Horowitz: New Generation of Latinos Fit Familiar Immigrant Pattern

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Rob Horowitz, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Latinos have renewed the promise of America and the spirit of the American dream by adding new ideas and perspective to our culture, believes Rob Horowitz.

Contrary to the rhetoric and scare tactics of some opponents of comprehensive immigration reform, Latinos are following the typical immigrant pattern of rapid assimilation into American culture. Univision’s recent launch of Fusion, an English language cable channel whose target audience is young Latinos, is a case in point. It is a market response to the fact that most young Latinos watch television in English. A new analysis conducted by the PEW Hispanic Center finds that 90% of Latinos ages 18 to 29 who get their news from television do so in English. There are similar percentages for entertainment viewing.

Partnering with ABC/Disney in this new venture, Univision, the nation’s most watched Spanish language network, is making its first foray into producing programs in English. “This is a huge opportunity. Hispanics are young, and the purchasing power of millennials is going to be bigger than baby boomers very soon,” said Isaac Lee, president of Univision News and the newly named chief executive of Fusion.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, according to Lee, the biggest challenge for the fledgling new channel will be striking the right balance between identifying Fusion as a Latino channel, while appealing to young Latinos who see themselves as “Americans first."

Latinos and Education

On a similar note, Latinos are also following in the tradition of earlier groups of immigrants in viewing education as the key to advancement. Latinos are more likely than the general public to say a college degree is the key to life success, according to PEW.

In fact, Latinos have now moved ahead of whites in the percentage of high school graduates that go on to college. Citing Census Bureau statistics, PEW Hispanic Center reports that “49% of young Latino high-school graduates were enrolled in college in 2012, surpassing the rate for white (47%) and black (45%) high-school grads.”

Due to a higher drop-out rate among Latinos, the percentage of all Latinos age 18 through 24 in college is still slightly behind the percentage of whites: 38% as opposed to 42%. But the drop-out rate among Latinos is declining rapidly.

Keeping the American Dream Alive

Immigrants have revitalized our nation throughout our history, bringing new economic energy and enriching our arts and culture. At the same time, each nationality has also faced fierce discrimination and the tired and discredited old story that somehow this group is different or other, won’t assimilate and will wreck our culture.

Latinos are no exception. Every day this wave of Latino immigrants, like the immigrant groups that preceded them, provides a dynamic new generation of entrepreneurs and small business success and adds new ideas and perspectives to our culture—renewing the promise of America and the spirit of the American dream.

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.

Related Slideshow: AP Opportunities at Worcester’s High Schools

According to ProPublica, studies have shown that students who take advanced classes have increased chances of attending and finishing college. However, with the number of advanced placement (AP) courses offered at Worcester's public high schools varying significantly, not every student is given the same chance. The slides, below, show the Worcester public high schools whose students have the most and least AP opportunities to help them get into - and graduate from - college.

The below data were collected from the Civil Rights Data Set, released by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Right, and refers to the 2009-10 school year. The data were analyzed by ProPublica.