Why Oregon MEChA Statewide Is Closing the Achievement Gap.

Fourteen years after the founding of Oregon MEChA Statewide, the '08 MEChA Leadership Institute gathered student officers from around the state at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon, last Friday, Nov. 7th. We were warmly welcomed to the campus by the chapter advisor, Ms Elizabeth Perry. In a room of 31 officers, board member and Western Oregon University alumn Ms Eloina Franco posed the question,

"How many of you have anyone in your family that has graduated college?"

Only 1 hand shot up. Exactly, that's why Oregon MEChA Statewide is here. To close this achievement gap.

The Institute has been closing the high school achievement gap since it was first launched. Aimed at the high school MEChA student officers, these students learn about good study habits, college entrance exams, life in college, running effective meetings, taking minutes, fundraising, recruiting members, and in general being good citizen role models. Some want to study engineering, others business. Some want to start at a community college, others want to go straight to a four-year.

I was pleased to run into Mr Jerardo Marquez of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. His group awards scholarships annually, this years' application opens Dec 1, 2008. Forty-nine hardworking students received help last year, $145K total awarded. Marquez noted that the average award is between $2-5K. Board member, Mr Juan Mayoral, a retired U.S. Army Paratrooper and Portland State University alumn also expressed his delight of this year's Institute. I was glad to see Mayoral still pounding the ground for these bright students. I was also invited by the college MEChistAs from Western Oregon University promoting the 2009 MEChA Regional Conference. Their hope is that through their conference they can expose these Latino students to the college atmosphere, and perhaps recruit a few to the Monmouth campus. Again, closing the achievement gap.

Last month, the board had asked if I would present a 50-minute workshop on effective meetings. I agreed. The bright, smart and articulate MEChA high school students that I witnessed as a presenter at this year's Institute was super reassuring. Ladies, and gentlemen with these students, their supporting families and their advisors closing the achievement gap is closing. To the attendees and advisors, as promised I've embedded my powerpoint below using SlideShare. Let me know if you run into any issues clicking through. As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Enjoy! -David Molina, Co-Founder/CEO, BilingualHire

The Effective Meeting

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mecha meetings)

How 4-H Tech Wizards Are Preparing Future Latino Robotics Engineers.

This afternoon I listened intently to Radio Tonalli, a Spanish Radio Talk show program on Portland's KBOO 90.7FM hosted by Edith Molina featuring 18 Latino high school students from 4-H Tech Wizards. Like many of the dozens of Latino callers, I was impressed with the attitude, courage and conviction these young students have in the science fields. Their passion for the sciences was refreshing, empowering and inspirational. After graduation the students want to study: robotics, botany, computer engineering, geography, architecture, pharmacy, new media, internet marketing, and film just to name a few. Did someone say robotics? This group headed by Cecilia and Oktavio, team leaders of this 4-H group was impressive. As Oktavio stated on student success,

"Students need to have conviction. Once accepted, we seek active involvement
from the family. Ultimately, this hinges on support from the community. "

Almost all of the students families were either from Michoacan or Oaxaca, Mexico. What happened to the students from Nayarit? Impressive indeed.

Just who is served by this program?
According to Tech Wizards Program FAQs, the focus is on,

"underserved at-risk youth in Washington County. Based on a recent survey, the
highest drop out rate is currently among the Latino community. Our initial
project is focused on helping these youth, however, as funding
allows, we want to extend this program to include all at-risk youth in our
community."

Future Latino Scientists, Engineers.
The students under the direction of Cecilia and Oktavio are under good hands. Oktavio and I worked on several media projects during our college days at Oregon State University. After listening to the enthusiasm, excitement and optimism from these 4-H Latino students about their interests in studying robotics and GIS, I was reminded of my visit to MIT. The Hotel@MIT where Edith and I stayed at earlier this year was decked out w/ encased robots, and the engineering feats of MIT students and faculty.

These 18 Latino students, and the thousands of others in the program deserve the support of the entire business community, and our state government officials to ensure these programs continue to get funded. They deserve our appreciation and support for their conviction to be the inventors of new services and products that will enhance our lives in the future. And of course Intel and Oregon State University deserves our debt of gratitude for their conviction in backing, developing and preparing these future computer engineers, film makers, botanists, pharmacists, geologists, and architects.

What do you think about the 4-H Tech Wizards Program and the 18 future engineers, botanists and architects? What suggestions would you give to increase the number of bilingual scientists in the U.S., in Oregon? Your turn. As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments. -David Molina, Co-Founder/CEO, BilingualHire

Grow Your Base, Today.

There are several ways to grow your base: whether you're running a campaign for a local political post (a lot of this right now) or expanding your network.

Some Food For Thought:

1. Be visible. If possible (sometimes it's physically or financially impossible), be visible in the area where you’re trying to expand. Assistant City Attorney Aaron Felton who's running for Polk County District Attorney, did just that when he traveled from Salem to Independence for the Fiesta Mexicana to increase campaign awareness and meet potential voters. If you’re trying to expand your banks products from behind a desk, there will be challenges. Prior to merging with Point West Credit Union, the Hacienda Community Credit Union, a Portland-OR based credit union prided itself with a fully bilingual/ bicultural staff and understanding the needs of the local Latina/o community. They made inroads with the Latina/o community because they had bilingual talent and provided that face-to-face client-customer approach in a culturally and linguistically tailored setting. As anyone can imagine the banking sector is a serious, and competitive industry (to say the least). Competing with the larger banks, more conventional banks can be challenging. Nevertheless, expand where your expertise is.


2. Nail first, then expand. First nail down your community, then expand and make inroads. If you’re trying to expand your network in a new area, call your local contacts and have them refer you to several people. An out of town business executive called recently, now he's on our e-Newsletter list. A few years back when I was going through the School of Infantry (Junior School for Boys) at Fort Benning, Georgia, I headed to mass every Sunday. And, every Sunday several of the Latin American Officers and I would head out to Columbus, or someone's home, BBQ and talk politics, law, and international development (of course if we weren't training in the field). In other words, find out what your passion is, commonalities and conduct outreach. It was easy for us-- all of us spoke Spanish. Make these connections life-long.


3. Provide world-class service. Take for instance my brother-in-laws, Izzy and Evodio of Ray Schultens Motors of the Dalles-OR. I don't say this because they're family, but because these two guys will do the impossible for delivering world-class service. They turn wrong into right; customers into repeated customers; sales associate to sales associate of the month (month after month). Month after month their pictures are on the billboard right above the McDonald's (as a token of appreciation). Several times a month these guys pull into our Portland office to stop and say "hi." They come all the way from The Dalles to drop-off a car to a customer. How do they do this? By keeping the customer in their decision-making process. What does the customer want, and deliver it.


4. Deliver unexpected impact. An advisor Jay Bloom of Bloom Anew (we used to gather for breakfast once a month) early on recommended, "have a lazer-like approach rather than a shotgun approach." At the time, our company was doing consulting/trainings, public relations/marketing and recruitment (a mouth full, I know). His recommendations, insight had a profound effect on our company. Today, we only do the latter, and that's connect employers with bilingual talent. To this day, Jay continues to deliver unexpected impact to organizations he works with.


5. Take calculated risks. Its not always easy to surpass organizational expectations. Most are used to doing business as usual. But consider this: remain in a fairly safe organization, or take a calculated risk on your organization's floundering units/departments. Choose the first and no one will remember your name after you're long gone (up for debate). Choose, or get selected/appointed to salvage the organization's floundering units/department's, deliver unexpected impact and you will quickly gain the attention of both those that work for you, and the bosses above you (if you're at the top, it's your customer base). Remember in a highly volatile employment marketplace choosing to stick it out at one organization can be detrimental to your career (unless of course it's where you're retiring from). Again up for debate. Key word here: calculated.


6. Practice and Execute. Extraordinary talent know something. They understand their position and career track impacts their organizations goals and objectives. When their organization is successful, they're rightly successful. I cannot stress this enough. Practice your delivery, just like anything else. It helps if it comes out natural. Practice speaking before your family, before your friends, before strangers. If you're in college take the helm and grab the organization or project by the horns; if you’re in the workforce, under promise and over deliver; if you’re in sales, remember world-class service; if you're in government, don’t just sit there. Exceed the expectations and don't get comfortable. Practice and flawlessly execute as if today was your last.


7. Become a subject-matter expert. If you work on closing health disparities in the Latino community then co-publish an article in the media; be a member, chair a committee; get on the radio. If you work in higher education and are working on closing the achievement gap, then... point made.

The fact is growing your base is not easy, but it's not impossible either. It take an enormous amount of dedication, homework, persistence and patience. But better to have 7 or more green lights, then to have several ambers, and reds.

This Morning.
This morning I received “Get Your Mending Done Now” by Chris Brogan, Social Media Expert. I couldn't have said it better-- I thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to share it. If you enjoyed it, then subscribe to Chris.
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Get Your Mending Done Now

You know, LinkedIn is an interesting thing to observe in an economic downturn. Watching people shift roles, change careers, and head back to school just warms the heart, doesn't it? We are at the beginning part, not the end part of some trying financial times, no matter where you're reading this, especially for those of us on the emerging technology front. And yet, there are opportunities that exist that weren't here before. Let's focus on those.

Before you're without a job is the time to nurture new relationships

You might be doing reasonably fine right now, but it doesn't hurt to have your social networks rekindled and warmed up, should a need arise. It's never good to contact people after several months (years) being out of touch. Why not make a point of sending out ten emails a day, a few paragraphs each, connecting and seeing how people are doing in your circle of friends?

Tidy up your LinkedIn Profile

Now is the right time to have your LinkedIn Profile amped up and ready. Not in case of losing a job, but rather, so that you're prepared for any opportunities that arise during all the turbulence. It might be that your specialties at your existing company are just what's called upon in a downturn (a guy I know who specializes in divorce law said that business is up sharply!), so be ready for it.

Connect, Connect, Connect

If you've been on the fence about starting a Facebook Profile, do it now. More jobs these days are found via personal connections than on search boards. Get back in touch with people from old jobs, with school mates, with people in your region.

Market Yourself

It's a great time to start a blog and get people to know who you are and what you stand for. Share your thoughts. Give people a sense of what you value, what matters to you, and what you're thinking comes next. Sometimes, this turns out to be a great way for people to do business with you. They learn about a side they didn't know about before.

Above All Else, Listen

Subscribe to more blogs. Learn about things outside your perspective. Not sure where to start? Get on Alltop and see what they have for you to learn. Make comments, read more, and learn about what other things you might be interested in pursuing, should it turn to that, or learn about how you can do more for your company, should you be lucky enough to keep soldiering on. This is a very empowering time for people, even in the face of the news. We have more tools to learn, to explore, to connect. Let's use them.

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What else are you doing to advance your career? What are you doing to expand or mend your organization's base? Did you find these ideas and tips helpful? What did BilingualHire miss? As always, I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Thanks again for reading! -David Molina, Co-Founder/CEO, BilingualHire

Vote, Name that Oppression, Become a Bilingual Teacher

Vote.

Last week I voted and mailed my ballot. Over the weekend, I helped family members and friends vote as well. In our democracy voting is our voice. At BilingualHire, we encourage everyone to cast their vote and make their voices heard not just in the U.S. Presidential Elections, but also for important State and Local offices and legislative measures. Less than eight days left, Vote early.

Name that Oppression

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Dr. Kari Mize, a Professor at Western Oregon University. Below is a summary of her thoughts on Oregon's Measure 58. At BilingualHire we're in the business of connecting employers with bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent. We believe Measure 58 cuts the aspirations of thousands of students who are non-English native speakers and undercuts our small business. We help younger and older bilingual professionals advance their careers. What we want to be certain, and the organizations we help grow is that these professionals are bilingual in Spanish and English. Any initiative that undercuts this flow of talent poses a serious challenge to these students aspirations and of course the employers that need to hire them. We hope you enjoy this read.

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What do the following events have in common?

1. When Latinos responded to a 2007 survey about potential sources of discrimination, “language skills” was cited more frequently than immigration status, income, education or skin color (Hakimzadeh & Cohn, 2007).


2. In the summer of 2008, reacting to the growing number of golf professionals from South Korea, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (L-PGA) announced that players would have to pass an English test to play in tournament events.


3. Bill Sizemore received enough signatures to put Measure 58, which would restrict bilingual and English as a Second Language services for school-age students, on Oregon’s 2008 ballot.

These events are examples of linguistic oppression, also known as “linguicism” by the noted scholar, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. She defines linguicism as “the domination of one language at the expense of others” (1995, p. 10).

Linguicism is often subtle or hard to identify because, like discussions about racism and sexism, people have learned that explicitly biased comments are not socially acceptable. As a result, linguicism and other oppressions are often masked in euphemisms, metaphors, or discussions of broader societal issues, like welfare, family values, immigration, patriotism, and affirmative action. Our current sociopolitical climate, especially post 9/11, is one in which

the fear of “terrorists” has influenced our domestic policy about others who are
“foreign.” Efforts to “protect” the United States have been focused on
militarizing the southern Mexican border despite the entry of more people who
are undocumented from Canada (Public Broadcasting Service, 2003). This attempt
to exclude people has also influenced views of language. The English Only
movement and anti-bilingual initiatives have strengthened their efforts to
devalue the linguistic heritage of a growing number of school-age students . . .
(Dantas-Whitney, Mize, & Waldschmitt, In Press)

What happens outside of the school doors greatly impacts what happens inside of them.

It is vital that teachers understand how these broader, macro-level issues impact their schools and classrooms on the micro-level, especially the long-term consequences to students’ social, academic, and linguistic development. Bilingual children and their families often internalize this societal ethos and begin to believe that their linguistic and cultural heritage is unimportant or, even worse, a source of shame. Teachers must validate students’ backgrounds and help them to develop their native and additional language(s), building pride from the inside so that the negative messages from the outside are not allowed to erode their self-esteem.

Helping teachers learn how to nurture bilingualism and biculturalism is a goal of Western Oregon University’s “Bilingual Teacher Initiative.” We are looking to train more teachers who are native or heritage speakers of languages other than English in addition to encouraging native English speakers to take advanced language classes, especially Spanish. Bilingual teachers are in great demand in Oregon schools, and I argue they are key in changing the sociopolitical climate of the United States. Bilingual teachers can fight linguicism by raising awareness of the gifts that our multilingual students bring to school. We should be encouraging every person to be bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural not only for their school success, but also their active participation as a world citizen. I agree with Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

References:

Dantas-Whitney, M., Mize, K., & Waldschmitt, E.D. (In press). “Integrating Macro- and Micro-level Issues in ESOL/Bilingual Teacher Education.” In S.L. Groenke & A. Hatch (Eds.), Critical Pedagogies in K-12 Preservice Teacher Education.

Hakimzadeh, S., & Cohn, D. (2007). English usage among Hispanics in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center. Retrieved on May 3, 2008 from http://www.pewhispanic.org/

Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1995). Multilingualism and the education of minority children. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas & J. Cummins (Eds.), Minority education: From shame to struggle, pp. 9-56. Philadelphia, PA: Multilingual Matters.

Become a Bilingual Teacher

At Western Oregon University, they understand our changing demographics and the demand for bilingual teachers. Their Bilingual Teacher Initiative seeks to meet this challenge head on and interested candidates can enter at any Bilingual Fellow level. WOU also provides at-least four scholarships to Bilingual Fellows to study in Morelia, Mexico during the summer. For more information about becoming a bilingual teacher at Western Oregon University, email Dr. Karie Mize.

Have you voted? What advice would you give to improve ESL? How can WOU's Bilingual Teacher Initiative recruit more students? What did I miss? As always I appreciate your thoughts as well.

-David Molina, Co-Founder/CEO, BilingualHire

The Oregon Challenge.

Oregon has a particular challenge that if left unresolved will push Oregon further behind other states.

Our most pressing challenge: increasing the high school graduation rate. Why is this important? The more our students graduate, the more they attend a university (and the university supports them), and the more the Oregon community supports them in their path towards success, the more these future leaders will ensure Oregon's prosper. At a briefing yesterday in Salem, Oregon University System Chancellor George P. Pernsteiner reported on the state of higher education in Oregon and the challenges facing the Latino community. The renewed Commission on Hispanic Affairs (disclaimer- I serve as Vice Chairman) will be at the forefront of this equality issue.

Problem: Not enough students graduating. With the largest growth population coming from the Latino community its imperative (for Oregon's sake) this group is successful in graduating high school, and attending (and yes graduating) college. I found his report the most inspiring. In brief, leaders at all levels need to raise standards, and raise expectations. For many youth, we don't know what success looks like. Whether we grew up on the migrant farms of Mount Vernon, Washington or the camps near the tulip fields in Woodburn, Oregon, the challenges are the same. What does success look like? And, how do we get there? Is there a compass and a map anywhere?

According to Chancellor Pernsteiner, once Latino students matriculate from OUS, they're just as competive as their counterparts. Oregon will need all the talent and energy it can groom to ensure this success. Oregon State University for instance has 730+ Latino undergrads and the entire Oregon University System has 3,235. Pretty good, but we're not even close.

In Perspective: Latino students are the fastest-growing sector in Oregon K-12. In 15-20 years, they will become a major part of the adult population. 40 years ago, Oregon had the highest graduation rate in the world. Today, it has fallen below the national average.

Solution: Find the leaks. To ensure Oregon remains competitive in the 21st century (yes, that's now), leaders at all levels need to support, and get behind the success of our students, and ensure they know what success looks like, and understand how their families will prosper in Oregon. A good starter is presenting a workshop at the upcoming student conference.

The strategy is clear: we cannot expect retention without grooming Oregonians for these positions right here at home. The notion of recruiting and retaining bilingual talent from other parts of the country and expect 100% retention after the first/second year is a long shot. While investing in our youth in Hood River, Woodburn, Hillsboro, Medford and Independence will have a much lasting retention that ultimately is a win-win situation.

I came away excited by the vision of OUS towards meeting this challenge head on. As always I appreciate your thoughts as well.

-David Molina, Co-Founder/CEO, BilingualHire

Learn Spanish for Good

This past summer while visiting a friend in D.C. (she's originally from Oregon), her daughter came home to practice her part of a play (a small part). This wasn't an easy playwright either. I was floored to hear her Spanish, so refined, impeccable and every sentence, every word perfectly pronounced. She's 10. It embarrassed me, I'm certain others in the room as well, because of her strong grasp of the Spanish language, but I also swelled with pride. Mind you, her grasp of the language was poor when she was in the Oregon schools. Her mom recently exclaimed, "David, you have no idea how pride I am of her!" Environment, quality of the teachers, the encouraging atmosphere? What I do know is that when your young you can easily pick up, two, three or more languages. I'm certain when she picks up French, and Japanese the doors of opportunity will be opened even wider.

Learning Spanish is too easy. Just follow these simple steps:
1. Recognize, that being bilingual is valuable. Like most things with a deep and enduring value you must practice more than once, or twice to learn and have a facility for the language.

2. Understand that as you learn, others may envy you, and try to dissuade you from learning. Its the crab theory. Imagine a cage of crabs (after a long day at Newport, Oregon), and one crab tries to make its way out of the cage, the others will simply pull him down. Its simple, don't mind the critics.

3. Commit to seeing your progressive learning through. There is no greater sigh of relief, or pride when you've reached the finish line. And, in learning a second language the finish line is entirely up to you.

Again recognize, understand and commit.

Learn Spanish for Good
Learning Spanish can be financially difficult. Not everyone has a couple grand to invest. When I was an intern at the Institute for Central American Studies where I wrote for their international publication, Mesoamerica, I got to interact a lot with their language school students. One of which I met was Kevin. He was fresh from Michigan and knew some Spanish. By the time he and I left the country months later, his Spanish was pretty good. Now learning Spanish while being immersed in the culture, day in and day out, living and breathing in one of Latin America's safest and what I thought beautiful countries is one thing--its another to be able to afford it. If you can, three words: go-for-it! And, visit Tortuguerro while your at it.

Others will choose their local community college. And, it might take them forever, or they may pick it up pretty quickly. But in an technologically connected environment where Wi-Fi is in abundance, learning from your Mac or PC may sound odd, but considering the options, why not.

My friend Clay at Speak Shop connects people from all over the world with tutors (trained teachers) based in Latin America. And, you do it at your own convenience (in coordination with the tutor), you develop a tailored program (learn what you want to learn), and its affordable. Its worth a try!

I'm starting to think more businesses/organizations like the idea of expanding their demographic outreach, and recruiting more bilingual talent is the way to get to there 300m mark (remember human talent is the heart of any organization). What do you think? Do you think being bilingual has any merit at your workplace? Are you being encouraged for knowing a second language and are you using this second language to grow your organization/unit?

We'd like to know. As always, we'd like to hear from you. Send us your thoughts at, info@bilingualhireco.com.
-David Molina

Why the Importance of Being Bilingual?

As a 3rd grader at Washington Elementary in Mount Vernon, Washington, an exchange teacher from London once asked, "are you bilingual?" I thought, well I do translate for the family at the hospital, car dealerships, ordering food and the occasional telemarketer phone call. Sound familiar? For anyone calling the house, my family would always say, "diles que no estamos aqui" [tell them we're not here!]. I told the London teacher, "yes, I do know Spanish, but I must confess, I have some difficulty." At home, our Spanish is different than the Spanish usually heard on Univision. Much more broken. The teacher was quick to remark, "that's wonderful, my dearest David, that you're bilingual!" She told me, and the other 30 in the class that in her country the Europeans usually speak more than two languages. Some three, or four. She empowered me, "don't ever forget Spanish, not tomorrow, not ever." From that day on, I was determined to hold onto Spanish despite the opinion of others.

The Sad Truth
Throughout history, some "experts" have made gone out of their way to convince, persuade and sometimes coerce some Americans that speaking Spanish was "bad" and detrimental to their sons/daughters success in the United States. Many parents, sadly, did not teach or pass on Spanish to their children. Almost weekly I run into individuals that did not have the gift of Spanish given to them.

On the flip side, there is an increasing number of families where the 2nd generation is speaking English at home, refusing to speak and learn Spanish. Do you think these children will be better off in the globalized economy? In a country where Spanish is the fastest-growing language, in a world where it is the second most commonly known language?

Hindering Oneself
Just as my teacher from London pointed out, speaking two or more languages is critical for survival. Knowing a second language does not hinder success, it provides additional avenues for us to realize our goals.

The advantages of being bilingual for me have been three-fold:
1. The confidence of being able to communicate with my family back in Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico. It’s embarrassing and a morale killer when you're not able to communicate with and draw the lessons of your extended family.

2. Bridging the gap between cultures. Being able to communicate with the Tapias, Rodriguez, Nuñez, etc., in my community and my school allowed me to have a much larger sphere of influence.

3. It helped me understand our world through multiple perspectives. At the Catholic Church where my family attended, the Pastor always had a way of explaining things both in Spanish and English that revealed the differing ways these languages filter our world. We are open to a much broader and profound view when we have multiple ways understanding our world.

Truth Is Often Universal
In Mexico, the fastest-growing language is English. Wal-Mart, Costco, and hundreds of other American name brands are flooding Mexican communities. Knowing English in Mexico has become as much a matter of economic survival as knowing Spanish is becoming in the U.S. In an increasing number of jobs, to apply you must know English.

What's your take? What did we miss? We'd like to know.
-David