexican government in exchange for a portrait statue of Abraham Lincoln that was presented to Mexico in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson. Often called the “George Washington of Mexico,” Juarez is positioned so he is pointing to the bust of Washington that sits on the campus of nearby George Washington University.

When I stare up at the full-length bronze figure, I half expect it to step off its granite base and talk to me. Artist Enrique Alciati created the realistic rendition in 1891. It was recast in 1968. While the statue’s right arm is raised and pointing, the left hand holds a book titled Reforma. Within the base is an urn containing soil from Oaxaca. Plaques contain both Spanish and English inscriptions of a famous Benito Juarez quote: “Respect for the rights of others is peace.”

Juarez’s right arm is pointing so assuredly I expect a taxi to stop any moment and take us touring. I wonder if he was into magical realism, as were so many great Latin American novelists. He wasn’t one for staying put, statuesque. In 1853, he fled to New Orleans to escape the corrupt military dictatorship of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The next year he helped draft the Plan of Ayutla, a document calling for Santa Anna’s deposition and a convention to implement a new constitution. It took. People responded.

Juarez modeled Mexico’s government after U.S.

In 1861, Benito Juarez was elected as Mexico’s 27th president. He befriended Abraham Lincoln, who gave him advice on establishing a democracy. Throughout his tenure, Juarez tried to create a modern civil society and capitalist economy based on the U.S. model. He is revered as a reformer dedicated to democracy and equal rights for the nation’s indigenous Indian population, lessening the power of the Roman Catholic Church, and defense of national sovereignty. Juarez was re-elected president in 1867 and 1871.

In addition to D.C., the United States has statues of Juarez along Sixth Avenue in New York City’s Bryant Park, at the Plaza de las Américas on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago and on Basin Street in New Orleans, where he worked at a cigar factory while in exile. He died of a heart attack in 1872 in Mexico City. The date March 21 has become a national holiday in Mexico and a day for some of us to reflect on a hero who does not need a horse to accent his outdoor monument.

You can see Benito Juarez’s Washington D.C. monument in this video on his life.

Benito Juarez’s story

This article was first published in Voxxi.

John Rosales, a native of San Antonio, Texas, lives in Washington, D.C. Contact him at JRosales@nea.org
For more commentaries and news, go to www.HispanicLink.org

[Photo by  Aaron Webb]

By Susana G. Baumann, Voxxi

The 2012 NAHREP president speaks openly about how Hispanic homeownership is still suffering because of unfair conditions in the bidding process against cash investors and the flaws in Fannie and Freddie handling of REO inventories.

El sueño de la casa propia is not only an American dream. Nothing is more important for a Hispanic family than owning their own home and settling in a place where their children and grandchildren will grow roots while they grow old. It is a way to “belong.”

But despite the misleading headlines about the U.S. household wealth recovery, Hispanic homeowners and homeowners-to-be are still at the bottom of the pit.

The real estate crisis left many in disarray, facing foreclosure proceedings of the family home they worked so hard to acquire. Others “under the water” lost their only asset and the equity in their homes, a value that perhaps took years and multiple mortgage payments to build.

Yet, in the middle of the soft but increasing real estate industry recovery, Hispanics are progressively becoming the fastest growing group of first-time home buyers. About 11 percent of  Latinos are looking for a new home, which constitutes a 38 percent increase in Latino potential first-time buyers since 2010, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) 2011 report.

These enthusiastic hunters of well-priced real estate properties are facing new challenges and it is neither lack of access to mortgage loans or financial institutions nor lack of knowledge of the real estate process, not even language barriers, obstacles known to be part of the Hispanic homeownership gap. These are young, second or third generation well-qualified individuals and couples looking to realize their dream.

Hispanic homeownership threatened by bias bidding process

What is preventing Hispanics from becoming the new generation of first-time buyers then?

“It is not the credit crunch or the lack of financing, a general idea about the Latino potential homeowner but the obstacle is really the lack of inventory and the unfair conditions Hispanics are facing in the bidding process against large cash investors,” Gerardo Ascencio, 2012 NAHREP president, told VOXXI in an exclusive interview.

A 22-year veteran of the real estate industry, owner of a 50-agent operation based in the San Fernando Valley and well-known advocate of the Hispanic community, Ascencio believes Latinos represent a strong demand of good housing opportunities but are being worn out by the multiple offers they need to make in order to compete with REO disposition program pool sales.

“We see 20, 30 or 40 offers per listing and potential homeowners making multiple offers to several properties but after three to four months, they get discouraged and worn out. They get beat up by cash buyers and pool investors who offer a fast closing even at lower prices while Latino homeowners, many of who hold FHA or VA backed mortgages, need to wait as long as 60 days for their contracts to close,” Ascencio explains.

Banks growing inventory works against Hispanic homeownership

Despite Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac insistence in wanting “to keep people in their homes whenever possible,” the system flaws are blatant. The REO pipeline is not moving fast enough. The number of foreclosures grew exponentially peaking in May 2010 until it started decreasing after the lender’s robo-signing and forgery was exposed in the fall of the same year, which slowed down the foreclosure procedures.

Banks have been reluctant to negotiate loan modifications because of market vulnerability, high unemployment rates and lack of trust in the ability of homeowners to repay their already troubled or “under the water” properties.  On the other hand, keeping an inventory of empty houses depresses neighborhoods and presents an occasion for vandalism and property decay.

“The best way to heal the real estate market organically is to sell vacant properties to potential homeowners for top dollars,” Ascencio said. “Homeowners are vested in their communities, their barrios, they participate in school PTAs, they contribute to their neighborhood cleanup and safety, they vote.”

But financial institutions, banks and agencies are taking the easy way out with their REO inventories, according to NAHREP president. “They do not want to deal with individual homeowners, pay real estate agents’ commissions and keep maintaining vacant properties including taxes payments, repairs and expenses,” he added. “They prefer to sell at a lower price in 20 days rather than wait 45 to 60 days.”

The Alternative Disposition program has a ripple effect in towns and cities where foreclosed properties have hit the hardest, many of which are largely populated by Hispanics. Lower prices result in less property tax collection which in time affects all public services including police and firefighters, school budgets, parks and recreation and more.

“I have seen a great spiral effect here in California, where a part of this large Hispanic community has been distressed, as well as in other cities and states around the country. For instance, the case of Phoenix, Ariz. where last year alone, almost 90 percent of foreclosed properties have been sold to investors; those numbers are staggering!” said Ascencio.

“The state has seen the property value increase 33 percent, however, this price rise is artificial and does not benefit the state or state residents but large Wall Street investor firms and cash investors. These numbers mean only one in 10 foreclosed properties in Arizona is owner-occupied. In a state with over 30 percent of Hispanic population, this is a real tragedy.”

NAHREP believes despite efforts by the Obama Administration, enacting of existing regulations has not been enough and system flaws need to be corrected. On March 27 in Washington DC, the organization will conduct a call to action to speak against bulk sales and other so-called “neighborhood stabilization programs” including renters occupied and deed-for-lease programs which, in themselves, are not an organic solution to heal the real estate market crisis.

“We believe the alternative disposition programs are the number one challenge that Latino potential home-owners face today. We want to talk to as many members of Congress as we can to ask them to step up and hold agencies and banks highly accountable for these unfair conditions,” Ascencio said.

How to boost Hispanic homeownership

The organization will propose possible solutions such as minimizing the alternative disposition programs, extending the First Look period so individual buyers can have additional time to make their bids, pricing the offerings at real market price –many properties are offered at a higher price in the first 15 to 20 days, only to see the price reduced when the First Look period is expired– and ask FHA to be more flexible regarding property conditions to make additional inventory available to individual buyers.

“We are not asking FHA to lend money on properties with violations but sometimes, the repairs needed are very small –within $500 to $1500 dollars– a situation that could easily be resolved with a small escrow account that requires the new buyer to take care of the repairs within the first week of ownership,” Ascencio explained.

The real estate expert also believes townships and municipalities can do their fare share in this situation. “They can crack the whip on banks and agencies to keep properties in good and safe conditions,” he said.

“It almost seems this lack of current regulations enforcement tend to benefit investors and act in favor of quick liquidation strategies while leaving potential homeowners behind. I cannot speak for the intentions of banks and agencies but these actions are for sure not in the best interest of our communities,” Ascencio concluded.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Susana G Baumann is the Director of LCSWorldwide. A multicultural expert, a business blogger & a published author. Booklist Online calls her book “Hola, amigos! A Plan for Latino Outreach” a “centerpiece of the publisher’s Latinos and Libraries series.”

Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/unfair-practices-hispanic-homeownership/#ixzz2NQcQRCNb

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By José Hernández, Fox News Latino

STEM has more than a funding problem – it also has a demographic problem. African-Americans, Latinos and American Indians are collectively 26 percent of the working population in the United States, collectively accounting for just nine percent of the workers in science and engineering fields and just 11 percent of graduates with science or engineering degrees.

The National Center for Technological Literacy sums up the challenge: “Without increasing the numbers of minorities in engineering and technology as the percentage of white males in the workforce decreases, the number of engineers will also decrease.” Our task is clear. We have to do a lot more to ensure more students are exposed to STEM instruction. It’s one of the reasons educators and education officials should be paying attention to the I-Squared Act.

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[Photo by West Point Public Affairs]