HBO has teamed with NALIP to find the next great Latino Documentary Film! Social change has been the consistent undercurrent for HBO’s critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary programs, with a myriad of issues presented in uncompromising quality and honesty. Through the HBO / NALIP Documentary Filmmaker Cash Award, HBO wants to focus its lens on the Latino experience and support the growth of social commentary by Latino documentarians.

One Latino Filmmaker will win $10,000

Entry deadline: June 26th, 2009
* Submissions must be from a film already in progress or finished – footage and proposal to be screened by judges.

* Filmmakers may be U.S. or international, but film must be in English or with English subtitles

* The winner must be 18 years or older, and of Latino descent.

* There is no limit to the number of entries: each entry must comply with the requirements listed in the submission form, and must submit a separate submission form for each.

* A panel of industry professionals will judge the films based on the following criteria: uniqueness of topic/subject matter, professional quality of the film, and the structure, tone and style planned for presenting the topic to audience. The Judges will select one film as the winner of the competition. Winner to be Notified by August 18, 2009!

For details, requirements, and submission information, download the Submission Form as a Word Doc or PDF File.

Villa Esperanza invites you to attend “Impact of Global Financial Crisis in Impoverished Communities Abroad,” the 2nd lecture of our lecture series.
When: Monday, May 18, 6:30PM*
Where: Caffe Medici on 2222-B Guadalupe*
Who: Dr. Gwen Sullivan*

How is the global financial crisis unfolding in impoverished communities around the world? How are households responding to the immediate impacts on their livelihoods and their access to basic goods and services? Dr. Gwen Sullivan will
locate local accounts of crisis within the broader story of inequality in
power and wealth in today’s global economy. She will draw on the preliminary findings of participatory researchers in six countries.

Gwen Sullivan teaches in the Global Understanding Program at St. Edward’s University. She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas. Gwen lived and worked in Nicaragua during much of the 1980s and ‘90s. She received her doctorate from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK.

For more information, please contact Villa Esperanza at info@villa-esperanza.org.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is seeking a Capacity-Building Strategist in its California office. The Strategist will develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to increase the capacity of California Affiliates to affect policy outcomes. This includes development and implementation of systems, policies, and processes for nurturing, supporting, and advancing advocacy work among NCLR Affiliates and other partner CBOs in California.
Description
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR)—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations (CBOs), NCLR reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. To achieve its mission, NCLR conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy, providing a Latino perspective in five key areas—assets/investments, civil rights/immigration, education, employment and economic status, and health. In addition, it provides capacity-building assistance to its Affiliates who work at the state and local level to advance opportunities for individuals and families.
Link to all jobs at NCLR: http://www.nclr.org/content/browse/jobs/

Event: Cine Las Americas Film Festival presents “The Other Side of Immigration”
Place: Mexican American Culture Center (600 River Rd, Austin, TX)
Date: Friday April 24 @ 9pm
FREE and open to the public
http://www.theothersideofimmigration.com

ABOUT THE FILM: Why do so many Mexicans come to the U.S.? What happens to the families and communities they leave behind? “The Other Side of Immigration,” an hour-long documentary, explores these and other questions through the director’s interviews in “high-emigration”
towns in the Mexican countryside. Directed by Roy Germano, Ph.D. Candidate in Government, University of Texas at Austin. A Q&A will follow the screening.

(TheHuffingtonPost.com)– April 14, 2009 at 12:22 AM, by Sam Stein. The White House made history on Monday. And it wasn’t just by loosening travel and remittance restrictions for individuals looking to reach out to family members in Cuba.
When Dan Restrepo, President Barack Obama’s senior adviser on Latin America, addressed the Spanish-language media in their native tongues, he is believed to have been the first person to speak a language other than English during a White House briefing.
Link to the full story here.

MEXICO CITY (Yahoo.com) – Wednesday, April 15. Fast food giant Burger King apologized Tuesday for an advertisement featuring a squat Mexican draped in his country’s flag next to a tall American cowboy and said it would change the campaign.
Mexico’s ambassador to Spain said posters released in Europe for Burger King’s new Tex-Mex style “Texican whopper,” a cheeseburger with chile and spicy mayonnaise, inappropriately displayed the Mexican flag, whose image is protected under national law.
The ambassador wrote a letter complaining to Burger King and requested the ad campaign be discontinued.
Burger King said the ads were meant to show a mixture of influences from the southwestern United States and Mexico, not to poke fun at Mexican culture, but said it would replace them “as soon as commercially possible.”
Read the full story…

C-Span will be airing a panel discussion on The Status of Latinos in America: Challenges and Opportunities. This airing is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, after 7 p.m. Please check the C-Span web-site and your local television guide to confirm the airing. This panel was assembled on March 7 as a key venue of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education 4th national conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The panel is moderated by Henry Cisneros and panel members include:
1) Aida Alvarez, Former Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration
2) Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, NYS Secretary of State
3) Arturo Madrid, Murchison Distinguished Professor of Humanities, Trinity University
4) Maria “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, President and CEO, Intercultural Development Research Association
5) Antonio R. “Tony” Sanchez, Chairman of the Board/CEO, Sanchez Oil and Gas Corporation
6) Richard Tapia, Mathematics Professor and Maxfield Oshman Professor of Engineering
7) Solomon “Sol” Trujillo, CEO, Telstra Corporation, Sydney, Australia
Ralph de la Vega, President; CEO, ATT Mobility
The panel addresses four key issues: 1) Economic wellbeing, 2) Education, 3) Health, and 4) Electoral participation. Interwoven in these issues are gender, leadership and immigration.
Please share this airing and panel information with your various constituencies.
Best regards,
Loui Olivas
Loui Olivas, President
American Association of Hispanics
in Higher Education (AAHHE)
c/o Arizona State University
522 N. Central Avenue, Suite 243
Phoenix, AZ 85004-2165
602.496.1150 | Fax 602.496.1144
www.aahhe.org

Author/investigative journalist Juan Gonzalez is a columnist for the New York Daily News and a co-host of Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

Thursday, April 2
3 to 4 p.m.
Chicano Culture Room
Texas Union 4.206
Free and open to the public

For more information, please visit: http://journalism.utexas.edu/

Are you interested in complementing your undergraduate major in the College of Communication with a concentration in Latino Media Studies?
The Latino Media Studies program is designed to introduce you to issues in media and communication related to Latinos in the United States and Latin America, and to provide the opportunity to prepare for professional work in this field.

INFO SESSION
THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009
4:00 p.m.
CMA 4.140 (Burson Conference Room)
The University of Texas at Austin

Why should you consider this option?
Important demographic and social trends in the U.S. are putting a multicultural spin on everything from business and politics to entertainment and technology. The growth of ethnic media within the U.S., and of transnational/regional media in the Americas is unprecedented.
Organizations intent on communicating with Latinos, whether at a local, regional or international level, are finding it imperative to build teams of professionals with a nuanced understanding of Latino communities, media markets and communication issues. Find out how this certificate program can enrich your academic experience at UT-Austin, and provide you with a certificate that will demonstrate your focused studies in this area, and help distinguish you throughout your professional career.
The program provides access to courses in your area of interest and some outside of your major, information on related events on and off campus, as well as related internship, conference and scholarship opportunities.
For more information, please visit: http://communication.utexas.edu/current/programs/latinostudies/index.html

The Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice is holding its fifth annual conference this week. This year’s conference, Human Rights at UT: A Dialogue at the Intersection of Academics and Advocacy, will discuss human rights work at UT campuses. To see the schedule and other information related to the conference, click here:
http://www.utexas.edu/law/conferences/human-rights-at-ut/schedule.php