Originally published in The San Diego Union Tribune, May 25, 2020.
May is graduation season. Only this year, commencements throughout the country were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. A crushing development for seniors in high school and in college, for postgraduate students — and for their families. For first-generation college students especially, the first in the family to go to college, graduation ceremonies are the culmination of years of struggle navigating the college bureaucracy. First-generation college students usually come from low-income families and they are often nontraditional students. Nontraditional students include older students, students enrolled part-time, working parents. It takes most nontraditional students much longer than four years to get their bachelor’s degree. This is why commencement means so much to them because walking on stage to get that diploma is like running through the finish line after a long, hard marathon. The term nontraditional student is a misnomer because the college population is changing. Increasingly, public institutions serve first-generation college students and nontraditional students. Our public higher education system, at least in California, is increasingly egalitarian.
Not only were there no graduation ceremonies this year, job prospects look bleak for the class of 2020. We are facing the weakest economy in our lifetime. Unemployment claims have skyrocketed to 27 million. It was already a struggle, prior to the coronavirus, for college students to find their first professional job after graduation. According to a 2018 Burning Glass Technologies and Strada Institute for the Future of Work report, roughly 43% of college graduates are underemployed in their first job after earning their degree. For first-generation college students, with limited social capital, it is even more difficult to get that first opportunity when their parents lack professional connections to help their children find a career-relevant job. As the old saying goes, talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has put a spotlight on other inequities in our society. As disaggregated COVID-19 data was released by race and ethnicity, it is evident that African Americans and Latinos have been disproportionately impacted by the illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists economic and social conditions as reasons for the health disparities. These include living conditions, work circumstances, underlying health conditions and access to care, all policy-related issues that negatively impact the poor. COVID-19 made it clear that the strong economy we were told we had prior to the pandemic was only working for some. Many low-income families were hanging by a thread. According to the Brookings Institution, wealth inequality in our country is on the rise. While the top 20% of families held 77% of total household wealth in 2016, the bottom 20% held 2%. This wealth inequality is bad for our country. This is extremely clear during a pandemic.
One way we can support the class of 2020 and also counter wealth inequality is by hiring first-generation college graduates. Broaden your recruitment efforts. Proactively share job opportunities in a broader way that gives first-generation college graduates a fair shot at working at your company. If you tend to recruit solely from elite universities, consider expanding to include any of the 23 Cal State University (CSU) campuses. Recruiting from CSU makes smart business sense, especially if a company has an eye to diversify its workforce. The CSU has one of the most diverse student bodies in the country. Its campuses consistently rank highly for academic excellence, value, sustainability and opportunity.
Also, understand what it means to be a first-generation college graduate. It means they may be lacking some information that parents who have white-collar jobs share with their children. Students may lack mentors, and they may not have held internships because they stayed working in their retail or restaurant jobs in order to pay the bills. Understand this growing population. They represent our future. When you help a first-generation college graduate start their career, you are not just offering a job opportunity, you are providing a pathway to upward mobility for them and their families.
As a society, we love the idea that anyone can make it in this country. But the American dream has become more difficult to achieve. Post-pandemic, we must do things differently to address wealth inequality. Let’s focus our efforts on upward social mobility by sharing job opportunities with those outside our social group. As Minnesotan Paul Wellstone said, “We all do better when we all do better.”
Originally published in The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, October 2019.
Education is the path toward upward mobility. Yet it is education plus social class that may determine the type of job a person is able to get after graduating from college. Obtaining a college degree is simply not enough to ensure that first-generation college students (FGCS) are able to find professional success and achieve upward mobility. FGCS face additional barriers to career success, including limited social capital. Social capital is represented by a social network of helpful connections. These connections lead to important resources and helpful information. Student mentoring can be enhanced by understanding the role that social capital plays in students’ success and upward mobility. There is an information gap, that researchers have called a lack of social and cultural capital, which may explain why some historically underrepresented students struggle to adapt to college life and beyond. Students can compensate for this informational gap by actively seeking advisors and mentors, also known as institutional agents. Institutional agents can provide the missing information that parents of FGCS are not able to provide to their children. Peer mentors who acquire social capital can model to their peers how to build their social capital. This paper will present and discuss a case study. Cal State Fullerton’s Latino Communication Institute (LCI) has had success in mentoring FGCS to become workforce competitive by building their social capital.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Bourdieu (1986), whose work focused on social stratification and social reproduction, was one of the first sociologists to write about social capital. He explained social capital as social, resourceful relationships based on mutual group recognition (Bourdieu, 1986). For Bourdieu (1986), group recognition is key. Membership must be recognized by the group. Bourdieu (1986) states that to persist and exist, the group needs to come together through events. Coleman (1988) points out three forms of social capital: obligations and expectations, information channels, and social norms. The relationships with institutional agents are central to the social capital framework because it is institutional agents who can offer vital resources to low socioeconomic youth (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Stanton-Salazar (2011) suggests modifying Bourdieu’s definition of social capital which stresses mutual group recognition into this new definition of “resources embedded in social structure – and in the possibility of acting counter to the structure allowing for counterstratification” (p. 1085). This revised definition opens up the possibility that social capital is not exclusive to the upper class, as Bourdieu suggested, but can be embedded in the process of empowerment. Institutional agents motivated by social justice can go counter to the established social structure and can ‘alter the destinies’ of low socioeconomic status youth. For Stanton-Salazar (2011), empowerment social capital is what happens when an institutional agent of higher means helps a low-income student.
CONTENT
Education is the path to social mobility (Bourdieu, 1984). However, education alone does not guarantee social mobility (Boudon, 1986). A little-discussed truth in academia is that many recent college graduates are underemployed. Bourdieu (1984) calls it diploma inflation, the disparity between the educational promise (aspirations) and the opportunities the diploma offers. Roughly, 43% of college graduates are underemployed in their first job (Burning Glass Technologies and Strada Institute for the Future of Work, 2018). The first job after college graduation can have an impact on one’s future career (Burning Glass, 2018). Society offers a false promise, especially to FGCS, that a college diploma guarantees a good- paying, career-relevant job. According to Boudon (1986), education plus class is what ultimately influences what type of job a person gets. Institutional agents can teach FGCS how to build social capital to help them avoid underemployment and achieve social mobility. Figure 1 illustrates how institutional agents can help enhance FGCS educational experience and social mobility by helping them build social capital.
Figure 1. Institutional agents can help FGCS build social capital
Cal State University, Fullerton (CSUF), the largest university within the 23-campus California State University system, is a Hispanic serving institution with a 41.5% Latino student population. CSUF has a proven record of advancing the life outcomes of FGCS and Latino students, as evidenced by the fact that CSUF is first in California and second in the nation for the number of degrees awarded to Latinos. The College of Communications at CSUF graduates the most Latinos with a degree in Communications in California and is ranked second nationally. The Latino Communications Institute (LCI) compliments the work of CSUF by helping students secure a job that will create social mobility for them and their families. The mission of the Cal State University, Fullerton is to serve as a career development and employability program for students interested in working in the Latino market. This co-curricular program supports communication students in developing cultural competency in the U.S. Latino workforce through relevant courses, research, and a broad spectrum of educational opportunities. The Institute incorporates three pillars: workforce preparedness, curricular and co-curricular programs that enhance students’ Latino cultural competency, and research. In the six years since its formation, the LCI has learned a great deal about how to help FGCS build social capital to secure relevant jobs and achieve upward mobility.
The LCI helps prepare the next generation of bilingual, bicultural English-Spanish communicators through culturally responsive curriculum. This includes a “Spanish for Hispanic Media” professional certificate, immersive research in the Latino marketplace, partnerships with Spanish-bilingual media, faculty experts, and industry professionals. The LCI has a track record of coaching FGCS to become competitive in the workforce by not only focusing on coursework, but also obtaining career-relevant experience and growing their network of peers and professionals. Established in 2013, the LCI has focused on the social capital empowerment of the students and created a pathway for social mobility for students and recent graduates. The following section provides the definition of social capital and identifies three forms of social capital, which the LCI incorporates in its student mentorship.
Social Capital
Coleman (1988) identifies three forms of social capital: obligations and expectations, information channels, and social norms. Obligations and expectations are transactional favors that earn credit slips; one does a favor for someone and, due to trust in reciprocity, has the expectation they can call on a favor later (Coleman, 1988). Information channels are relationships that offer helpful information (Coleman, 1988). Lastly, social norms expect group members to act in the interest of the group and forgo self-interest (Coleman, 1988). Thus, social capital are social structures that adopt norms and trust to facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit (Putnam, 1993). Putnam (1993) writes that where one lives and whom one knows determines the social capital one can draw on. Because social structures tend to remain segregated, a challenge then becomes how to make social capital accessible to low socioeconomic status individuals.
Coleman (1988) identifies families deficient in social capital as those with the physical absence of adults or those with weak relationships between children and parents. The most prominent element of structural deficiency in modern families is the single-parent home (Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1993). It is important to note that the lack of parents’ college education relates to cultural capital, not social capital. Nevertheless, parents’ social relations influence their children’s’ social capital. For families who have moved often, the social ties that constitute social capital are broken at each move (Coleman, 1988). For example, immigrant moving to a new country would tend to have limited social capital. Language barriers would inhibit social capital as well.
The chasm between the dominant culture and that of underrepresented students’ culture creates an information gap (Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). Educational researchers have identified this information gap as the historically underrepresented students’ lack of social and cultural capital (Pascarella et al., 2004). Critical race theory researchers agree that historically underrepresented students do not lack cultural capital, but instead bring with them their cultural capital different from that of the dominant culture (Strayhorn, 2010; Yosso, 2005). Low socioeconomic status students can compensate for this informational gap by actively seeking advisors and mentors, or what Stanton-Salazar (2011) calls institutional agents.
LCI, teaching FGCS how to build social capital
The LCI recognizes that FGCS often experience information gaps that negatively impact their workforce competitiveness. One of the ways the LCI builds social capital is by advocating to key employers on students’ behalf to help place students in paid internships as well as help recent graduates land entry-level jobs in their field. It’s not that easy to get that first break after college, especially when one has limited social capital. LCI’s founding partner Casanova//McCann is a good example of the important role an employer can have in preparing college students for their first career job after graduation. Casanova has welcomed dozens of interns to their firm and hired many recent college graduates. As part of the LCI’s two-year partnership with the PRSA Foundation, we placed Latino PRIME Scholars in top PR agencies such as Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, and Ogilvy. In the newsroom, where Latinos are underrepresented, the LCI works to identify small media markets that are willing to give a chance to recent graduates. Telemundo in Oklahoma, for example, has opened its doors to several of the LCI alumni. The advocacy that we do on behalf of the students is paying off. LCI has alumni working in Texas, Philadelphia, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, D.C., New York, and California. The LCI has also increased its presence in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and New York with alumni working at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
As part of its work, the LCI identifies barriers that inhibit academic and professional success. For example, one barrier that LCI has been able to identify is familial pressure to stay local after graduation. For most of our journalism students, initial career success is predicated on relocating out of the Los Angeles market (the second largest media market in the nation), in order to start their careers. However, this proves problematic as Latino parents expect that their children will choose to live nearby after graduation. The LCI mitigates this barrier by providing culturally appropriate advocacy that helps parents/families understand the opportunities made possible through relocation. Beyond advocacy, LCI also addresses the specific needs of students and graduates by offering emotional support to assist with the transition into a predominantly white-dominant industry and possibly out of the region. Often referred to as “family” by student participants, the LCI is a valuable network that becomes an essential part of students’ social capital.
The LCI is a virtual Institute comprised of over 150 students and alumni. Three empowering institutional agents, faculty and staff, lead the work. The alumni not only continue to benefit from being part of this community but also act as peer mentors to each other and to students. The group remains connected by a closed Facebook page where job postings and other opportunities are shared on a weekly, if not daily basis. An alumni event takes place every year. Each semester the LCI has a kickoff and wrap-up event. All three of Coleman’s (1988) forms of social capital are evident in the LCI. The students and alumni consistently share job opportunities, and other helpful information. Students must invest in building relationships to get full advantage of the social capital the group offers. A culture of paying it forward has been established, evident by alumni’s financial contributions to the Institute and their willingness to peer mentor others in the group. Alumni, some who graduated five years ago continue to be heavily invested in the Institute. They are grateful for the social capital they earned through the LCI and embrace the idea of paying it forward. As Coleman (1988) suggests, as long as the established relations provide benefits, the actors will continue the relations. The following section explains the important role that resourceful institutional agents can have to help FGCS learn how to increase their social capital not only as students but throughout their life.
Institutional Agents
Stanton-Salazar (2011) defined institutional agents as non-family members with relative high-status, able to offer social and institutional support to an adolescent. The degree that institutional agents are effective in empowering youth depends on the “resourcefulness of their own social networks, as well as their orientation toward effective networking” (p. 1068). Institutional agents are part of the institutions’ supportive ties, which offer resources and social support to youth to ensure their active participation in the institution (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). The relationships with institutional agents are central to the social capital framework because it is the institutional agents who offer the vital resources to the youth (Stanton-Salazar, 2011).
In college, institutional agents can provide the missing information that parents of FGCS are not able to offer to their children. Institutional support, programs, and resources available to students can also mitigate this information gap (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Although relationships with institutional agents are of value to all students, they become crucial for students of color (Watson et al., 2002). Studies have shown that “marginalized students are more successful at navigating the cultural, psychosocial, and intellectual college terrain when they benefit from key forms of assistance from institutional agents” (Deil-Amen, 2011, p. 58). However, historically underrepresented students may lack the necessary confidence to become engaged with their institution and to seek help (Bensimon, 2007).
Stanton-Salazar (2011) presents three ideas concerning institutional agents. First, for youth to prosper, a supportive and resourceful network of mentors, socialization agents and institutional agents is needed, as well as social activities organized within this network. Second, for many youth, especially those from working-class families, it is a challenge to create a supportive network of nonparental adults (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Third, although social stratification tends to keep underprivileged youth in a low socioeconomic status, interventions help selected youth build the trusting networks they need to succeed. These interventions are what Stanton-Salazar (2011) defines as empowerment.
While social stratification regulates access to social capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Stanton-Salazar, 2011), those of low socioeconomic status do find ways to empower themselves, often with the help of institutional agents. Nevertheless, as a norm, low socioeconomic status youth do not know how to access well-resourced institutional support. When they do, it’s through interventions such as special educational programs where students become involved and build relationships with committed institutional agents. Stanton-Salazar identifies three significant challenges for students from historically underserved communities to develop supportive relationships with institutional agents. First, differences in gender race/ethnicity, class, and cultural perspectives when the institution does not show commitment to diversity and equity (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Second, FGCS tend to be more dependent on non-familial institutional agents; therefore, trust and solidarity are vital in these types of relationships. Third, potentially eligible agents may be hindered by bureaucracy and personal agendas that do not value efforts to offer low socioeconomic status youth empowerment social capital.
Stanton-Salazar (2011) introduces the concept of “empowerment social capital”, allowing for the possibility that institutional agents can break the social reproduction theory and redistribute resources “in the service of social justice and counterstratification (p. 1085). Through social capital empowerment youth learn to collaborate with others, to exercise interpersonal influence, to act politically, to confront and contest oppressive institutional practices, to make tough decisions and work to solve community problems, to organize and perform complex organizational tasks, and to assume democratic leadership” (Stanton-Salazar, 2011, p. 1093). It is not enough to empower youth to do well academically and to build social capital. It is also essential to empower youth engage in meaningful social change.
CONCLUSION
Almost half of recent college graduates are underemployed in their first job after graduation. FGCS, especially, struggle to start their career. For FGCS, social capital can make a difference between underemployment and social mobility. Social capital is represented by social, resourceful relationships based on trust in reciprocity. This social network of helpful connectors support each other by sharing valuable information (e.g, job leads). Institutional agents can and should teach FGCS how to build social capital to achieve social mobility.
The LCI has been successful in creating a social network that helps FGCS become workforce ready and able to secure internships and employment with top employers. The Institute does this with the help of resourceful institutional agents who provide vital information to students and alumni. Consistent gatherings keep the LCI network connected and strong. Alumni are asked to pay it forward by mentoring peers and students, which makes the network more powerful and effective. The LCI alumni stays engaged and involved because they see a benefit from being an active member of this network. Job postings are often shared within the group by alumni who act as references for each other. As the alumni continue to move up the ladder, the network becomes even more resourceful. Often referred to as a family-type community by student participants, the LCI is a valuable mentorship network for students and alumni.
REFERENCES
Bensimon, E. M. (2007). The underestimated significance of practitioner knowledge in the scholarship on student success. The Review of Higher Education, 30(4), 441-469.
Boudon, R. (1986). Education, Social Mobility, and Sociological Theory. In Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (261-274). New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In Richardson J. G. Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (241-58). New York, NY: Greenwood Press
Burning Glass Technologies & Strada Institute for the Future of Work (2018), The Permanent Detour: Underemployment’s Long-Term Effects on the Careers of College Grads. Retrieved from: https://www.burning-glass.com/wp-content/uploads/ permanent_detour_underemployment_report.pdf
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. The American Journal of Sociology 94, S95-S120
Deil-Amen, R. (2011). Socio-Academic integrative moments: Rethinking academic and social integration among two-year college students in career-related programs. The Journal of Higher Education 82(1), 54-91.
Pascarella, E., Pierson, C. T., Wolniak, G.C., & Terenzini, P. T. (2004). First- generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. The Journal of Higher Education, 75(3) 249-284.
Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and their role in the empowerment of low-status students and youth. Youth & Society, 43(3), 1066-1109.
Strayhorn, T. L. (2010). When race and gender collide: Social and cultural capital’s influence on the academic achievement of African American and Latino males. The Review of Higher Education, 33(3), 307-332. doi:10.1353/rhe.0.0147
Watson, L. W., Terrell, M. C., Wright, D. J., Bonner, F. A., Cuyjet, M. J., Gold, J. A., Rudy, D. E., & Person, D. R., (2002). How minority students experience college. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69-91.
A little-discussed reality is that many recent college graduates are underemployed. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called this diploma inflation, the disparity between the educational promise and the opportunities the diploma offers. Roughly 43% of college graduates are underemployed in their first job after earning their degree. The first job after college can set the pace for one’s career. It’s a false promise, especially for first-generation college students, that a college diploma guarantees a good-paying career-relevant job. Bourdieu’s compatriot, Raymond Boudon claimed that education plus class is what ultimately influences the type of job a person gets. It’s something to ponder. American sociologist Ricardo Stanton-Salazar writes that when low socioeconomic status youth do overcome the odds, it is usually through interventions that embed them in a network of institutional agents connected to services, organizations, and resources oriented toward their empowerment.
Cal State University, Fullerton (CSUF), one of the largest universities within the 23-campus California State University system, is a Hispanic serving institution with a 42% Latinx student population. The College of Communications at CSUF graduates the most Latinos with a degree in Communications in the state. The Latino Communications Institute (LCI) at CSUF helps prepare the next generation of bilingual, bicultural English-Spanish communicators through culturally responsive curriculum. This includes a “Spanish for Hispanic Media” professional certificate, immersive research in the Latino marketplace, partnerships with Spanish-bilingual media, faculty experts, and industry professionals to create a workforce pipeline for students. The LCI has a track record of coaching first-generation college students to become competitive in the workforce. We do this by advising students to focus not just on coursework, but also on obtaining career-relevant experience and building a professional network that will help them succeed.
One of the ways the LCI makes a difference in students’ lives is by advocating on their behalf to key employers in order to help place students in paid internships as well as help recent graduates land entry-level jobs in their field. It’s not that easy to get that first break after college, especially when one has limited social capital. LCI’s founding partner Casanova//McCann, is an excellent example of the vital role an employer can have in preparing college students. Casanova has welcomed dozens of interns to their firm and hired many recent college graduates. As part of the LCI’s two-year partnership with the PRSA Foundation, we placed Latino PRIME Scholars in top PR agencies such as Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, and Ogilvy. In the newsroom, where Latinos are underrepresented, the LCI works to identify small media markets that are willing to give a chance to recent graduates. Telemundo in Oklahoma, for example, has opened its doors to several of the LCI alumni. The advocacy that we do on behalf of the students is paying off. LCI has alumni working in Texas, Philadelphia, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, D.C., New York, and California. The LCI has also increased its presence in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and New York with alumni working at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony.
The LCI also identifies barriers that inhibit academic and professional success. For example, one hurdle is familial pressure to stay local after graduation. For most of our journalism students, initial career success is predicated on relocating out of the Los Angeles market to start their careers. However, this proves problematic as Latino parents expect that their children will choose to live nearby after graduation. The LCI mitigates this barrier by providing culturally appropriate advocacy that helps parents and students understand the opportunities made possible through relocation. Beyond advocacy, LCI also addresses the specific needs of students and graduates by offering emotional support to assist with the transition into a predominantly white-dominant industry and possibly out of the region.
Regular events keep the LCI network connected and active. Alumni are asked to “pay it forward” by mentoring peers and students, which makes the network more powerful and effective. The LCI alumni stay engaged and involved because they see a benefit from being an active member of this network. Job postings are often shared within the group by alumni who act as references for each other. As the alumni continue to move up the ladder, the network becomes even more resourceful. Often referred to as a family-type community by student participants, the LCI is a valuable network for students and alumni. If you are an employer who offers paid internships and has entry-level jobs, we would love to hear from you and make you part of the work we do to lift up first generation college students.
A recent survey by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) found that U.S. employers have an urgent and growing need to hire employees with foreign language skills. Nine out of ten employers have a reliance on U.S.-based employees with language skills other than English. Spanish is by far the most sought-after language, followed by Chinese, French, and Japanese. It is expected that these foreign language skill needs will continue to grow in the next five years. Employers report a loss of business due to the lack of foreign language skills in their workforce. The changing demographics in the U.S. help explain the increase need for foreign language skills.
According to Forbes, Latinos represent 18% of the U.S. population. They are the second-fastest growing and youngest demographic group in the country with $1.7 trillion in purchasing power. In California, referring to Latinos as a minority group is a misnomer. In 2014, California was declared a Latino plurality state representing 39% of the state’s population. It shouldn’t be surprising then that this demographic shift has intensified the interest by corporations to connect effectively with the Latino consumer. One of the ways to connect with Latino consumers is in their preferred language.
While most U.S. Latinos speak English, according to Nielsen, younger Latinos are predominantly bilingual. In total, 55% of Latinos are bilingual, 27% are English-dominant and 19% are Spanish-dominant. Apparently, corporate America’s confusion on Latinos’ language preference comes from its obliviousness to the increase in English-Spanish bilingualism. My mom used to say that Spanish is the most beautiful language in the world – when spoken correctly. Turns out she was onto something. A Facebook IQ survey found that, on average, US Latinos feel Spanish is more “beautiful” and “emotional” than English. According to Facebook IQ, ads in Spanish versus in English significantly increase Latinos’ interest in purchasing products and Latinos see brands that advertise in Spanish in a more positive light.
Cal State University Fullerton (CSUF), the largest CSU campus, is a Hispanic serving institution with a 41.5% Latinx student population. The College of Communications at CSUF graduates the most Latinos with a degree in Communications in the nation. At CSUF we understand that there is a demand for English-Spanish bilingual communicators, this is why the Latino Communications Institute (LCI) was established. Employers contact us often looking for students who are proficient in Spanish. Many CSUF students learned Spanish at home, but they lack the formal training necessary to be Spanish proficient. It is one thing to speak Spanish with family and friends and quite another to be able to speak and write Spanish in a professional setting. CSUF is doing its part in offering culturally responsive curriculum and embracing bilingualism. The College of Communications and the Department of Modern Languages & Literature offer a professional certificate for English-Spanish bilingual students to become Spanish adept. The gift of bilingualism that many students received from their parents can be transformed into a monetized skill that give students an edge in an increasingly competitive job market. Best of all, speaking more than one language is not only good for one’s career, it’s also good for the brain. The American Academy of Neurology found a delay of dementia in bilingual patients. When it comes to language skills, two is better than one.
Published originally as a LinkedIn article May 23, 2019.
We are all biased; it’s part of our human nature. Unconscious or implicit bias is when we make judgments about people or things. Through socialization, we have adopted stereotypes we believe to be true. Biases lead an employer to favor an equally qualified applicant over another; it happens all the time. One way to address our biases is to become self-aware of the stereotypes we have adopted and re-evaluate those beliefs. A hiring bias that I’ve noticed is the preference to hire students from elite schools. I recall a Washington D.C. lobbyist proudly trumpeting the fact that all his employees had gone to elite universities. I guess that makes sense. As a Harvard graduate myself, I know that I received an excellent education at that Ivy League school. My Harvard degree implies that I’m a talented student or, as the college admission scandal illustrates, that I’m the daughter of wealthy donors. I understand why employers have biases that favor students from elite institutions, but in hiring, there is always a risk factor no matter the school someone attends.
Human resource experts are familiar with biases; they’ve been trained and understand how the unconscious mind works. Others in the hiring decision chain may not be as enlightened. I’ve heard awful stories from CSUF students searching for an entertainment industry internship. Someone in the hiring decision chain at a television network tells an applicant that she doesn’t look like the typical intern at that network. Another interviewer at a film studio looks at the student’s resume and says “you are from CSUF, I’m sorry, I’m looking for out-of-state applicants.” No wonder the entertainment industry has such a diversity problem. Even at the internship level, there are unnecessary roadblocks for a person of color to get hired. It’s not all doom and gloom for CSUF students trying to break into entertainment. Employers who are familiar with Titans make it a point to recruit from CSUF. A handful of entertainment companies consistently visit our campus to recruit from among our talented, hardworking, diverse student population.
Recruiting from CSUF, and probably any other CSU campus, makes smart business sense, especially if a company wants to increase its workforce diversity. CSUF ranks fourth nationally for awarding bachelor degrees to underrepresented students. Students at CSUF receive a solid education. U.S. News & World Report ranks CSUF among the nation’s top national universities. CSUF students learn in a diverse campus environment. Team class projects allow students to work with others who don’t look like them. Many students have developed excellent soft skill in their part-time jobs that they’ve had for years. Most students work in retail or service industries perfecting their customer service skills. CSUF students are go-getters looking for a fair shot at one of those coveted internship spots in entertainment that often are saved for the executives’ children. (I’ll save the topic of opportunity hoarding for another time). Employers who want to diversify their workforce should recruit from diverse campuses. The diverse talent pool is at CSUF and other public universities, not necessarily at the elite schools. To media and entertainment executives I say, give the children of working families a shot at working in your organization.
Published originally as a LinkedIn article April 5, 2019.
A 2014 PwC research study on millennials found staggering results regarding personal finances and financial literacy. Only 24% of survey participants demonstrated basic financial knowledge. The majority were concerned with being able to pay their student loans. Almost half of them didn’t think they could come up with $2,000 for an emergency. Nearly 30% were overdrawing their checking accounts, 43% used alternate financial services (e.g. payday loans and pawnshops), 36% had a retirement account, and 17% took a loan from their retirement account in the past 12 months.
Millennials are the generation between 18-34 years old, and Latinos represent 22% of U.S. millennials. This is probably the reason that Ford Latino approached us last year to facilitate a discussion on financial independence for Latino millennials, with an emphasis on becoming an entrepreneur. The CSUF Latino Communications Institute (LCI) hosted the Financially Independent event that turned out to be an intimate discussion on personal finance and entrepreneurship. I was initially intrigued by why Ford Latino would be interested in sponsoring this type of conversation, with no strings attached. In other words, they weren’t selling anything. They just wanted us to facilitate the discussion. The panelists we invited were Philip Sanchez, Vice President with City National Bank and fitness entrepreneurs Carmen Melgoza and Gustavo Gutierrez.
Because of the intimate setting of the event, we were able to discuss more personal issues regarding finance. One point that came up is that based on our upbringing, we may have personal baggage regarding how we handle money. I thought about my dad. A very religious man and a small businessman, he didn’t believe in having money sitting in the bank. Instead, he would continuously invest in growing his company, often gambling in a big way. His faith made him bold but financially reckless. I still can’t believe that such a smart man didn’t have life insurance to provide some financial support for my mother after he passed away. I’m not sure where we are expected to learn about financial literacy. If our parents aren’t financially literate, it won’t happen at home. Regardless of where it happens, financial literacy is essential.
A well-kept secret, at least in my circle, is that April is National Financial Literacy Month. In researching this article, I found a great resource to share, Money Management International (MMI). I have no affiliation with the organization. MMI is the largest full service nonprofit consumer credit counseling organization in the nation. MMI receives federal funding and grants to provide free counseling. They do charge an affordable fee for debt management. Its website includes a step-by-step process for improving financial wellness. I encourage you to check it out.
On National Financial Literacy Month, let’s commit to taking at least a few of MMI’s steps to financial wellness. Share this information with others as well. As an educator, I have found that creating awareness and sharing resources is sometimes all that is needed for positive change to take place. We don’t need to be wealthy to get on the road to financial independence. Knowing where our money goes and starting to save for that emergency, that will come, are a couple of first steps we can take. I’m still working on achieving financial wellness; I commit to getting there. I hope you commit as well.
I dedicate this article in memory of my friend Deborah Aguiar-Vélez, who consistently shared the message of the importance of becoming financially independent.
Published originally as a LinkedIn article December 6, 2018.
I’ve been waiting for a champion, with a national platform, to speak up against the practice of unpaid internships. I just found her. Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines for tweeting about the need for Congress to pay a D.C. living wage to congressional staff and pay congressional interns. It’s been a long-standing practice for Congress not to pay their interns. Last year, Pay Our Interns published a report “Experience Doesn’t Pay the Bills,” which identified the congressional offices who pay their interns. Members of Congress were identified as either paying interns a salary, a stipend, or not paying them at all. Even before it was published, the report made an immediate impact. A handful of lawmakers committed to start paying their interns. California Senator Kamala Harris, for example, was listed as pledging to start paying her interns. The report also points out that full-time jobs in Congress usually require Congressional internship experience. In other words, if you don’t intern in Congress, it is less likely you’ll get hired for an entry-level Congressional staff position.
It’s not just Congress who doesn’t pay its interns. Earlier this year, the U.S. Labor Department rolled out new rules that make it easier for employers to continue the unpaid internship practice. The new labor guidelines follow a 2015 federal appeals court ruling in favor of Fox Searchlight Pictures, sued by former unpaid interns who worked on the Black Swan film. In that case, a federal appeals court ruled that companies may legally use unpaid interns if the interns benefit more from the internship experience than the employer. While unpaid internships are legal, I’d like to submit they are unfair. Not only do unpaid internships hurt low-income students, they stifle workforce diversity. According to 2017 census data, African-American and Hispanic households fall well below the median household income of $59,039. Hence, unpaid internships disproportionally disadvantage Black and Latina/o students because they burden low-income students the most. When low-income students take an unpaid internship, they still need to work a paying job. Otherwise, who is going to pay the bills or the rent? Not mom or dad.
As an educator focused on developing career paths for students, I understand the importance of internships in the lives of college students. To be competitive in the workforce, students need career-relevant experience. Public Relations students who want to work at a PR agency, for example, need internship agency experience. One of the biggest barriers to getting a career-relevant job after graduating from college is the lack of career-relevant experience. As an educator working in one of the largest state campuses in California, I also know that low-income students can’t afford to work for free. A recent California State University (CSU) study reported that 41.6% of CSU students face food insecurity — they go hungry for lack of access to food — and 11% report to be homeless. Organizations who offer unpaid internships need to understand the consequences of this unfair practice.
If employers want to increase diversity in their workforce, if they want to support the children of working families, then they must invest in paid internship programs. College students, especially low-income college students, should not be asked to work for free.
Eva Longoria seems to be carrying some extra weight on her petite shoulders as the Executive Producer for “Devious Maids.” The Lifetime channel show, scheduled to premiere on June 23, has created some buzz and not necessarily all positive. The cause of the flurry is Hollywood’s eternal obsession with the Latina maid stereotype that Latinos are so tired of seeing on the small and big screens.
“Devious Maids” finally has a premiere date after months of uncertainty. Last May, ABC passed on the show after being one of the original developers. This move was surprising to some as the hit maker of “Desperate Housewives,” and long-time ABC collaborator, Marc Cherry, is the creator. Despite the setback, Lifetime picked up the show in June.
As the premiere of the show approaches, community screenings begin, and the pilot gets circulated, the conversation about the maid stereotype has been reignited. I’ve received a few emails from colleagues and friends siding with some of the critics who are unhappy with what they perceive as the perpetuation of the maid stereotype on television. I do understand this initial reaction because it was the same reaction that I had when I first heard about the show last year. But I decided to give the show a chance for two reasons: first, it employs a number of talented Latina actresses; and second, Eva Longoria is involved and she has earned my trust throughout her career.
In April of last year, Eva demonstrated a great passion for the show that got my attention. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Longoria responded to the criticism about the use of the Latina maid stereotype. Longoria mentioned the value of having several Latinas on lead roles on the show and the fact that maids are a realistic reflection of our society in the United States. She further stated: “So you’re telling me those stories aren’t worth telling? That those people are lesser than, that their stories aren’t worth exploring, that they have no complexity in their life because they’re a maid?’”
I’ve now seen the pilot, I see what Eva was talking about. Although, it’s not the type of show that I usually watch (I wasn’t a fan of “Desperate Housewives” either) and I was not necessarily overwhelmed by the script, I was thrilled to see five beautiful, smart, talented Latinas on the screen. I was delighted to hear them speak amongst each other in Spanish, sing in Spanish, and even laugh in Spanish – if that’s possible. Let me tell you, these characters do not fall under the regular maid stereotype with the furry dog and all.
Most importantly, Eva has not let me down. I, like many others, have followed Eva‘s career as an actor and activist. She has earned my respect and my trust. Seeing this pilot reaffirms what I knew to be true from her long history of volunteer and philanthropy work: that she is on our side and wants the best for the Latino community. I don’t want to see this show fail before it gets a fair chance to get better. And it will get better as I believe that the critics play an invaluable role by challenging the producers to dispense with stereotypes and weave a complex story with rich characters. As Longoria recently stated, let’s not judge the book by its cover. I’ll certainly be watching when the show premieres on June 23rd.
I refuse to pay almost a hundred dollars a month for the privilege of having 100 television channels that usually aren’t worth watching. I represent a small, new trend of what are called “cord-cutters.” Cord-cutters are those who choose broadcast TV and broadband internet over a multichannel provider.
According to Nielsen, the number of broadband/broadcast only U.S. homes is on the rise, but still a small number representing only 5% of total TV households. Yet the trend can’t be ignored – the number of households without a multichannel provider grew by 22.8% in 2011. These numbers could be reflective of an economy still in recession or a change in how we choose to watch content programming – or a combination of both.
To be sure, there are drawbacks to cord-cutting. For instance, if you are a sports aficionado you are not likely to cut the cord because it is very difficult to watch local sports teams without cable. Cord-cutters have to wait a season or two, or longer, to stream popular programming while relying on water cooler conversations to get updates on the latest cable shows. HBO Go, HBO’s online streaming service, streams unlimited HBO programming but only for HBO cable subscribers. No wonder the Take My Money HBO campaign collected 163,736 signatures 48 hours after launching. The campaign asked HBO to sell HBO Go as a separate entity without the need for a multichannel provider. HBO quickly responded with a thank you for the love, but no thank you.
Now for the good news for cord-cutters. The online outlets that facilitate cord-cutting are starting to produce their own, high-quality content. This means no more waiting, and no more cable subscription requirements. Netflix, with over 27 million U.S. streaming customers, recently released the critically acclaimed series “House of Cards,” starring Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey, and creating lots of buzz about the future role of online outlets in mainstream content production. Some have said that Netflix will be the next HBO if it continues to release quality original programming. I’m not sure if Netflix is the new HBO, but its recent path could be a game changer. Netflix is scheduled to release more original programming soon and we will see if “House of Cards” is a commercial success for the company. (Full disclosure, I’m a subscriber and big fan of Netflix’s $7.99 monthly membership. It’s improved the quality of programming that I get to watch at home on my digital television with my Roku player. I don’t miss cable at all!)
At the same time, traditional cable providers are continuing to raise prices. The L.A Times recently wrote about Time Warner Cable’s recent price hikes. According to the L.A Times article, Time Warner Cable subscribers have been notified that the monthly cost of basic cable service will jump 8.2%, or almost four times the annual rate of inflation as of October 2012 — to $72.50 from $67. It seems that Time Warner Cable may want its customers to help pay for the huge sport deals it recently closed with the L.A. Dodger and L.A. Lakers.
Although the majority of TV households, 90.4%, still pay for a TV subscription, the recent trend of cord-cutting may be an indication that the price elasticity of demand for cable TV is being impacted by new choices in online streaming.
In April of this year, in a small farming town in Iowa called Primghar, a 14-year-old boy hung himself in the family’s garage. Kenneth Weishuhn had recently come out to his family, friends and on Facebook as gay. The relentless bullying and cyberbullying started soon thereafter, and a hate group called People Against Gays that targeted the young boy was created on Facebook. Weishuhn had visited the People Against Gays page hours before he decided to take his life. This isn’t an isolated incident of cyberbullying leading to suicide. In fact, only days before Weishuhn took his life, Grace McComas, a 15-year-old in Woodbine, Maryland took her own life after months of being the victim of an online bullying campaign.
Children around the world are choosing death rather than face a life of torment that not even their parents can help them escape. And it’s not just children that partake in this dangerous pastime. In 2006, there was the highly-publicized Megan Meier case. The 13-year-old killed herself after being harassed on MySpace by a neighbor’s mother posing as a 16-year-old teenage boy. This infrequent yet alarming suicide trend impacts children of all ages and backgrounds – from big cities to small towns – and not even “popular” kids are immune from becoming victims of cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is a relatively new form of bullying taking a psychological rather than physical toll on victims. A statistically significant portion of American youth has already been impacted. Cyberbullying is similar to bullying but with new and more potent elements. The veil of anonymity, the ability to impersonate the victim, reach the victim at home, embarrass the victim in front of an unseen (and potentially vast) online audience and maintain the harassment on a 24/7 schedule is too much to bare for some, especially the young. A 2008 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Electronic Media and Youth Violence report indicates that somewhere between 9 and 35 percent of young people say they have been the victims of electronic aggression. Furthermore, a Rochester Institute of Technology report states that cyberbullying can start as early as the 2nd grade for some children.
Not much data is available on how often kids get bullied because of their race, ethnicity, or national origin. However, as anti-immigrant sentiment percolates in our country and anti-Latino hate crimes have increased, more Latino children are being harassed by their peers. In late 2011, the Associated Press reported that Departmet of Justice officials were monitoring for bullying incidents linked to the new Alabama (HB 56) anti-immigrant law. During a stop in Birmingham, Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division stated “We’re hearing a number of reports about increases in bullying that we’re studying.” The Justice Department has established a bilingual telephone hotline and special email account for Alabama residents to report any violence or threats based on racial or ethnic background that could be linked to the law. It is worth noting that when bullying based on race or ethnicity is severe, pervasive, or persistent it may be considered harassment, which is covered under federal civil rights laws.
Fortunately, the effects of bullying don’t usually end in suicides but they do have a dramatic impact on the victim’s life. In 2011, the American Socialogical Association published “The Impact of School Bullying on Racial/Ethnic Achievement.” According to the lead author of the study, Lisa M. Williams, the most striking aspect of the study is the considerable negative effect bullying has on the GPAs of high achieving black and Latino students. According to the study, the effect of bullying is more evident for high achieving Latinos. Latino students with 3.5 GPAs in 9th grade, who were bullied in 10th grade, had 12th grade GPAs that were .5 points lower.
Although some parents may feel impotent in being able to protect their children from bullying and cyberbullying, they can make a difference. The U.S. government website stopbullying.gov provides good information on bullying and cyberbullying. Meanwhile some states have laws on the books that offer protections from bullying and cyberbullying. Montana is the only state in the nation that has not adopted bullying laws and there are fifteen states that have adopted cyberbullying laws. In 2008, the California state legislature passed one of the first laws in the country to deal directly with cyberbullying. The legislation gives school administrators the authority to discipline students who bully others offline or online. Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and Washington have also adopted cyberbullying laws.
Assistant Attorney General Perez said:
“Today’s bullies are often tomorrow’s civil rights defendants. It’s important for schools to foster a learning environment where diversity isn’t just tolerated but embraced.”
But it’s not only schools. It’s at home, at work – it’s a state of mind. And this appeal to embrace diversity is not just for whites. We all need to embrace our differences: the color of our skin, our religion, our sexual orientation. As national bullying prevention awareness month comes to a close, let’s commit to make a difference on this issue. Let’s get better informed about the dangers of bullying and cyberbullying, watch for the “signs” of both victim and aggressor, demand that our schools adopt and enforce bullying and cyberbullying policies, and go to the police if the problem escalates. No more playing nice guy to bullying. It’s a serious issue. Too many children are being psychologically tormented, and far too many children are taking their lives in desperation. I’d rather be teased for being overly sensitive to bullying than find a nephew or niece dead in the garage. If we can all pull together and treat this problem with the seriousness that it deserves, many families and communities will be able to avoid unnecessary tragedy.
ZezInez 