Why The Latino Initiative? What is it?

Latino Youth Education

Latinos are under-performing white students in nearly every item of measurement in schools. There is an Achievement Gap that begins in elementary school and widens as the students progress. During the next 35 years, 2015 to 2050, it is estimated that 52 Million Latino youth will under-achieve the American Dream by either dropping out of high school before graduation, or not getting a university education when it is within their grasp. We can add many more other minorities who will also under-achieve their potential. And yet these students are just as capable as any other student. There are reasons for this achievement gap and we hope to eliminate them and close the gap. 

The Latino Initiative is a comprehensive plan to address all elements that affect whether Latino and other minority youth reach their full potential. It addresses the needs of the students, their parents, the local community, and the educators who would be the key implementors of change. First read the Latino Initiative Description which gives an overview of what it is. You’ll see that to successfully help Latino and minority youth achieve their potential that it is essential to address all factors in the environment of their lives. We divided it into 4 separate campaigns which makes each one easier to follow, which includes:

• The Student Campaign Quick Summary to help them see what they need to do themselves to succeed,
• The Parent Campaign Quick Summary so parents know how to support their children,
• The Community Campaign Quick Summary which addresses the attitudes across the land towards Latinos and other minorities, and
• The Educator Campaign Quick Summary which gives them the tools they need to reach out to these youth.
• Then read the Latino Initiative to get a summary of the complete picture  and link to the complete document.

Make sure that any program you implement uses as many of the Enhancing Youth Self Esteem as possible. Most of  these 11 points are ones used successfully by Boy Scouts of America to help youth grow into productive and well rounded citizens. The other points are ones that we’ve observed are successful working with Latino and minority youth, and address the needs of both male and female youth. We also created a Summery, called the Diversity Initiative.

(disregard the name Diversity Initiative instead of Latino Initiative) which gives you an overview of the program. (You have to be sure to read it, as the Latino Initiative itself is incredibly long and detailed.)(Also, only the link will come up, as I don’t know how to put the Publisher file into the web page, so be sure to click on the link you see.) We think the Latino Initiative will not necessarily “save the world,” but will certainly make a huge difference in the lives of Latino and minority youth during the next 35 to 50 years.

The Self-Discovery Class is a proposed class that uses all eleven points of the 11 Point Strategy, and involves all 4 elements of the student’s environment: Students, Parents, Community, and Educators. Make it a part of your Latino Initiative! First read more about it in Why the Self-Discovery Class? Along with the Latino Initiative, we think that Diversity Discovery Class is the most important thing that has come along in the last 15 years as far as making life better for  Latinos and minority youth is concerned.