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Sunday, March 07, 2010

San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Comm. to address dropouts


San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will help address the high rate of high school dropouts, and encourage more students into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or STEM fields through a partnership to be announced at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 5th at the SAEP’s Leaders of Today and Tomorrow event at the Pearl Stable.

The Hispanic Chamber has launched a major STEM initiative designed to get students interested, keep them focused, and steer them into fields of opportunity because STEM jobs are growing at a faster rate than non-STEM jobs, and because STEM jobs are good paying jobs.

“We need a strong and educated workforce that will help lead innovation in our local economy, and we are proud and excited to have the opportunity to work together with the San Antonio Education Partnership. Together, we can grow San Antonio’s economy by investing in the education of our future workforce,” said Norma Martinez Lozano, 2010 SAHCC Chairman.

The Hispanic Chamber’s STEM initiative will initially focus on 2,000 high school students in the San Antonio Independent School district, but will expand to other school districts in the future. It is a year-long program that focuses on high school dropout prevention while emphasizing college and career goals in the STEM fields.

This program incorporates family involvement, mentoring programs, the school advisor, and tours of local colleges and universities. AT&T has already committed a quarter of a million dollars to support the Hispanic Chamber’s educational initiatives.

A multi-day college and career fair providing opportunities to put students face to face with people that have the potential to motivate, excite, and ignite a passion in them for the STEM fields will take place this Fall. The career fair will be open to any student, of any age, from any school.

Last week, Norma Martinez Lozano 2010 SAHCC Chairman; Eddie Aldrete, 2011 SAHCC Chairman; and Ramiro A. Cavazos, SAHCC President & CEO, joined 34 other business leaders from around the United States to learn how the business community can utilize its assets to drive positive transformation in education and workforce training in our nation’s capitol earlier this month. They were selected for their business leadership and track record for supporting educational initiatives.

The seminar was hosted by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce and supported in part by a $2.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to help develop and train a network of business leaders on education issues, network organization, and communications to empower them to be effective advocates for improving America’s education system.

“It is important that we as a Chamber embrace and continue to promote education as the primary driver for sustained economic development. In order for San Antonio to continue as a model for the entire nation in job creations, we need to come together as a community in support of an educated workforce not only through words of encouragement, but by creating meaningful partnerships that will address our future needs now,” said Ramiro A. Cavazos, SAHCC President & CEO.

Adriana Rocha Garcia
Vice President of Communications
San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
318 W. Houston, Ste. 300
San Antonio, Texas 78205
Office: 210-225-0462
Fax: 210-225-2485
www.sahcc.org

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