by Contessa Abono

Of those who skip school 33% are Latinos San Francisco District Attorney Kamla Harris and San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos García hold a press conference in support of the Campaign Against Truancy on Jan. 22. (photo by Stephen Morrison)

On any average Tuesday midday hour it is common place to see children hanging out on the sidewalk or down by the park. It may not cross your mind but those kids very well should be in their classrooms at that moment.

Usually no one questions kids out on the street during school hours but recently new attention to the matter is causing kids and their parents alike to take the matter more seriously.

In between the year 2006 to 2007 nearly 5,417 San Francisco Unified School District students were habitually or chronically absent from school—33 percent of those habitual and chronic truant students were Latino.

“There is an achievement gap and Latinos are not doing well here in S.F.,” said San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia at a meeting for the Campaign Against Truancy on Jan. 22.

Habitual truancy means 10 or more unexplained absences per school year and chronic truancy means 20 or more absences in the 180-day school year.

This is not a minor case of High School students who are undermining their parents by skipping school; nearly 600 of the chronic truants in 2006 to 2007 were in the range of kindergarten to fourth grade.

“What is happening in the Latino community is that children are being used to watch other children,” said Garcia, “one child gets sick and the parents go to work and have the other children stay home to watch them.”

The anti-truancy programs were established a few years ago but San Francisco District Attorney, Kamala Harris, said at the meeting that although no one has been prosecuted yet for contributing to the delinquency of a minor this year she is prepared to take action, “parents need to understand that if a child does not go to school it is a crime and I am prepared to prosecute,” said Harris.

But the program is aiming to help before involving the law with the Stay In School Coalition help line and the Nurse of the Day programs. “One of the biggest change is being able to talk with the whole community. We need to reach out,” said Harris. The programs are showing some signs of success.

Last year Mission High Schools overall attendance out of the 100 students in the mediation program improved 40 percent.

The Campaign Against Truancy says they will have more data to track how the program is going by June of this year but they ask that parents take this issue seriously and do what they can to help, “We like to assume that the parents do care but they just don’t have the tools,” said Harris.

Harris said a child being abused or with disability problems is usually fi rst detected at school, which makes the school contact with a child very critical, “the child that goes without an education will be the child you’re worried about robbing you,” said Harris, “our children can’t fall.­

by the El Reportero’s news services

Fidel Castro

The interim President of Cuba, Raúl Castro, declared on 20 January that the future government will be chosen by congress next month.

Raúl’s declaration came as he left the pooling station where he cast his vote for Cuba’s latest legislative elections. Raúl told reporters that members of the newly-formed congress will assemble on 24 February to choose the new Council of State.

The Council of State is, in effect, Cuba’s executive. The president of the Council doubles as Cuba’s President.

Calderón reshuffles Mexican cabinet

President Felipe Calde rón Hinojosa dropped two of his most important cabinet ministers, interior and social welfare, on 15 and 16 January.

The changes again point up the difference between Calderón and his predecessor, President Vicente Fox: Fox rarely sacked ministers, but Calderón has already made three cabinet changes, two of which involve the dismissal of underperforming ministers.

Felipe Calderón

The government’s spin on the changes is that Calderón now has his own men in three key jobs: the interior ministry; the social development secretary (Sedesol) and the presidency of the ruling Partido Acción Nacional (PAN).

Hugo Chvez: Latin America’s money man

With oil enriching Venezuela’s coffers, President Hugo Chávez is lavishing billions on other countries, boosting his socialist-tinged image Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is making an unprecedented effort to win the hearts and minds of citizens from Buenos Aires to Boston as he seeks to export socialism and challenge the United States’ traditional role as the region’s dominant player.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is making an unprecedented effort to win the hearts and minds of citizens from Buenos Aires to Boston as he seeks to export socialism and challenge the United States’ traditional role as the region’s dominant player. (The Miami Herald contributed to this brief).

For two hours, President Evo Morales huddled in this jungle city with a dozen area mayors as they pitched public-works projects — to be financed directly by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The Venezuelan and Cuban ambassadors to Bolivia flew here aboard the presidential jet to join the talks. The public was kept out.

After the money was divided up, Morales invited the media in and offered the mayors, one by one, a handshake and a Venezuelan embassy check for up to $150,000. In all, Venezuela  gave about $1.5 million that day last November.

‘’I admire the Venezuelan government for showing this solidarity,’’ said a beaming Walter Valverde, mayor of the town of Puerto Rico, holding a $28,917 check to build a new hospital.

Flush with oil profi ts, Chávez is making an unprecedented effort to win the hearts and minds of citizens from Buenos Aires to Boston as he seeks to export socialism and chal­lenge the United States’ traditional role as the region’s dominant player.

With Chávez’s multibillion-dollar gusher of aid, Bolivia is building new schools. Argentina paid off its debt to the International Monetary Fund. Caribbean nations are receiving subsidized oil. Even the U.S. poor and American Indians in Alaska have received discounted heating oil.­

by Julio Barreto

The discussion on an economic stimulus package by leaders in Washington, D C. represents the best chance for Hispanic housing and community development advocates to see a potential Increase in funding this year.

Washington is going to be mired in presidential politics in 2008. As a result’ the most substantive work to come out in 2008 will be this stimulus package and a 2009 budget.

There is a chance that other initiatives will pass during a presidential election year. Yet the budget, which will fund federal programs in fiscal year 2009’will be the only legislative measure Congress will pass this year affecting the Hispanic and other housing and community development communities.

Here are a few things Latino advocates and organizations working in those fields can do in 2008 that will help their cause:

• EMPHASIZE JOB GAINS: Highlight the leverage of your programs. It is important in discussing the stimulus package that you show how much financial leverage, i.e. private sector jobs, is generated by your programs locally. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the Home programs are great examples of federal dollars that stimulate the local economy.
  The public housing program is another that generates private businesses in construction and services. This type of information is critical to secure funding for your community in a stimulus package.
• FINANCIAL EARMARKS: Do you have a specific initiative you want funded?
  A project for seniors in one of your program areas? Talk to your congressional representatives about placing “earmarks” in the next budget. Earmarks, commonly known as pork, are specific items a member of Congress slips into an appropriations bill for a project in his or her district. During an election year, they provide a great way to fund a specific project. Although Congress reduced the percentage of “earmarks” by 50 percent in FY 2008 compared with FY 2006, it is unlikely they will be eliminated altogether. In FY 2008 $179.8 million was appropriated for Economic Development Initiative (EDI) “earmarks” and another $46 million for neighborhood Initiative “earmarks” within CDBG. Examples of HCD “earmarks” in FY 2008 can be accessed at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi.?dbname=110_cong_reports&dorid= f:hr497.110.pdf. (Pages 599 thru 806).
• MORTGAGE CREDIT CRISIS: The economic stimulus package is designed to ease any short term recession caused by the current credit crisis. Additional legislation may be offered. Therefore, it is important that you, your agency and your organizational representatives are active participants in the discussion on the credit solution so it does not adversely affect access to the bond markets for tax credit production and low-income homeownership initiatives. Efforts must be made to push Congress, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to represent your interests in this matter.
• DISTRICT VISITS: Election year it gets them Invite your congressional delegates to as many photo opportunities as possible. Whether they come or no  is irrelevant. During an face time in front of your activities and provides you with a chance to promote your agency’s work and to illustrate that you are a valuable resource to your congressional representatives and their staffs… You should also invite the opponent as well; however~ protocol certainly calls for the incumbent to be invited.
• PRIVATE INVESTMENTOPPORTUNITIES: Learn as much as possible about the Community Reinvestment Act. CRA is legislation enacted 30 years ago which requires banks to invest in low income communities. Here is a web site with useful information: http://www.ncrc.org/. The more tools you are able to use outside of the normal HUD structure, the more successful your agency will be.
• VOTE: You need to vote and encourage others to vote. Your vote does count and will have a huge difference in both the local state and national election. Hispanic Link. -Julio Barreto worked for NAHRO for 13 and was legislative director for 10. He has worked in and around Washington politics for 26 years. He can be reached at jmsbarreto@comcast.net.

by Craig Trimbach

Foto de Hispanic War Veteran

For the fourth consecutive year, the Army experienced a drop in both quantity and quality of new recruits —and Hispanic military experts contacted by Weekly Report are offering a unique solution: openly recruit undocumented immigrants.

Thousands of young Hispanics who lack papers were brought by their parents into this county as small children, excelled in school and are leading exemplary lives, the Latino experts say.

Army policy states that recruits must be legal residents. But an unknown percent age enlist using false papers or aren’t asked their residency status by recruiters.

Three percent of recruits are identified as “non-citizens” in a new survey by the National Priorities Project.

Army officials confirm that despite reduced standards of entry, the recruitment benchmarks set by the Department of Defense have not been reached.

The survey by the Massachusetts based research group, which publicly opposes the Iraq war, concluded that nearly 25 percent fewer recruits are of “high quality”—high school graduates with military qualification test scores above the 50th percentile—and overall recruitment efforts are down 2.5 percent.

HISPANIC NUMBERS DROPPED

The Hispanic composition fell from 11.8 percent to 10.7 percent from 2005 to 2007.

According to the study’s research director, Anita Dancs, “It had been increasing until 2005 because of Hispanic-focused recruiting efforts.” However, with the cessation of these efforts, “youths who have more options are not going into an unnecessary war,” she said.

While Hispanics represent 15 percent of the U.S. population, the steady decline in recruiting numbers almost guarantees under-representation in the armed services.

What should the Army do?

In a surprising show of solidarity, the Hispanic military experts support undocumented immigrants’ entry into the armed services as a way to serve their country and earn a faster path to citizenship.

The chairman of senior advisors for the Hispanic War Veterans of America, Major General (ret.) Al Zapanta explained that Hispanic recruitment has been frustrated by a lack of information in predominantly Hispanic schools and language barriers on qualification tests. “A large portion of young Hispanics drop out of high school and cannot be recruited,” he said.

Zapanta added that young Hispanics lack high-ranking military officers to emulate. “Currently, only three are General officers.

HispanicWarVeterans of America national secretary Jess Quintero stated, “By and large, the military doesn’t appear to be an attractive option…” but “Hispanics are patriotic. They serve with pride. We know the services are hurting for recruits. We should support undocumented troops.’’

LATINOS ‘ABOVE AVERAGE’

Former commander of coalition forces, Lieutenant General (ret.) Ricardo Sanchez agreed, “The Army is working very hard to alleviate the disparity,” he told Weekly Report. He added that Hispanics under his command were “above the average” and ‘far exceeded” his expectations of soldiers, thanks to a tradition of competition machismo among Hispanic troops.

Louis Caldera, the only Latino everto serve as Army Secretary, added, “The Army can provide upward social mobility and job skills to Hispanics without resources.

­There are many who are undocumented and willing to serve as a path to residency and citizenship. Recruiters have asked me for help getting these kids to serve.”

Caldera’s message to the Army is the same today as it was in 2001: “The country must learn to tap into the Hispanic community at every opportunity. We’re losing talent we can’t afford to waste. Hispanics are critical to the future success of the Army.” Hispanic Link.