NEW YORK — The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) organization on Tuesday convened its Education Summit 2010 in New York and launched the ‘Generation 1st Degree’ program, which aims to fulfill the foundation’s goal of helping Hispanic families attain a college degree in every household.
Summit attendees included representatives of the corporate world, foundations, HSF alumni and students. HSF President Frank D. Alvarez said a significant intention of the summit was to actively engage corporations in the program’s mission.
“To arrive at 14 million degrees is a monumental undertaking,” said Alvarez. “We want them to carry the message into stores, into their services … to invest back into the community.”
One approach the campaign may take is working with corporations to develop education-related incentives, such as reward points that can be applied to a college savings plan, according to Alvarez. A big part of HSF’s work is educating parents that may not have gone to college themselves about how they can help their children go to college, Alvarez said.
“We want to be able to mobilize workers in corporations that are Hispanic to be mentors for the parents,” he said. “This is a movement about trying to embrace Hispanic parents and help them help their kids get to college.
“While all of America should be driving toward a degree in every household, there are particular cultural issues that Hispanics need help in overcoming. One is there’s not a history. Another is debt aversion. … It takes trusted organizations working together,” Alvarez said.
Frank Ros, a vice president at Coca-Cola, has been part of HSF’s board for 14 years. His message for summit attendees new to HSF was to look at the college completion goal as a business move. Corporations will need more talent and more skills, Ros emphasized to a Diverse correspondent.
