HISPANIC AMERICANS: OUR RICH CULTURE CONTRIBUTING TO AMERICA’S FUTURE

National Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the U.S.   It celebrates Hispanic heritage and culture and began in 1968 and covers a 30-day period until Oct. 15.  September 15 celebrates the independence of five Latin American nations:  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua; Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence Sept. 16 and 18, respectively LA District encompasses four states with some of the highest percentages of Hispanics in the population:  California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah,  California alone is home to 12.4 million Hispanics, and Los Angeles County itself hosts nearly 5 million Hispanics—largest in the nation.

Hispanics now total 43 million in the U.S., the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority, 14% of our total population, and that number is projected at 103 million by 2050. There are 1.1 million Hispanic veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, and currently, there are 200,000 Hispanics serving in our Armed Forces.

Among our 700 team members working for the nation, the number of Hispanics is 125.  We recognize that we need more qualified Hispanics in our workforce, and we are taking many positive, proactive steps to make that happen.  For more than two years, for example, the Los Angeles District has been a vigorous supporter of HENAAC, the Hispanic Engineers National Achievement Awards Corporation.  Last year we partnered with HENAAC to inaugurate the first-ever technology program at Roosevelt High School.  And we were particularly proud and pleased this summer when our own Al Quintero, head of the Construction Division’s Contract Administration Section, was named a Role Model by HENAAC and featured on its Web site.  Al himself estimates that he has personally recruited six Hispanic engineers to the Corps.  And we join other districts several times a year in dispatching teams to engineering and technology job fairs to let potential recruits know about the Corps.

Just as we want to continue to be known as the nation’s premier engineering institution, we also want to be known as a welcoming and nurturing destination for Hispanic team members.  So it was a natural and relevant segue from the District’s commitment to Hispanics for the District to have hosted recently a special guest.  Congresswoman Hilda Solis represents the pinnacle of Hispanic success in American politics and society.  She also represents the 32nd Congressional District, which includes a dozen cities with some of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in America.  She became the first Latina named to the powerful and exclusive House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  As a member she continues her career-long commitment to improve the quality of health care and to fight for environmental justice.  She also serves as the Committee’s ranking member on its Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee.

Last year Congresswoman Solis was elected Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues and as Chair of the Democratic Women’s Working Group.  She is serving her second term as Chair of the congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health.

Of special interest and importance to us here in the Los Angeles District, she has won legislative victories to authorize the federal government to examine how it can improve the San Gabriel River Watershed’s recreation and environmental opportunities.  And in a law that all of us in uniform paid close attention to, she removed barriers to U.S. citizenship for more than 45,000 non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. military and Reserves.

In 2000 she became the first woman ever awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues in California.  Her California environmental justice legislation, enacted in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.

Congresswoman Solis graduated from California State Polytechnic University Pomona and earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California.  She worked in the Carter White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and was later appointed a budget analyst with the Office of Management and Budget in the Civil Rights Division.  Before she was elected to Congress from the 32nd District, she served eight years in the California legislature.  She made history in 1994 by becoming the first Latina ever elected to the California State Senate.

Congresswoman Solis is a lifetime resident of the San Gabriel Valley and lives in El Monte with her husband Sam, a small business owner.  Her parents and her six siblings, she says, continue to be sources of great inspiration to her.

BIENVENIDO!