Houston students join others nation wide to "come out as undocumented.

Immigrant students will publicly declare their undocumented status at UH-D on May 17th. The event is part of the Right to Dream day of action initiated by the United We Dream campaign.

The students and their supporters seek to gain relief from the increased deportations under the Obama administration and step up pressure on lawmakers to pass the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for eligible undocumented youth who completed either two years of college or two years of military service.

Obama’s immigration policies have come under fire by immigrant activists and national Hispanic organizations. Campaign season has kicked into full swing, and the growing importance of the Latino vote in swing states has been recognized by both Democrats and Republicans. Both parties have begun courting Latino voters.

“This is bigger than the DREAM Act, this is about justice and equality for all students. I deserve the right to be an engineer,” said Dulce Matuz, President of Arizona DREAM Act coalition.

Sen. Marco Rubio unveiled a scaled back version of the DREAM Act to help the children of undocumented parents gain legal status. Rubio’s version would provide DREAM Act students with visas before allowing them to go through the normal immigration process, a move some of his fellow Republicans have decried as backdoor amnesty. Previous versions of the DREAM Act called for undocumented students to receive permanent residency or citizenship.

As part of the student’s campaign they have released a “Declaration of DREAMs,” which claims certain rights for DREAMers:

• The right to live our lives without fear
• The right to live with our families
• The right to live with our loved ones
• The right to move freely
• The right to education
• The right to give back to our communities
• The right to build a strong sustainable economy
• The right to fulfill our Dreams.

FIEL, a local DREAM Act activist organization, organized the local coming out action in concert with 22 other events around the country.

“Under the Obama Administration, we’ve experienced record high deportations and our communities are still stuck in the shadows. And, despite waiting over ten long years, Congress has not passed the legislation to protect us. Enough is enough. Through the Right to Dream campaign, we’re launching a nationwide call for real and lasting relief for DREAMers and our communities,” said a statement released by FIEL.

The rally will feature DREAM Act eligible students sharing their stories alongside their supporters.

Right to Dream video from Los Angeles
 

After 20 years with PBS, Gras has started her own producation company. Photo by: Anisworth Duvernay

The Venture spent some time with Patricia Gras, a true inspiration to Latinas. Gras is a TV host and producer of Living Smart with Patricia Gras at Houston PBS and although she is no longer a staff member with PBS, the show will continue airing this year.

She now owns her own independent production company. Patricia has also won multiple Emmys and is a cancer surivor.

Felipe Campos: For those who don’t know, what is Living Smart?

Patricia Gras: “It’s a show about life skills such as finances, health issues, spirituality and well-being. Living Smart is shown nationally on over 200 channels. Really, it’s a show about getting the most of life.”

FC: Patricia, tell us about winning an Emmy, how did you feel about that?

PG: To me, winning six Emmys means a lot to the television industry. I have won them with a team of great professionals for the documentaries I did over Romania, AIDS and civil rights issues. We have also won another 170 broadcasting awards in addition to that, but I enjoy the work more than the awards themselves, although I am very thankful for them.

Gras has been with Houston Public Broadcasting System- Houston’s Channel 8 for twenty-two years. She started September 1990 as a contract hire, but in November 1991 she became full staff. Gras is no longer with PBS.

PG: “I still believe in the PBS mission to educate and inform; a network of values and truth.”

FC: What have been some of your contributions as a humanitarian?

PG: Always participate in the community to achieve better race relations and to empower women in the workplace. I have worked with environmental groups, received an award from the African American Chamber of Commerce, Interfaith Ministries and every ethnic group in the community. Although, I was born in the United States, my parents and grandparents were from other parts of the world so I see myself as a universal, multiethnic person. My company, Gras Productions, is about reconnecting the world, because I believe we truly are interconnected.

FC: Mrs. Gras, how is the entertainment business different than other industries?

PG: Entertainment is a creative business, but a fast-moving business. TV is exciting but very competitive and ego driven. With that comes lots of envy, talented people tend to lose themselves because they are not grounded. Take a look at Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, both very talented who reached the pinnacle of success but also really fell hard. I call that being in “Una Montan~a Rusa” (a roller coaster ride).”

FC: You are a spiritual person, correct? What has been your spiritual journey throughout your life and career?

PG: I’ve always felt a connection to a higher divine power. I was raised Catholic but don’t consider myself religious. I am more spiritual. I believe in a higher power, divine love and a path to higher consciousness. It is something that has helped me deal with the entertainment world.

FC: As a role model, what advice do you have for Latinas in the entertainment industry?

PG: To my Latinas in the entertainment industry or anywhere, keep your priorities straight and understand relationships with yourself and others. Take steps to achieve goals, not just educated goals, but emotional, psychological and spiritual ones. Drugs and alcohol will only help you lose yourself. Have good manners, something crucial in life. Years back people were more family-oriented and valued the importance of manners which builds respect. To succeed, work harder, be more dedicated, and never lose opportunities to be the best you can be.

You can visit her website at Patriciagras.net

Professor Bott and UH President Khator show school spirit in one of Bott's classes.

“Simon Bott embodies true excellence in teaching. He cares deeply about his students from their understanding of chemistry to their success at college life in general,” said Mark A. Smith, dean of UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “His devotion to science education at all levels is exemplary, and this award is so very well deserved.”

Each year, the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation chooses 10 outstanding educators from across the state of Texas for this honor. A Texas-based nonprofit organization founded in 1950 for the purpose of supporting charitable, scientific and educational undertakings, the foundation began recognizing Piper Professors in 1958.

As an instructional professor and director of undergraduate affairs and advising in the department of chemistry, Bott’s actions both in and out of the classroom are legendary. Bott teaches seven introductory chemistry classes per year with a combined enrollment of nearly 3,000 undergraduates and still finds time to volunteer and drum up school spirit outside the classroom. A professor of chemistry at UH since 1997, Bott’s classes have become known for his animated and entertaining approach and are often standing room only with even students who aren’t majoring in chemistry fighting for a space in his lecture hall.

“I love teaching chemistry. It is possibly the most reviled subject in education, competing only with math and physics, yet it is the subject that lends itself to the most fun in-class activities,” Bott said. “There is little in my experience to compare with the ‘aha moment’ when a future neurosurgeon, theater major or Kindergarten teacher finally ‘clicks’ about chemistry. How one provides that ‘click’ is what has driven most of my professional career.”

One way he engages with his students is to give hand-written pop quizzes during every class period to gauge attendance and student comprehension. He personally sorts and grades these quizzes by hand so that he gets to know the students’ names. By doing so, he can call upon them in class to see where they are confused on concepts or calculations.

Beyond the classroom, Bott firmly believes that students need to become involved and engaged with the university and community as part of their education and, thus, encourages out-of-class activities. He says that students who are connected to and involved in campus life are more likely to succeed. Accordingly, he gives incentives to students for attending events on campus, joining organizations, voting in student elections and volunteering both at the university and in the outside community. Leading by example, he attends as many of these events as possible and has established several campus-wide programs designed to engage and involve students.

As one former student wrote in a letter of support for Bott, “You enter the lecture theater and immediately you are struck by the fact that everyone is wearing red, our school color. You know that something special is about to happen. There is excitement in the air, anticipation. The energy level is high. Is this lecture to be given by a famous man? He’s certainly famous at UH. Dr. Bott encourages us to show our support for the university and to show we are proud to be part of this community. He makes enormous contributions to university life and is an outstanding lecturer who inspires his students to fulfill their potential.”

Another student of Bott’s who transferred from Stanford to graduate from UH in 2010 and is now pursuing a graduate degree at Yale wrote, “From the first five minutes of his class, I knew that the course would be different and more exciting than any science course I had ever taken. Dr. Bott’s wild enthusiasm for teaching, his unconcealed passion for UH and his absolute love of chemistry were never hidden for a second. He so profoundly impacted my way of thinking about science, about life. He is tangible proof that a student can receive a world-class education at UH.”

After more than 20 years of teaching chemistry, Bott says he still loves it and what keeps him excited every day is the four-way interaction between himself, chemistry, UH and his students. And the more involved he becomes, he says, the more his enthusiasm grows.

Three members of the H.I.S.D. school board voted against merging Kaleidoscope charter school with Long middle school

At a meeting in April, the Houston Independent School District Board decided to merge the exemplary-rated Kaleidoscope Charter School with Jane Long Middle School by a vote of 6-3.

The decision was called “horrible” by activists who gathered over 640 signatures in a petition to save the school. At the meeting, 35 supporters in red shirts stood together to urge the school board to not merge Kaleidoscope with what they feel is a struggling middle school.

“Out of all the schools that are currently Exemplary, why would you shut one down?” asked community organizer Fidencio Leija Chavez, Jr. “Instead of embracing it — keeping it intact — they’re wanting to take it apart and dismantle it.”

A coalition of local Latino groups, which included Mi Familia Vota, Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL), and National Hispanic Professional Organization (NHPO) Leadership Institute sought to keep the school open.

The school board took about ninety minutes to reach their decision after hearing from parents, who were concerned about the quality of education at Jane Long, and students who brought up issues of potential bullying.

“Every opportunity to learn from and empower our community is a win for us. Students, parents and community leaders took a heart-felt stand for quality education and fought to save a successful program in Southwest Houston. That we lost is bitter but that we came together is cause for celebration.” said a press release put out by the coalition.

HISD Trustees Manuel Rodriguez, Juliet Stipeche and Board President Michael Lunceford supported keeping the school open.

Kaleidoscope has just over 100 students, many of which are immigrants.

MillerCoors will choose 12 individuals from the pool of nominees to participate in the 2012 MillerCoors Líderes program. The 12 Líderes will be announced during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15- Oct.15), when the public will have the opportunity to vote for the Líder of the Year. The MillerCoors Líder of the year will receive a $25,000 MillerCoors grant to develop a community leadership project benefitting the Hispanic community.

“We are excited to open the nomination process to the public and anticipate a great response,” says Jose Ruano, multicultural relations manager for MillerCoors. “There are many Latino leaders who are working hard to improve themselves and their communities. MillerCoors is proud to shine a light on those who are making a difference and award one Líder with a grant to make an impact in his or her own local community.”

The general public can nominate a candidate on www.MillerCoorsLideres.com, until May 25, 2012.

Elianne Ramos, Vice Chair, Communications and PR for Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) was one of the 2011 MillerCoors Líderes based on her exceptional contributions to the Latino community.

Ford's donation helps HAHMP provide scholarships to the next wave of Latino media professionals.

Each year HAHMP awards scholarships to college students pursuing media careers. At HAHMP’s 2012 gala, in addition to 10 scholarships, the organization was able to provide free Ipads to scholarship recipients.

The Ford Motor Company is a pioneer in Hispanic outreach, with over 20 years of aggressive spending to market to the demographic. Hispanic car-buyers in 2010 made up seven percent of all new vehicle retail purchases in the U.S., according to a study by Truecar.com. The same study also noted that import brands are the most sought after vehicles by Hispanics.

“The Hispanic market is very critical for automakers, being the fastest growing minority group in the U.S.,” said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights at TrueCar.com. “The domestic automakers have some work ahead of them as the Asian brands have a stronghold on Hispanic car buyers.”

HAHMP Website

 
The detention of 200 child immigrants in temporary housing at Lackland Air Force Base last week was shocking and unsettling.

It put a youthful face on the problem of U.S. immigration. Here the “illegal alien” is a child from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras crossing the South Texas desert or border port with no parent, seeking refuge from poverty, abuse, child sex trafficking, or just looking to reunite with their parents.

The problem is not new, but it is growing. The Office of Refugee Resettlement reports that during the past four months, 5,252 kids landed in U.S. custody without a parent or guardian. This is almost double what it was from the same period a year ago. Last month alone, 1,390 youths arrived.

The cause of the surge baffles even the experts. In part it may be due to tougher border security, making it more difficult for parents working in the U.S. to return for their children. The size of the Border Patrol has doubled in the past few years.

These child refugees are collateral damage of the inability of the Congress and the President to reach agreement in the past four years on comprehensive immigration reform in a politically polarized environment.

With no federal action, last year 42 states and Puerto Rico enacted 197 new laws and 109 new resolutions on immigration. Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah passed extreme measures modeled after the law in Arizona.

The Supreme Court heard an appeal of the Arizona law last week. If the justices uphold it, the law makes undocumented immigrants criminals of the state and places local law officers in the position of enforcing federal immigration law. It also makes anyone suspect who looks like they might be an immigrant and gives state and local officers the power to detain them until they can produce proper documents.

Don’t count on Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform prior to the election in November. But you can be sure that the immigration issue will play a huge role in Presidential election politics, given the increase in the size of the Latino voting bloc.

Now some Republicans are having second thoughts about whether it is politically wise to use draconian measures like the Arizona law, so offensive to Latino voters, to deal with undocumented immigrants. Last week, Mitt Romney, an immigration hawk, appeared with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in an effort to court the Latino vote.

Rubio has a version of the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act that is scaled down for Republican Congressional consumption. It is hard to believe that Republicans in Congress have repeatedly rejected something as non-threatening as the DREAM Act, which provides a path to citizenship for young immigrants who have no criminal background and have proven themselves for a period of time as productive residents through college or military service.

Rubio’s version of DREAM would allow them to remain in the country temporarily under new kind of nonimmigrant visa, but it does not lay out a path to permanent residency and citizenship.

The DREAM Act is an easy compromise and would be a start down the path of a more comprehensive immigration package. But it would not put a dent in the mounting problems of immigration reform.

Comprehensive immigration reform would include a guest-worker program with temporary work permits to unauthorized immigrants now in the US, an entry-exit system that tracks immigrants, and permanent residency leading to citizenship for those who have the intent and shown their ability to become productive members of society.

The current federal immigration laws cannot track the flow of immigrants. Keeping undocumented immigrants in the shadows leads to human rights abuses like those experienced by the child refugees.

Robert Brischetto runs Social Research Services in Lakehills, Texas. He was executive director of the Southwest Voter Research Institute from 1982-1995. He can be reached at rbrischetto@wireweb.net.

Opinions expressed in this article are solely that of the author. The article is not intended to represent The Venture editorial policy and do not necessarily reflect the views of our staff, board of directors or supporters.

Goran Dragic becomes a free agent after an impressive night on the last game of the season. Photo Courtesy: Rick Custer/The Overtime Page

“There’s no way we shouldn’t be in the playoffs this weekend but we’re not,” head coach Kevin McHale said after the Rockets last game of the season.

The team was in the race for the last spot in the playoffs with three games left to play, but a six-game losing streak knocked the Rockets out of the race. The Rockets shot a season-low 35 percent and overcame a 17-point deficit to win Thursday night. It took holding the Hornets to 39 percent from the field and to a franchise-low six points in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets got off to an ugly start shooting only 20 percent from the field to allot 12 points in the first quarter. The team came out settling for jumpers, shooting 10 three-pointers in the first period and only making 2 for 20 percent shooting. The Hornets made eight out 18 field goals in the first for 44 percent shooting, and 33 percent behind the arc. New Orleans outhustled Houston at the beginning of the game to start what would become a comfortable lead.

The score at halftime was 33-42 Hornets way; the lead at one point was 17. Chase Budinger finished with a season high 27 points with 12 at halftime. Budinger was making shots, McHale said about his leading scorer for the night. Goran Dragic distributed the ball with 13 assists for the night.

Dragic has recently drawn a lot of attention due to his performance; he’s now a free agent. Teams like the New York Knicks and perhaps the Miami Heat will be interested in signing the Houston starter.

“I’m still a Houston Rocket. I’m going to go home, relax, talk with my family (and) my agent and then we’re going to bring the decision that’s best for me,” Dragic told The Overtime Page in an interview after the game. “The possibility is to come back. I like the city, the fans (and) the organization, and hopefully we’re going to make something happen.”

Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted a message late Thursday night asking Houston fans to show Dragic they want him to sign his extension with the team.

“Rockets fans, tell Dragic how much you want him to extend his time with Houston. I will get your message to him,” Morey’s tweet read.

As of now, it’s time for the Rockets to start looking ahead to the offseason and start thinking about making some moves.

“I’m sure the (Rockets) will do what’s best for our team and what they think will help us win more games,” said Chandler Parsons in an after-the-game interview about the team’s priorities during the offseason.

Rudner often appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She can now be seen performing at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

Tickled Pink with Rita Rudner is a light-hearted evening that will make a serious difference in the lives of survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Rudner will use her humor to help raise funds that will benefit the Women’s Center and its clients.

This year the Houston Area Women’s Center is also Honoring Beverly and Jim Postl and ExxonMobil for their unwavering support.

Event Information:

Friday April 27, 2012

at the Omni Houston

Event Co-Chairs: Nancy and Bob Peiser

Underwriting Chair: Melanie Gray

Honoring Beverly and Jim Postl and ExxonMobil

Cocktail Reception – 7pm

Dinner and Program – 8pm

For table and ticket information, call or email Nicola Johnson at 713-528-6798 x2233 or njohnson@hawc.org

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The Hispanic Scholarship Fund has received an anonymous gift of $4 million dollars which will enable the organization to award scholarships to 600 students who are currently college freshmen during the current academic year, with an opportunity of renewal in their sophomore year.

The majority of the students are pursuing careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), or health care fields. All of the students come from low-income homes, and are the first in their families to pursue a college degree.

“We were humbled and encouraged that someone felt so strongly about our mission to send an anonymous gift of $4 million dollars,” says Frank D. Alvarez, President and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. “We have a pool of academically-talented students, who would not have been selected to receive our support because of lack of funds,” he added, “thanks to this generous donation, these students can now continue to earn a college degree.”

“I will be the first to attend a four year university and achieve a bachelor’s degree. Having an abundance of little cousins and sisters I want them to have hope that they too can succeed” says Alejandro Pena, freshman accounting major from the DePaul University in Chicago, and one of the awardees. “I am creating footsteps for other Hispanics like my sisters and cousins to follow,” he added.

To help students like Alejandro, HSF created Generation 1st Degree, a new initiative which aims to send at least one member of every Latino household in America to complete a college degree. The initiative is focused on closing the “degree gap” that exists between Hispanic students and their peers.

HSF’s seeks to the boost degree attainment among Latinos from 19 percent to 60 percent by 2025.

This is not the first time HSF has received a gift of this nature. HSF was one of the organizations chosen by president Obama to share a portion of his Nobel Peace Prize, and Gil and Jacki Cisneros, who won $266 million in a multi-state lottery, donated a portion of their winnings to advance the Generation 1st Degree initiative in their hometown of Pico Rivera, Ca.

“Once there is a college graduate in the home, others in the family realize they too can pursue a college education,” says Alvarez, “if we want this nation to compete in the global economy, we need to help Latino students and their families believe college is possible, and help them with the resources to get there. This multimillion dollar donation will help us do just that.”