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Mexican tenor cancels all 2009 performances due to vocal cord illness

­by Antonio Mejías Rentas

Rolando VillazónRolando Villazón

SIDELINED BY SURGERY: Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón, a rising international opera star at age 37, has cancelled all performances for the rest of 2009 to have a cyst removed from a vocal cord. His management says he will return to performing in 2010.

Opera companies around the world have scrambled to find replacements for his multiple engagements this year. Ramón Vargas, another popular Mexican tenor, will fill in for Villazón in a production of Werther at the Vienna Opera House the end of May. Los Angeles Opera has replaced him with Italian  tenor Giuseppe Filianoti in L’Elisir d’Amore, next season’s opening production in September.

“I am a close personal friend of Rolando, who is one of the great tenors of our day,” said Los Angeles Opera director Plácido Domingo.

“My deepest wish is for him to have a quick and complete recovery.”

Beginning in March, Villazón cancelled all performances in a production of L’Elisir at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, complaining of laryngitis. The imminent surgery is a new blow for Villazón, who retired for several months in 2007 to deal with vocal problems.

Villazón became an international star soon after winning several awards at the1999 Operalia, a singing contest sponsored by Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, who has become his mentor.

Buoyed by critical acclaim, he began performing in opera houses around the world, wowing audiences with a brilliant voice and dramatic intensity. Some called him the next Plácido Domingo.

When Villazón’s voice began to fail in 2007, doctors recommended rest. The Mexico City-born tenor took six months, claiming he had attempted to take on too much. He returned in 2008 and recorded a collection of Handel Arias, warmly received by critics in March.

ON SALE: Self-portraits of artist couples are the lead attractions at the spring Latin American art auctions in New York this month.

A rare self-portrait by Diego Rivera, painted in the United States at the height of his popularity, highlights Christie’s May 28-29 sale.

The 1941 painting was commissioned by New ­York collector Sigmund Firestone, who befriended Rivera and his sometime wife Frida Kahlo, who is also portrayed in the piece.

The painting is being sold with 14 letters exchanged between Firestone, Rivera and Kahlo, also a painter, and may fetch between $1.2 and $1.8 million.

Sotheby’s May 27-28 sale offers a large canvas by English artist Leonora Carrington, who settled in Mexico. She is one of the few living members of the surrealist group founded in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. Her self-portrait, titled Chiki, is dedicated to her husband, Hungarian photographer Chiki Weisz, also seen in the painting. The 1944 painting is expected to sell in the range of $1.2-$1.8 million. Hispanic Link.

Governor calls for the elimination of critical programs for legal immigrants

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

The Governor’s May Revision of the state budget, released Thursday May 14th, targets a range of important health and human service programs for low-income Californians in an effort to close a $15-$21 billion budget defi cit in the 2009-2010 budget year. Among these p­roposed cuts, the Governor targets key programs for immigrant communities.

The proposal seeks to eliminate the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), Medi-Cal for lawful residents who have been in the country for fewer than five years, and placing harsh time limits on benefi ts for children with immigrant parents in the CalWORKS program. Established in 1998 under the Republican Administration of Governor Pete Wilson, CAPI provides cash assistance to lawful immigrant seniors and persons with disabilities who were rendered ineligible for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI). CAPI provides basic assistance to this population, who rely on the grant to pay for housing, food, medicine, and other necessities. CAPI serves approximately 12,000 lawfully residing immigrant families in California who would lose this support under the Governor’s plan.

  • CAPI helps prevent immigrant seniors and persons with disabilities from facing homelessness and despair, serving as a lifeline for this vulnerable population. Severing that lifeline will only create more costs and problems for the state and local com- munities, as immigrants are pushed into homelessness and other unacceptable conditions.
  • Elimination of the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP). CFAP provides nutrition assistance to low-income immigrant adults who have resided lawfully in the U.S. for less than 5 years.
  • Elimination of full Medi-Cal for many lawful immigrants: The proposal targets low-income immigrants who have had legal permanent status for fewer than fi ve years. These immigrants are low-income working parents, seniors and persons with disabilities. Most are lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and have worked and paid taxes in the U.S.
  • (Other programs that will be affected as well, were included in this article due to lack of space).

Anti war group to hold protest against U.C. Berkeley faculty

The organization WORLD CAN’T WAIT will hold a large anti-torture protest demonstration to the 2009 graduation ceremonies at UC’s Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall), denouncing the continuing presence of former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo on UC’s tenured faculty, the organization announced.

Joined by protesters from other organizations and the UC community, World Can’t Wait calls for John Yoo to be prosecuted for torture, a war crime and a crime against humanity.

One year after a similar large protest at Boalt’s 2008 graduation, World Can’t Wait organizers say they will call for John Yoo’s prosecution, disbarment, and his firing from the university for his role in crafting torture memos for the Bush administration.

Travel warning for Novel H1N1 Flu to Mexico removed CDC’s Travel Health Warning recommending against non-essential travel to Mexico, in effect since April 27, 2009, has now been downgraded to a Travel Health Precaution for Mexico.

Mexican government grants 75 scholarships to Latino students at CCSF

The Mexican government gave 75 scholarships under joint program with the Istituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior and the University of California, at Berkeley for San Francisco City College Latino students.

The Mexican Consul General in San Francisco delivered the scholarships during a special ceremony, and are aimed to contribute to programs that help better the live of Mexicans abroad, said a consular statement.

Hispanic youth – a weet target for U.S. marketers

by José de la Isla

HOUSTON, Texas – Bears evidently get tooth decay from eating honey. Humans also get cavities from eating too much sugar. Bears and humans are the only ones in the animal kingdom with this similarity.

The comparison comes to mind after the Center for Science in the Public Interest urged the Senate Finance Committee on May13 to adopt a tax on non-diet soda drinks. The group also included alcoholic beverages as a source for funding expanded healthcare coverage.

Former president Bill Clinton, a champion of controlling childhood obesity, was quick to respond. “I think the better thing to do is to give incentives right across the board for prevention and wellness,” he told ABC News two days later. Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation has worked with beverage makers to reduce the caloric content of drinks sold in school vending machines.

Dr. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, calls soft drinks major contributors to obesity in recent decades. In turn, obesity is a major cause of diabetes, hypertension, strokes, heart attacks and cancer. That is the underlying rationale for asking Congress to impose a new excise tax on non-diet soft drinks, both carbonated and non-carbonated.

The science is on the side of the tax.

On the day prior to the testimony unnamed Senate aides told the Wall Street Journal that key lawmakers were weighing the idea behind closed doors. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated such a tax could yield as much as $24 billion in the next four years to help pay for broad, expanded health insurance.

It’s not hard to anticipate that the beverage industry and groups that ritually demonize the word “tax” will oppose the idea. Yet, it seems, on the face of it, feelings run disproportionately high over simple products like flavored water. How can something that tastes so good be so bad?

Last September, Donna Maldonado-Schullo reported in Al Día of Philadelphia on a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) report that one soda a day can add up to 15 pounds of weight gain in a year. Of the foods we commonly consume, soda is responsible for the largest percentage of calories. Sodas contain large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) used as a sweetener, increasing the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Children are particularly vulnerable because HFCS has high levels of reactive compounds that cause tissue damage, which in turn can lead to diabetes.

Soft drinks with HFCS have high levels of reactive carbonyls, a compound associated with “unbound” fructose and glucose molecules believed to damage tissue. In contrast, common table sugar is “bound” and chemically “stable.”

That is not to say that sugar consumption is particularly benign, either. A hundred years ago, the average person consumed roughly five pounds a year. About 20 years ago, consumption rose to 20 pounds. Now it’s 135 pounds.

Literally, innutritious eating and drinking has become a health concern. High sugar content in diets leads to metabolic syndrome —the co-incidence of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

­According to the National Institutes of Heath, 65 percent of diabetics will die of heart attacks or stroke. They report 10.4 percent of Hispanics have already been diagnosed with diabetes.

Alarmingly, for those 50 or older the rate reaches 25 to 30 percent.

Meanwhile, as U.S. population percentages continue to decline among all children, evidence suggests that producers like Cadbury Schweppes look for market growth by expanding and intensifying marketing efforts directed toward Hispanic youth.

This “low hanging fruit,” as one trade journal referred to the Hispanic market, at least called them something nutritious. They could have called them big sweet-tooth bears. Hispanic Link.

[José de la Isla’s latest book, Day Night Life Death Hope, is distributed by The Ford Foundation. He writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service and is author of The Rise of Hispanic Political Power (2003). E-mail him at joseisla3@yahoo.com). © 2009

Former Castro prisoners scold Congressional Black Caucus

­by Julio Urdaneta

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Miami-based Cuban pro-democracy activist Bertha Antúnez visited Capitol Hill this month to deliver a critical letter to members of the Congressional Black Caucus — and drew an unexpected response.

The letter, from former Castro political prisoners José Luis García Pérez and Iris Pérez Aguilera, who still reside in Cuba, reprimanded caucus members for their refusal to contact island dissidents while meeting with President Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel on their recent trip to Cuba.

“When we recall the fight and integrity of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, without whom you would still be giving up your seat on the bus and would not have the right to vote, we ask ourselves if the legacy of those who conquered the space of opportunity that you enjoy today, has been reserved only for political speeches and has ceased to be a commitment of your generation to justice and truth,” the letter, addressed to Reps. Barbara Lee and Laura Richardson, both of California, and Bobby Rush of Illinois, stated.

Antúnez told Hispanic Link News Service that she didn’t have access to the congressmen and received no promises from their staff members with whom she spoke. “My achievement was that I was able to speak on behalf of those Cubans who felt let down,” she said.

By coincidence, Antúnez visit coincided with the May 6 introduction of a House bill sponsored by Rush that would lift the embargo against Cuba. The United States-Cuba Trade Normalization Act of 2009 would eliminate current restrictions on trade, remittances and banking with Cuba, remove the country from the terrorist supporter list and authorize the President to negotiate and settle all property claims of U.S. nationals against the government of the island. The bill has 47 cosponsors, none of whom are members of the Hispanic Caucus.

The letter by the former prisoners stated further: “It is undignified to use prerogatives that for us are inaccessible, such as to traveling to and from one’s homeland, having an opinion without fear of persecution, or associating with others who share similar interests, and then to ignore the victims of oppression in Cuba.”

Rush, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, said in a statement, “My view is similar to that of our President as I firmly believe that American democracy and free enterprise, coupled with the strong bonds of family that currently unite our two nations, will allow us to help create a vibrant economy for all of the people of Cuba.

“In addition, removing Cuba from the so-called terrorist watch list will enable U.S. and international relief organizations to provide significant financial resources that will help those who have or are continuing to suffer under the vestiges of a failed communist regime.” Hispanic Link.

(Julio Urdaneta is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Email: julio@hispaniclink.org. Full text of the prisoners’ letter can be found at ­www.capitolhillcubans.com). ©2009

Will finally the private Federal Reserve be audited?

by Marvin J. Ramírez

Marvin J. RamírezMarvin J. Ramírez

The outcry is getting very loud: “Audit the Federal Reserve and jail the criminal bankers behind it.”

A bill that will finally expose the secret dealing of the banksters behind the Federal Reserve is getting an unprecedented support in the Congress.

It is a bill that we all need to support. This is the bill that will change our lives. It will expose all the corruption that have been perpetrated by the controllers of the economy, the one who influence election results, the ones who provide the funds to create wars and depressions, the one who made possible to place the beautiful United States for the richest and most powerful nation in the world, to the most indebted country on Earth.

On the week of February 23, 2009, Congressman Ron Paul, a 2008 Presidential Candidate, after the Feds enhanced its transparency and accountability, he offered a more radical approach: “People are demanding answers and explanations for our economic malaise, and we should settle for nothing less than the whole truth on monetary policy.”

And then he announced: “The first step is to pass legislation I will soon introduce requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve so we can at least get an accurate picture of what is happening with our money. If this audit reveals what I suspect, and Congress has finally had enough, they can also pass my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve and put control of the economy’s lifeblood, the currency, back where it Constitutionally belongs.

If Congress refuses to do these two things, the very least they could do is repeal legal tender laws and allow people to choose a different currency in which to operate. If the Fed refuses to open its books to an audit, and Congress refuses to demand this, the people should not be subject to the whims of this secretive and incompetent organization.”

As his next step, Dr. Paul introduced the new bill on February 26, the “Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009,” H.R. 1207. The purpose of this act is “To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.”

Although this description of H.R. 1207 is quite vague, Ron Paul made this bill’s intent and expected impact very clear in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, February 27. To see the bill, here’s the link: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h1207_ih.xml.

To the people of thUnited States: We must end the Feds. Tell our Congress representative to support it. It’s the only way to save our nation.

(JBS.org contributed to most of the content of this article).­

Triglycerides implicated in diabetes nerve loss

by the Universidad de Míchigan

To stall progress of neuropathy, doctors should monitor levels of an easily measured blood fat as closely as they do blood sugar, study suggests.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Ð A common blood test for triglycerides  Ð a well-known cardiovascular disease risk factor Ð may also for the first time allow doctors to predict which patients with diabetes are more likely to develop the serious, common complication of neuropathy.

In a study now online in the journal Diabetes, University of Michigan and Wayne State University researchers analyzed data from 427 diabetes patients with neuropathy, a condition in which nerves are damaged or lost with resulting numbness, tingling and pain, often in the hands, arms, legs and feet. The data revealed that if a patient had elevated triglycerides, he or she was significantly more likely to experience worsening neuropathy over a period of one year. Other factors, such as higher levels of other fats in the blood or of blood glucose, did not turn out to be significant. The study will appear in print in the journal’s July issue.

In our study, elevated serum triglycerides were the most accurate at predicting nerve fiber loss, compared to all other measures, says Kelli A. Sullivan, Ph.D., co-first author of the study and an assistant research professor in neurology at the U-M Medical School.

These results set the stage for clinicians to be able to address lowering lipid counts with their diabetes patients with neuropathy as vigilantly as they pursue glucose control, says Eva L. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology at vocalesthe U-M Medical School. With a readily available predictor for nerve damage Ð triglycerides are measured as part of routine blood testing Ð doctors and patients can take pro-active steps when interventions can do some good, says Feldman.

Aggressive treatment can be very beneficial to patients in terms of their neuropathy, says Feldman, who is also director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center at U-M for the study of complications in diabetes.

People can reduce blood triglyceride levels with the same measures that reduce cholesterol levels: by avoiding harmful fats in the diet and exercising regularly.

Context

Diabetic neuropathy affects around 60 percent of the 23 million people in the United States who have diabetes. It is a complication ­in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Until now, doctors have lacked an effective way to predict which diabetes patients are at greatest risk of neuropathy. Most often, the condition becomes evident when irreversible nerve damage has already occurred. Neuropathy is the leading cause of diabetes-related hospital admissions and amputations that are not secondary to trauma.

Triglycerides are a type of lipid, or fat, that the body makes from calories it doesn’t need immediately. Triglycerides are stored in fat cells until they are needed to provide energy. When higher-than-normal amounts circulate in the blood, a person is at higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Wave of senior citizens ask no to cut their services

by the El Reportero’s staff

An senior citizen lady closes her eyes for tireness during a protest at the San Francisco Civic Center.: At right, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi says some breathing words.An senior citizen lady closes her eyes for tireness during a protest at the San Francisco Civic Center. At right, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi says some breathing words.

Approximately 500 senior citizens and people with disabilities flooded San by the El Reportero’s staff ­Approximately 500 senior citizens and people with disabilities flooded San on Tuesday, May 12.

Many of those old and fragile men and women brought in by their care-keepers and agencies that care for the elderly, were visible tired for spending most morning and mid afternoon under the sun, but full of hope that their presence would help stop the inevitable hack from city-provided services for them. They were brown-bag lunches provided by community organizations that serve the elderly.

Senior citizen leader called upon the public to rally in protest to the recent budget cuts from senior and disability programs as well as the Department of Public Health,” said a communicate.

The communicate added: “We are living through one of the most challenging economic environments in 70 years.

We cannot afford to dismantle a continuum of care that will be needed to serve the greatest expansion of the senior population in our history. By 2030, one in five of San Francisco residents will be over the age of 65 and the number of residents over the age of 85 will double.”

“This is about sending a strong message” to protect the most vulnerable, said San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who admitted that more taxes are in the horizon in order to replace the revenues lost to the recession.

The rally included music, colorful street theater, and a festive press conference with visual dramatizations of the “silver tsunami” that is about to overwhelm City Hall.

Among the organizations ­that participating, included, Centro Latino, 30th Street Senior Center, Kimochi Home, St. Anthony Foundation, Jewish Family Children Services, Gray Panthers of San Francisco, Project Open Hand, Family Care Giver Alliance.

Secrets and spooks in Cuba

­by the El Reportero’s staff

Raúl CastroRaúl Castro

Fresh details emerged in the Spanish and US press on May 21, about the sudden removal on March 2 of Cuba’s two most high profile ministers, the foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, and the vice president, Carlos Lage.

The crux of the story confirms the thesis that the two, widely seen from outside Cuba as future potential leaders, had become too big for their boots and represented a threat to President Raúl Castro. Neither of the Castro brothers, it seems, tolerates big shots. The case has also prompted a fresh diplomatic spat between Spain and Cuba.

Downturn in the US leads to first decline in remittances by migrants

Remittances by Latin American expatriates, which had been expanding rapidly over the five years to 2007, to the extent that they became one of the leading sources of hard currency for a number of economies, slowed down signifi cantly in 2008, and now, according to a recently released study, will actually shrink.

The overall impact on the recipient economies, while less than the expected loss of export earnings, is not insignificant: amounting to almost 1 percent of GDP in the worst-hit countries, it adds to the trade losses.

Martinelli scores emphatic victory

Right governments.Supermarket tycoon Ricardo Martinelli swept to victory in the 3 May presidential and legislative elections, taking 60 percent of the presidential vote compared with just 37 percernt for Balbina Herrera of the ruling Partido ­Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). He will succeed President Martín Torrijos on July 1. Disillusionment with the PRD was echoed in the congressional elections, which also saw a thumping defeat for the ruling party. While the result marks a swing to the Right for Panama, out of step with the rest of the region, it also underlines Panamanians’ habit of alternating between Left and Right governments.

Venezuela’s hope of more sway dims as riches dip

CARACAS – President Hugo Chávez’s push to extend his sway in Latin America is waning amid low oil prices and disorder in Venezuela’s own energy industry.

In recent years, Mr. Chávez has used his nation’s oil wealth to drive his socialist-inspired agenda at home and draw other countries in the region into his sphere of influence, helping to consolidate a leftward political shift in parts of Latin America.

But more than a dozen big projects intended to broaden his nation’s reach are in limbo – including a gas pipeline across the continent and at least eight refineries, from Jamaica to Uruguay – as Venezuela grapples with falling revenues and other troubles in its national oil company.

Venezuela is also cutting back sharply on other types of fi nancial support for its neighbors, a cornerstone of its regional influence. One recent study by the Center of Economic Investigations, a financial consulting fi rm here, found that Venezuela had announced plans to spend only about $6 billion abroad this year, down from $79 billion in 2008.

Print is dead? Hispanic publications defy trend, tell a different story

by Kirk Whisler

The year 2008 was one of ups and downs for Hispanic newspapers, magazines and other Latino publications throughout the United States.

Despite some rough spots, the $1.4 billion in revenue they generated last year continues to signal a bright future for Hispanic print.

At year’s end, there were 834 Hispanic newspapers, 556 Hispanic magazines and another 526 journals, annuals, yellow-page directories and newsletters keeping this nation’s ever-growing Latino population, now approaching 50 million, informed.

Hispanic newspapers had a combined circulation of 17.8 million, with an impressive 144 of them audited.

Hispanic magazines had a combined circulation of 31.6 million, with 34 of those audited.

That English-language dailies are representative of all newspapers is false. While many of those mainstream publications may have problems, they are not a reflection of the majority of Hispanic publication.

The frequent media rap nowadays that “Print is dead” is as invalid in either language as the tired claim that “Hispanics don’t read.” In Latino Print Network’s annual summary being distributed this week, here are the high points: Hispanic-owned weekly newspapers and magazines Measured by three key criteria, these publications continued to grow: Number of publications (up 20) Combined circulation (up over 550,000) Combined ad revenues (up 4 percent).

Impressive growth statistics could be found within major publication groups such as El Especial in New York and Miami (up 16 percent), and El Aviso (14 percent) and El Clasificado (18 percent) in Los Angeles.

Each topped a quarter of a million circulation and added new neighborhoods to those they serve.

Fama magazine, out of Miami, saw its circulation leap 39 percent to 188,283. To support this growth it increased ad revenues.

Many other publications shined through the nation’s down economy.

New Markets Served Almost every month Hispanic publications start up in new markets.

Today Hispanic newspapers serve all but four of the country’s 50 states and almost 200 markets nationwide.

This provides far better coverage than any other media serving the Hispanic community. On a weekly basis, at least 57 percent of Latino households are using one or more Latino publications.

Ad Category Growth Health services, legal ads, vocational school and governmental ads are some of the types of advertising that are growing. Local ads as a whole are increasing in most markets; hyper-local ads are growing even faster for community publications.

Areas of Concern Spanish Language Dailies: Spanish language dailies reached a high point in the USA in 2005 with 42 dailies with a combined 1.6 million circulation. By the end of 2008 those numbers had declined to 29 dailies with a combined 1.1 million circulation. Those numbers decreased even more in 2009. While major markets like Los Angeles, New York and Miami will undoubtedly have a Spanish language daily for many decades to come, some that were started in the past decade were in markets probably too small to support one.

Employment: Employment at Hispanic publications grew every year just like clock work for decades. Last year all of that ended in a big way with a decline from 17,354 employees in 2007 to 12,122 employed at the end of last year. Over 2,300 positions were lost at Hispanic dailies alone.

Yellow Pages: Another area that saw a major downturn was Spanish-language yellow pages, with the number dropping from 149 in 2007 to 102 in 2003. The biggest problem here was with two groups of yellow pages that were either leveraged too much or had owners who were no longer supportive.

Aside from that, the field of locally owned yellow pages seems to be very healthy and they should continue to grow for years to come.

The Future How will mainstream-owned Hispanic weeklies evolve? For those owned by non-Hispanic media groups, the verdict is still out. Many like Mundo Hispánico in Atlanta, El Tiempo Latino in Washington, D.C. and La Voz de Houston were started and reached maturity as Hispanic-owned publications.

When their original owners sold out to local mainstream-owned dailies, they’ve continued to evolve using the best of their founders’ ideals with the strengths that a major daily can provide.

Other publications have been started by mainstream newspapers with a wide variety of formulas that range from well-thoughtout to ones that seem to have no formula at all.

­Often these publications have no spokesperson at the corporate level so when budgets are being cut, these publications shut down, even if they are profitable.

Hispanic Print on the Internet Today 443 Hispanic newspapers and 311 Hispanic magazines have web sites, the majority of which are updated at least weekly. Millions of people turn to these sites for news and entertainment. Circulation audits can now include online readers.

Merging Publication/lnternet Operations While few Hispanic publications have effectively tied their online and print efforts together, it will be a major test for them over the next few years.

All figures in this article are for the United States and its commonwealth Puerto Rico.

They also include 12 newspapers along the U.S.-Mexico border that have circulation on both sides of the border. Hispanic Link.

(Kirk Whisler is founding president of Latino Print Network, based in Carlsbad, Calif. Email: Kirk@Whisler.com).

Internet tool helps unemployed help themselves

por la Universidad de Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Michigan.— Unemployed workers have a new tool to help them find the resources they need to get through difficult times. Created in partnership between the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and the University of Michigan School of Information, Neighbors4Neighbors is an interactive online program that uses social computing technology to connect unemployed workers with each other.

People who visit N4NMichigan.org can get and give advice on the things that matter when someone loses a job. The web application has two components, an online discussion forum that lets people share advice with each other, and a “widget,” or online program, that allows users to add their own comments to partner web sites that have information for the unemployed. Questions and comments created on partner web sites via the widget will be mirrored on the Neighbors4Neighbors discussion forums.

Neighbors4Neighbors is a project of Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm’s Keep Michigan Working Task Force. Michael Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, is chair of the task force’s community outreach committee.

“These are tough economic times in Michigan, and Neighbors4Neighbors offers an innovative way to address the problem of unemployment in a non-traditional way. Service providers in our region are currently overloaded with requests for assistance in this time of economic crisis,” Brennan said.

“Neighbors4Neighbors is a program that helps people help themselves right away—and eliminates the wait. This collaborative online resource and community discussion forum will be a catalyst for leading social change in the region.”

The University of Michigan and the United Way have developed an innovative way to tap informal networks, allowing unemployed workers the power to communicate with one another in real time. U- M School of Information professor Paul Resnick is the primary architect of the Neighbors4Neighbors website.

“This site demonstrates an efficient, low-cost application of social computing,” Resnick said. “Many websites already aim to help unemployed workers find information or job leads, but they don’t have a way to connect everyone who is visiting the page.

­Neighbors4Neighbors pulls people and information together to create a community.”

The widget encourages all service and community-based organizations to add a “commenting feature” to the web pages of their own sites.

“The widget is another rapid response to crisis from the School of Information,” said Martha E. Pollack, dean and professor in the School of Information. “This project demonstrates how the School of Information continues to live up to its motto of connecting people, information, and technology in more valuable ways.”

Michael Hess, an adjunct lecturer in the School of Information, is the developer of the widget. School of Information master’s students Meico Whitlock, Jeremy Canfield and Kathleen Ludewig also contributed.

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