Feb 18, 2013 Legislative Latino Education Summit

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

February 18, 2013

The Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico and the Lumina Unidos Project
to Co-Sponsor Cumpliendo la Promesa (Fulfilling the Promise)
Legislative Latino Education Summit

Thursday, February 21, 2013
12pm-5pm
Sweeney Convention Center – Santa Fe, NM

SANTA FE, NM -­‐ The Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico and the Lumina Unidos Project are co-­‐sponsoring Cumpliendo la Promesa (Fulfilling the Promise) Legislative Latino Education Summit focused on Latino education on Thursday, February 21, 2013 from 12pm – 5pm at the Sweeney Convention Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The summit was established as part of a long-­‐term strategy designed to address the limited progress in educating Latino students in the state of New Mexico. The focus of the summit is the idea that educating Latinos is no longer exclusively a Latino issue, but will require a concerted and collaborative effort from the statewide community and leadership at large to assure the economic well being of New Mexico and the nation.

“The Hispano Roundtable is co-­‐sponsoring this summit in order to make a public call to action for our legislative leaders, business leaders and school leaders, and the public to eliminate the achievement gap as mandated in our New Mexico Constitution and the agreed mission of the historic Hispanic Statement of Cooperation signed in 1998,” said Ralph Arellanes, Chairman of the Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico. “It is unconscionable that close to 50% of our youth are not graduating from high school and Hispanic students make up close to 60% of the student population in our schools across New Mexico.”

Dr. Deborah Santiago, co-­‐founder and Vice President for Policy and Research at Excelencia in Education, will provide the keynote address, “Framing the Conversation: Investing in Hispanic Education and Why it Matters,” prior to having legislators, policy-­‐makers, community members, families, and students discuss critical issues that New Mexico faces in remediating this urgent situation and will culminate in policy recommendations and actionable steps.

“As part of the Unidos Project funded through the Lumina Foundation, we are committed to engaging our local, regional and national partners in collaborative efforts designed to improve the education of Latino/a students so that they may graduate with high quality degrees,” said Dr. Jozi De Leon, VP for Equity and Inclusion and Principal Investigator for the Unidos Project. “We feel that by harnessing the passion and energy of our partners, legislators and others during the summit, we will develop an actionable plan that will impact the achievement gap and transform the state of education for all students.”

Limited space is available to participate in the summit, register online for the Summit at http://unidos.unm.edu and click on EVENTS.

National and local partners for the summit include Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the City of Albuquerque, College Board, Excelencia in Education, Hispanic Heritage Committee, Lumina Foundation, MALDEF, MDRC, National Hispanic Institute (NHI), and United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI).

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About the Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico:
The Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico is a coalition of over 50 local, state and national Hispano organizations and over 50,000 members who speak with one voice about the pressing issues of the day that most affect our community and our state in the areas of education, employment, economic development and civil rights.

About the Unidos Project:
The Unidos partners include representatives from six key sectors: Albuquerque Public Schools (K-­‐12 education), the University of New Mexico (higher education), Central New Mexico Community College (higher education), the Center for Education Policy Research (higher education), El Centro de la Raza (higher education), the College Board (higher education), Youth Development, Inc. (community-­‐based organization), the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (employers), ENLACE (community-­‐based and Latino-­‐ serving organizations), Innovate+Educate (employers), the Albuquerque-­‐Bernalillo County Community Schools Partnership (policy leadership), and State Representative/NM House Education Committee Chairman Rick Miera (policy leadership).

Media Contact:Lorena Blanco-Silva
Unidos Project Communications Manager
lblanco@unm.edu
505-277-1238 – phone

Painting the Picture of Urgency
2013 HRT and Lumina Legislative Education Summit:
Cumpliendo la Promesa

Thursday, February 21st
12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Sweeny Convention Center – Santa Fe, NM

Agenda

National Partners: Lumina Foundation, MDRC, Excelencia, College Board, National Hispanic Institute, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute