CHCI Launches Partnerships for Latino Education Success in LA

Today one in three entrants into the U.S. labor force is Hispanic, and by 2025, Hispanics will be half of all new workers.  Yet the high school dropout ratefor Hispanics is nearly 20 percent – more than three times the comparable rate for non-Hispanic whites—and Latinos have made virtually no progress in the level of college completion in the last 30 years.

In response, CHCI is launching a national dialogue in Los Angeles on April 8, 2011,featuring education policy forums that brings together leading education experts, advocates, local and national elected officials, and practitioners to examine the unique education challenges facing young Latinos, define the barriers to higher education attainment, and identify best practices for addressing these to help reach President Obama’s national goal of 60 percent college attainment rate by 2025.

This initiative is in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Excelencia in Education, the Lumina Foundation, NALEO, and Univision.

WHAT:      CHCI Latino Education Success Forum

WHO:        Members of Congress, local elected officials, academic leaders and education experts

WHEN:      Friday, April 8, 2011

                    2:00 pm – 7:00 pm

WHERE:    California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH)

University Library, Fourth Floor Meeting Room and Art Gallery
1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747

Future forums held in Washington, D.C. during CHCI’s 2011 Public Policy Conference and in New York in the fall, will expand the conversation beyond the education community and discuss the roles of other important stakeholders that will be critical in achieving this goal, such as philanthropic foundations, corporate America, small businesses, and media and entertainment, among others.