Entry bubble Helping Hispanic Youth Succeed

By: Leilani | April 07, 2009 | Category: Spanish

En españolwoman studying with pencil and calculator

Did you know that there are over 34 million Spanish speakers in the United States? I'm one of them, and as co-manager of GobiernoUSA.gov, I'm committed to ensuring that Spanish speakers have easy access to official government services and information online.

The Hispanic population reached 45.5 million in 2007, which means that this group represents 15.1 percent of the total U.S. population. In addition, the Hispanic population tends to be younger compared to other groups. Unfortunately, this rapidly growing group of Hispanic youth is lagging behind in educational attainment.

We help thousands of Spanish speaking people every month through GobiernoUSA, but we recognize the need to do more to reach people who may not know about our site, particularly Hispanic youth. To that end, we recently established a partnership with ASPIRA, an organization dedicated to the education and leadership development of Hispanic youth.

Visitors to ASPIRA's site can now find links to official Spanish language government resources for education, money, employment, health, and other topics. ASPIRA is also providing government information in English on its site. We will also be supporting the organization’s educational outreach programs and activities, ensuring access to the government resources most useful to Hispanic youth.

You can expect to see more partnerships like this in the future. All of us at USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov are working hard to make sure that people everywhere have access to the timely, relevant, and official government information that can help them easily find the answer to their question. As government becomes more open and collaborative, you'll start seeing our sites show up in more places online and helping people find what they need.

What sites do you think should feature official government information from USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov?

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Entry bubble Hispanic Heritage Month

By: Nancy | October 09, 2008 | Category: General

Hispanic artI had no idea that it's been around for two decades already, but this is the 20th anniversary of National Hispanic Heritage Month. My life is filled with friends and coworkers who have been really generous in teaching me about the differences and similarities in their experiences as Americans with Mexican, Puerto Rican, South and Central American backgrounds. In celebration of them, I wanted to share with you some favorite National Hispanic Heritage Month websites:

Headed up by the Library of Congress, a group of government agencies created the National Hispanic Heritage Month homepage. It's filled with images and stories of Hispanic culture, politics and life in the US.

Each year, the National Register of Historic Places features historic properties, national parks and trails that are important to Hispanic history in America.

Some health issues affect everybody about equally, regardless of who you are or where your ancestors come from. And some health problems are more common in certain ethnic groups. The Medline Plus website from the National Institutes of Health has a great section on health issues that affect the Hispanic community.

My go-to place for numbers, the Census Bureau, has National Hispanic Heritage Month stats and facts about the Hispanic experience in the United States.

Even if you can't get to Washington, DC to visit in person, the Smithsonian Latino Center has a website filled with colorful art and engaging history exhibits.

The Information Please Almanac people have their own National Hispanic Heritage Month page with quizzes, a list of notable Hispanic Americans, a collection of American English words with Spanish origins and a lot more.

I'm a foodie, and I love eating—and trying to cook—foods with a Latino flavor. From plantains to paella, quesadillas to empanadas, they're all covered here, and categorized by country.gobiernousa.gov logo

My favorite Hispanic website is created just a few doors down the hall from my office. GobiernoUSA.gov is the government's official web portal filled with links to the government's online resources in Spanish. The site isn't just a translation of its sister site, USA.gov. It features unique resources created especially for the Hispanic community, whether you're new to the U.S., just visiting, or you're running your own business.

I getGobiernoUSA tv shoot crew to work on the production of GobiernoUSA.gov's public service ads. It's helped me remember a lot of the Spanish I thought I lost between here and high school. And it's given me an even greater appreciation for the creativity and the spirit of America's Latino community.

 

 

 

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