Update:Latino community across the nation in the areas of health care, housing, transportation, and on Latino heritage

Buenas Tardes!

Happy New Year! We hope your new year is off to great start. During the last few weeks of 2011 the White House met with local elected officials to discuss the importance of the American Jobs Act in their respective communities. As the year came to a close, several agencies including the Department of Health, Interior, and Justice, announced some important updates that will directly impact the Latino community across the nation in the areas of health care, housing, transportation, and on Latino heritage. Here’s the recap:

On December 19th and 20th local elected officials from across the nation visited the White House to discuss the importance of the American Jobs Act for the Latino Community. New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz discussed the impact the American Jobs Act will have on creating construction jobs to help renovate schools in Brooklyn, NY.

Arizona State Legislature Representative Ann Tovar discussed the impact of the American Jobs Act on the 25 million Hispanics and their families in America. Finally, Arizona State Legislator Ruben Gallego highlighted the importance of the American Jobs Act for Latino veterans.

Agency Updates

Department of Health outlined ways the Health Care Law has helped millions
December 27, 2011
The Department of Health outlined ways the Health Care Law has helped millions of people throughout the country. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services outlined eight important ways that you or your family might have benefited from the health law in 2011. Para leer en Español.

Department of Housing and Urban Development launches the HUD Language Line
December 22, 2011
HUD launched the HUD Language Line, a telephone language service pilot that will offer live, one-on-one interpretation services in more than 175 languages. These efforts are taking place in order to better communicate with Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals and families about HUD housing programs, services, and activities.

Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar highlights Latino Heritage Sites
December 22, 2011
Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the release of a report, view here, that identifies a number of important Latino historic and cultural sites in the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. On the same day, Secretary Salazar also dedicated Trujillo Homesteads Latino Heritage site in San Luis Valley, Colorado.

Department of Justice reaches a $335 million settlement
December 21, 2011
The Department of Justice reached a $335 million settlement to resolve allegations of lending discrimination by countrywide financial corporations. This settlement will help compensate more than 200,000 African American and Hispanic borrowers.

Department of Transportation announced that 46 transportation projects
December 15, 2011
As part of President Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative the Department of Transportation announced that 46 transportation projects, to view the projects click here, in 33 states and Puerto Rico will receive a total of $511 million from the third round of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s popular TIGER program.

Blog Highlights

Champions for Change: A Latina in STEM
January 5, 2012
In this blog post Judit Camacho recounts her experience after being honored as a White House Champions for Change in December, 2011.

President Obama discusses Richard Cordray’s nomination to Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
January 4, 2012
President Barack Obama delivered remarks on the economy at Shaker Heights High School,Shaker Heights, Ohio alongside Richard Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General and nominee as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shares the stage with the President.

Building Welcoming Communities for All
December 21, 2011
Achieving full economic recovery and maintaining America’s competitive edge globally now and into the future will require communities to fully embrace their strongest resource-their people. This is why communities around the country are taking a new approach to integrating newly arrived immigrants, refugees, and other newcomers into their community and creating more welcoming environments for all community members.

A Conversation with the South Florida Latino Community
December 16, 2011
On December 2, 2011, I participated in a White House Latino Community Summit in Miami. The community summit connected senior government officials from diverse policy areas with local Hispanic leaders, business owners, and community advocates to discuss issues critical to the South Florida Latino community.

Get Involved

The application for the Summer 2012 White House Internship Program is now open. The application deadline is January 22, 2012. The programs and opportunities of the White House Internship Program make for days filled with unique learning experiences, thought-provoking conversation, and unforgettable events. Visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/internships to learn more about the White House Internship Program and to apply.

The White House Fellows program is the nation’s most prestigious program for leadership and public service.  Founded by President Johnson in 1964 to engage emerging leaders in public service, the Fellows Program provides exceptional young men and women with first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government.

To learn more, we invite you to view the White House Fellows video chat in which the Program Director Cindy Moelis and former Fellows Anish Mahajan and Erica Jeffries recently answered questions about the application and the Fellowship experience. Applications for the White House Fellowship can currently be found online at www.whitehouse.gov/fellows.  The deadline for completed applications is January 13, 2012.

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