Supported in part by the W .K .Kellogg Foundation & Ford Foundation

    It has been some time since our last communication. In fact too much time has passed . Let me briefly update you about our major activities. During this past year HBLI has been able to increase its presence, relevance, and usefulness. As you will recall, I shared over the summer our five state report, A Compromised Commitment, commenting on the condition of the educations of Latinos. A number of spin-offs resulted from issuing the report.

Spreading the Word and Expanding the Understanding

    There was newspaper coverage in Arizona and Colorado. Groups in Phoenix and Tucson asked us to speak to their membership. Most importantly, the president of Arizona School Board is conferring with HBLI in the hopes of planning and hosting a statewide summit on the education of Latinos in Arizona

    Partly due to the five-state report and partly due to our other efforts, I have been contacted by newspapers and interviewed for information about various aspects of education issues. Also, I have been invited to speak at a number of major conferences. For example, I addressed representatives of various foundations at the Grant makers for Education conference in Denver, Colorado. The conference theme was " Closing the Education Gap.", I will be the keynote speaker at a state-wide conference for social service workers and educators in Tucson. The theme of the conference is " How Culture Fosters Resiliency."

   First, the Office of Minority Affairs of the American Council on Education asked HBLI to help design a program and host a national meeting of Latino scholars and academic administrators on the ASU campus. The meeting took place in September. The focus was how community colleges, four year colleges, and universities continue to marginalize Latino academics.

   Second, the Mexican American School Board Association has asked HBLI to help them with their annual conference. This year the Texas group will hold its meeting in January 2003 in San Antonio, Texas. It anticipates that about 200 plus participants will attend.

   Third, since this past summer, HBLI has organized a small advisory committee to conceptualize a program that will help to develop an educational agenda for Latinos that philanthropic organizations can and should support. Our current thinking is to attend to this significant initiative by hosting two meetings with a third large meeting to be convened by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Efforts to Secure New Funding

    This year, through the volunteer efforts of Congressman Joe Baca of San Bernardino, California, HBLI was under consideration for federal budgetary support. You might recall that last year Congressman Ed Pastor of Phoenix, Arizona, attempted to gain federal support. Regrettably, both efforts were unsuccessful. The failing national economy and 9/11 aftermath caused special funding to receive reduced federal budget consideration.

    With the encouragement of Congressman Rubén Hinojosa of South Texas, HBLI has submitted three substantial proposals to three different private fund granters. As of this writing, two of the three proposals are still under consideration.

    As a consequence of a contact last year to the Lumina Foundation, HBLI has been invited to submit a proposal to the Lumina competition for McCabe funds. The purpose of the McCabe funds is to support efforts to increase students of color, low income, first generation attending college to enter into higher education.

   HBLI was awarded a two-year grant by the Ford Foundation to provide leadership development to Latino school board members and community college trustees. Our plans are to revise the curriculum by way of updating the participant guides. The original curriculum was written in 1997. Second, we will be hosting over the next year and a half four workshops. The first leadership seminar will take place in Phoenix for Arizona school board members, followed by a gathering in Los Angeles for California members, a third in Texas, and a fourth in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Colorado and New Mexico board members.

Plática Series Resumes

    On the Arizona State University main campus, activity is underway to get a speaker for the fall and spring semesters. This fall around November we hope to have Mr. Albert Kauffman, who is currently at Harvard University on a visiting appointment and is former Counsel of MALDEF of San Antanio, speak about "high-stakes testing."

New Staff Reinvigorates HBLI

    HBLI has been extremely fortunate to have high-caliber staff in the past. But as with any operation, personnel leave for better opportunities for themselves. With the start of the fall semester, three experienced and dedicated individuals have joined the HBLI effort. They are Dr. Barbara Firoozye, who is the publication editor. Previously, she has been a professor of Spanish literature and associate editor of Bilingual Press. Lilia Murray (originally from Brownsville, Texas) is the coordinator of all the Ford-Funded school board member leadership seminars. Formerly, she was a program coordinator with a non-profit organization. Jasmín De León is the administrative assistant. She has six years of experience in higher education with early outreach programs for parents and students, mostly in Southern California.[Please see the group photo]

    Hopefully, the above reveals the work in progress and demonstrates our commitment to improving the educational opportunities of Latinos, from kinder garden to college. As is always the case, we welcome any ideas or suggestions you might have to strengthen HBLI's capacity.

Leonard A.Valverde
Executive Director

Barbara Firoozye, HBLI Editor(ASU) Tel : (480) 727-6364 Fax : (480) 965-8467 email: barbara.firoozye@asu.edu

For regular Updates and to see past issues of Entre Nosotros visit our website at http://www.hbli.org