Florida A & M University is providing an outstanding opportunity for Black women entering college in the fall of 2009. It is designed to address their absence in the field of computer technology. Dr. Jason Black is the Principal Investigator of a recently awarded $552,000 NSF Grant entitled African-American Women in Computer Science. The grant provides scholarships from $4000 to $10,000 per year for female African American students.

DEADLINE FOR APPLYING:
• If planning for Fall Enrollment: August 1 of that year
• If planning for Spring Enrollment: December 1 of the previous year

For more info visit: www.cis.famu.edu

WHOSE BARRIO? is an emotionally charged look at the changes in Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem as real estate speculation pushes rents and property values past the point of affordability for most area residents. By interviewing long-time East Harlemites and new arrivals, and digging deep into the flavor of a neighborhood long regarded as a cultural homeland for Latinos and other ethnic groups, the film reveals a complex web of individual and community interests. Directed and produced by Ed Morales and Laura Rivera, WHOSE BARRIO? is having its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival on August 2, 2009.

They producers are seeking: Salsa – Fania style songs; Mambo – Palladium years style songs; Danzon; Danza and Puerto Rican Folk Conjunto.

For more info or to submit your music contact: Ed Morales, 347-271-4615, 646-342-2100, emorale@optonline.net

George  Washington University Science & Engineering Apprenticeship program -  This program places academically talented H.S. students (at least 16 yrs old, sophomores/ juniors) with interest in science & math in Dept. of Defense laboratories for an 8-wk period over the summer.  This is an invaluable experience in the world of scientific research, with hands-on exposure to scientific & engineering practices not available in the HS environment.  It is a paid apprenticeship ($2,000) and the students are assigned a scientist or engineer as their mentor. Students must submit their transcript (minimum GPA 3.0) and teacher recommendation to the program director for consideration and daily transportation is the student's responsibility.  Program runs from June 22 - August 14, 2009.  To apply or get more information about the program, e-mail Swati.Ramadorai@US.ARMY.MIL, call Swati Ramadorai at (301)-319-9259 or visit: www.usaeop.com

Exploring Engineering at the University of Maryland (E2@UMD) is a one-week summer program for high school women (rising juniors or seniors) who are considering engineering as a possible major and career. You will live on campus for one-week and explore the world of engineering through fun hands-on activities, laboratory experiments, informative workshops, team challenges, and seminars with professional engineers. July 12-18, or July 19-25; rising juniors and seniors.  For more info visit: www.wie.umd.edu

University of Maryland Young Scholars Program targets rising juniors and seniors who have a strong academic record and a desire to excel to experience college life while earning three academic credits.  14
courses are offered for three weeks from July12 - 31, 2009. For more info visit: www.summer.umd.edu

City Year, Washington DC (AmeriCorps) - Graduating seniors who are not sure what they want to do after high school should consider applying for a paid community service position with City Year, Washington, DC., a group of 17-24 year olds committed to full-time service for ten months in the Washington, DC community.  Benefits include living stipend ($200 per week), health care coverage, free metro pass, and $4,725 educational scholarship.  For more info or to apply visit: www.cityyear.org or call Amanda Seligman at: 202-776-7780.  Recruitment open houses will be held once a month at their headquarters:  918 U Street, NW , 2nd floor, Washington, DC 20001

Starting in June, CODE magazine, based in the Netherlands, will be going international. CODE, is a fashion magazine that specializes in documentary photography. Currently, distribution covers Benelux, Paris and Japan and starting in June New York City. CODE is looking for an amazing free-lance American editor. Someone who loves pop culture. But also understands and loves style, journalism and perfect edits.
For more info on CODE visit: www.codemagazin.eu or www.code-mag.nl.
For more info on the job, e-mail: peter@codemagazine.eu

By Juleyka Lantigua

Since AmeriCorps was founded by President Clinton in 1993, 540,000 members have served with thousands of nonprofit organizations, public agencies and faith-based organizations nationwide. Among many other things, members tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, clean parks and streams, and recruit, train and manage community volunteers, and coordinate after-school programs.

In exchange, volunteers receive a very modest monetary award they can use towards college or qualified student loans. During their term of service, volunteers are also provided training, student loan deferment, health care, and in about half the cases, a modest annual living allowance.

The bill that President Obama just signed contains a few important changes: it increases volunteers to 250,000 from 75,000 annually, and bumps the education allowance to match the amount given by a Pell education grant ($5,350). The areas of service will also be expanded to include education, veterans’ affairs, health care, and renewable energy.

More needs to be done, though.

According to AmeriCorps, 46 percent of members embark on careers in education, social work, public safety, government and military service. A way to modernize the volunteer organization is to create strong mentorship opportunities for volunteers to interact with high-level managers, executives and elected officials who can help them envision and shape careers in those fields.

But to fully mature AmeriCorps we need to create tangible career tracks that lead to lasting professions in service, civic entrepreneurship, and elected office. President Obama is a perfect example of how community-level experience can form a solid foundation for a life in service and leadership.

We should provide the same opportunity to others.

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the world.

NYPD's Finest at their finest...it will be interesting to see how the City's PR guru's will try to spin this story.

For the full story visit: www.nytimes.com

By Juleyka Lantigua

As any friend of mine will tell you, I am a huge supporter/lover/believer/consumer of all things Japanese. From their curiously exotic snack food (think shrimp-flavored chips) to their mind-bending fashion trends (hey, Gwen Stefani, I chatted up some Harajuku girls waaaay before you put them in your video) to their admirable sense of honor and loyalty to family. I was lucky enough to have lived in the Land of the Rising Sun some years ago, and have returned several times since my soul sister is a hip Tokyoite.

So imagine my unfettered delight upon learning that in the heart of Quisqueya Heights (the Dominican epicenter in the U.S.) an enterprising and visionary tenth-grade teacher named Keiko Takenaka is teaching boys and girls to speak Japanese.

At New Heights Academy, a charter school on Amsterdam Avenue and 150th Street, Japanese is the only foreign language offered to students whose classes are conducted in a tailored combination of English and Spanish, depending on their language strengths.

Besides fundamentals in math, science, English and social studies, all 10th and 11th graders are required to complete the Japanese language program. ‘‘Being bilingual or trilingual is an extraordinarily marketable skill, and it is important to us that we equip our high school graduates with many competitive advantages to help them succeed in college and the work environment,’’ Stacy Winitt, the school’s founder and executive director, told a Japanese newspaper recently. 



Many of us will no doubt agree with that sentiment, while scratching our heads as to why pick Japanese….

The answer: phonetics!

Much like Spanish, which is one of the native tongues spoken by many of the Academy’s students who are 82% Latino, spoken Japanese is entirely phonetic: what you see is what you get. You pronounce words almost exactly as they are written.

Arigato. (Thank you.)
Watashi wa America-jin. (I am American)
Ja ne. (See you later.)

In choosing Japanese, Winitt-san and her staff also considered the insular nature of Washington Heights, which is predominantly Latino in culture.
‘‘Not only did I want my students to learn a new language, but I wanted the opportunity to expose them to a new culture as well,’’ she said.



The similarities between Japanese and Spanish sounds and vowels have been a big encouragement to the students. “They can speak better. Their pronunciation is way better than other English-as-a-first-language students,’’ Takenaka-san said.

What’s more, in October 2008, the United States-Japan Foundation awarded New Heights a grant of $15,000 to build a Japanese resource library, filled with literature, new textbooks, software, and visual aids.

Yokudekimasheta!!

Well done and hooray!!

And domo arigato Takenaka-san and Winitt-san!

Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country.

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Note: All pop-up content embedded into articles are selected by our site editors and not individual contributors. They are purely for informational and contextual purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by individual contributors to the República Update.

By Juleyka Lantigua
Happy Women’s History Month. We’re making it as we live and breathe.

Starting with First Lady Michelle Obama, prominent intelligent, educated and powerful black and brown women will inspire, validate, reassure and motivate young women who have lacked viable role models in key areas like politics, corporate America and social leadership.

As simple as it may seem, the example of a woman of color serving as a Senator, in a cabinet position or on a board of directors has an immediate mirror effect.

Countless little girls can easily see themselves in women like Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Avon CEO Andrea Jung, PepsiCo Chairwoman Indra K. Nooyi or U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. The usual “when I grow up I want to” can now be filled in with “serve on the President’s Cabinet,” “lead a Fortune 500 company,” “work in international relations.”

Growing up in the South Bronx in the 1980’s I rarely saw important Latina and black politicians or public servants to inspire me to follow in their footsteps. My aspirations were set by watching successful men, and dreaming of one day being “a female something.” I thought that succeeding as a woman would make me an exception in male professions, almost regardless of the field. I thought about being a female lawyer, a female pilot, a female writer, a female university president, even a female Supreme Court judge.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, little girls everywhere will not need to think it’s exceptional that they can be corporate leaders, members of Congress, secretary of something, or hold a high post in the White House. Seeing women like EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Cecilia Muñoz, who heads the White House office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett opens up layers and layers of possibility.

On the corporate side, women of color represent 13.4 percent of the U.S. workforce, with more than five million holding managerial and professional positions. But in the Fortune 500 companies we only account for 1.7 percent of corporate officers and top earners (the five highest-paid employees in a company), according to Catalyst, a research firm.

Leaders like Xerox President Ursula Burns and former MTV President Christina Norman ignite curious young minds to explore the possibility of one day assuming those posts. They also give mothers and fathers role models to point to when their daughter comes home eager to reach for the stars.

So, during this women’s history month, please share these examples — or some of your own — with the young girls in your life.

Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country.

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República Update's very own Juleyka Lantigua has taken on the role of book scout for the Senior Editor, Multicultural Studies at Praeger Publishers (home to Greenwood Press and others).

She is looking for books in these and similar/related categories:

• Latino students' guide to college

• Pop culture titles

• Social and political issues titles 

• Practical and "feel-good" books 

• Biographies of Black, Latino, Asian and other folks of note

• Anthologies of essays, commentary, fiction

• Topical dissertations that can be turned into non-fiction titles

Please send this email to your writer/author friends who have book projects or ideas or who are ready to be matched with an idea they can develop into a book.

Make sure to visit the website below and download the current multicultural catalog so you get a sense of what books they're publishing along these lines BEFORE you email juleykalantigua at gmail.com.

Catalog: www.praeger.com | Web site:  www.greenwood.com

By Juleyka Lantigua
Recently I was online filling out an application for a foreign affairs fellowship sponsored by a top government entity. After the usual who/what/where/when questionnaire, I was taken to a page with four essay-style questions.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I have not written essay-like answers to anything, beyond winding personal emails from my closest friends, since I applied for graduate school ten years ago. But being a professional writer, I was unfazed by the prospect of some thought-provoking and intellect-tickling inquiry.

That is, until I came upon a question that, to summarize, went something like this: What conditions in the U.S. and Mexico have caused the immigration problem between the two countries, and how would you fix it.

REALLY? You’re asking lil’ old me? Gosh, I’m flattered. Here goes nothing….

“This is a large and complex issue that will require many large and small actions on the part of both governments over a long period of time. But some of the larger and immediate contributing factors that must be addressed include:
--the lack of viable employment for poor people in Mexico; the lapses in compulsory education—standard, higher and vocational—that leave millions without the proper training to pursue meaningful and lasting work in Mexico;
--the poorly regulated underground economy in the U.S., which makes it possible for millions of workers to be absorbed into exploitive work in the service and farming industries;
--and the unwillingness of the U.S. to establish a real and organized guest-worker program which allows seasonal workers to anchor their lives in Mexico while working in the U.S.

My first recommendation would be for both countries to establish a comprehensive guest-worker program, which encourages Mexicans to live, invest and thrive in their home country while earning a living in the U.S.

I would recommend that the Mexican government do more to create opportunities for training in forward-looking industrial sectors like alternative fuels, technology and health fields.

I do not believe that there is only one answer to this issue, but that a joint multi-prong approach is the best place to start.”

Ufff! That was a long breath. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other massive-scale issues you’d like me to tackle in 300 words or less.

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Juleyka Lantigua is a writer whose work has appeared in books, magazines and newspapers around the country.

Note: All pop-up content embedded into articles are selected by our site editors and not individual contributors. They are purely for informational and contextual purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by individual contributors to the Republica Update.