Thread: TX-Teamwork needed to improve Austin Hispanics' quality of l

Teamwork needed to improve Austin Hispanics' quality of life, report says

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, August 28, 2009

The city and school district, as well as elected officials and the community, should collaborate more to expand opportunities and services aimed at improving the lives of Hispanic residents in Austin, according to a report presented Thursday to the City Council.

But Hispanics must assume a leadership role and should "seek out opportunities to provide input in the development of sound public policies and strategies geared towards improving the quality of life," the report says.

Prepared by a consulting firm that the city hired, the Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative report notes that Hispanics are a booming population and will play a significant role in shaping Austin's economic future.

It says that addressing concerns now in education, health care, economic development, cultural arts and other areas will benefit Austin as a whole.

The report contains 24 recommendations drawn from public comments gathered during four community discussions that began in February as part of a quality of life study that the council approved in May 2008.

"What we saw in this report is pretty compelling," Council Member Mike Martinez said. "There are some things we could be doing better. Now the work begins."

The process will continue for several months and will include at least one more public forum, Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza said.

A number of the recommendations address education, which most Hispanic residents identified as their chief concern in surveys and at the forums. About 1,000 people attended the forums, and 650 completed quality of life surveys, consultant Paul Saldaña said.

Among its findings, the report says:

The city should support the Austin school district by helping to develop partnerships with colleges, nonprofit agencies and businesses aimed at bridging the gap from high school to college.

The city and the district should work together to maximize underused campuses and their impacts on neighborhoods.

They should also collaborate to ensure that information is distributed in Spanish, as well as in English, to students and their families.

They should consider policies that promote a dual-language workplace and coordinate to offer programs serving educational and work force development needs.

Martinez said the school board is committed to working with the city on issues of common concern.

Earlier this year, a city report based on census data found that the educational gap for Hispanics in Austin, compared with Anglos, is the second-largest among 29 U.S. cities.

Hispanics, who make up 58 percent of more than 83,000 students in Austin, have high dropout rates, low graduation rates and low college enrollment rates. Fifty-two percent of Hispanic students in Travis County drop out of high school, Saldaña told the council.

"The city and the community as a whole should really be concerned and work to ensure that our young people are being successful, because we represent the majority of students in the school system now," Saldaña said. "Education equals economics."

The report addresses other wide-ranging concerns among Latinos who participated in the forums or completed the surveys, including perceptions that there is a lack of affordable housing in Austin, a lack of language assistance for first-generation immigrants, a lack of information on city programs and services and misunderstandings about the city's role in delivering health care.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... ality.html

How about we just give illegals the key to the city.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

How about we just give illegals the key to the city.

.... in their home country. that would improve OUR quality of life.