1	The Story of John The man of a thousand movie personas discusses everything from his new favorite role, to his latest crusade to why he loves Obama. read more...
2	Two Decades of Growth As Hispanic magazine celebrates it’s 20th anniversary, we look back—and ahead. read more...
3	The Issues Over the course of the publication, Hispanic has covered many of the issues at the core of Latino life and some that have altered it. read more...
4	A People in Progress Much has changed in 20 years, from the size of our wallets to the size of our waistlines. We look at the impetuses for the evolution. read more...
5	Stamp of Approval A look at the life of the late Ruben Salazar, one of the first Chicano journalists in the country, and what it took to get his face on a new U.S. postage stamp. read more...
6	America’s Forgotten Children For a large number of Hispanic children languishing in foster care, the dream of a home where they can feel safe and loved remains elusive. read more...

20th Anniversary Special

A People in Progress

The face of Hispanic America has changed in significant ways since the founders of Hispanic decided to create a publication to speak to the needs and concerns of this amazingly diverse group. In 20 years, we have not only changed from what we were, but also have changed the country.

President Lyndon B. Johnson instituted National Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. Twenty years later, in 1988, the original celebration was expanded into the month-long observance (held from September 15 to October 15) we know today. Twenty more years have passed since then, and if the country were to attempt once again to reflect in civic life the changes that have occurred within the U.S. Hispanic community, something like a year-long celebration might be in order.
While staggering numbers have contributed to the growing clout of Latinos in the U.S., the picture is not unambiguously rosy. Growth is tugging at the seams as Latinos adapt to a new culture and as systems struggle to keep up with the pace of change.
Only time will tell how people and systems will negotiate the transition, but one thing is clear: Latinos have a stake in the future of this country, and, more and more every day, the country has a stake in the well-being of the Hispanic community. Of the myriad of ways in which Hispanics have transformed as a group and altered the nation, here are just some of the most notable.

Power in Numbers
The 1990 U.S. Census reported a Hispanic population of 22.4 million, which at the time constituted 9 percent of the total population. By 2006 the 44.3 million Latinos living in the country comprised about 15 percent of the total population. The U.S. Census estimates that one of every two people added to the nation’s population in a one-year period between 2005 and 2006 was Hispanic, which is a striking snapshot of the rapid growth of this group.
Hispanics have become the largest ethnic or racial minority in the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2025, 61 million Latinos will constitute 18 percent of the country’s population. And by 2050 the number of Hispanics should surpass the 100-million mark, which by then will amount to almost one quarter of the total U.S. population.

An Unhealthy Growth
In some ways, the portrait of Latino health painted by the National Center for Health Statistics is murky. Death rates for heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases among U.S. Latinos have decreased since 1990.
Hypertension and high blood pressure also have dropped over the same period among Mexican adult males, but both have increased among Mexican adult females. And diabetes among Mexican adults has increased slightly since the early 1990s.
The clearer picture emerges as we consider obesity rates, which have jumped considerably since 1980 among Mexican men, women and children. Especially troubling is the case of Mexican boys between the ages of 12 and 19. In the early 1980s, nearly 8 percent of this group suffered from obesity. By the dawn of the 21st century, the rate had gone up to 20 percent. The percentage of obese Mexican girls and adult males has nearly doubled over the same time period, and adult women don’t trail far behind.
Because these rates mirror changes in the general U.S. population, the Pew Hispanic Center speaks of “unhealthy acculturation,” which refers to the paradox of foreign-born Latinos, often poorer than Latinos in the U.S., being healthier than their American-born counterparts. As U.S. Hispanics have integrated into American society, they have adopted many of the unhealthy habits of the general population; their health seems to be suffering as a result.

The Power of the Purse
Latinos have done well in the U.S. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that the proportion of U.S. Hispanics living below the poverty level has decreased from 29 percent in 1985 to 21.8 in 2005. And even though poverty remains a concern, affluence in the community is increasingly a topic of conversation.
According to statistics provided by the Selig Center for Economic Growth and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, the purchasing power of the Hispanic community has increased from $212 billion in 1990, to $863 billion in 2007. This is in part due to the growth of the Hispanic population and to a significant increase of Hispanics in the civilian labor force (from 5.7 percent in 1980, to a projected 13.3 percent in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). But this explosion in buying power is also related to the growing number of Latino entrepreneurs who are steadily moving up the economic ladder.
According to Selig Center for Economic Growth estimates, the Hispanic purchasing power exceeded the African American buying power for the first time last year. The Center projects the Hispanic purchasing power will be almost $1.2 trillion in 2011, which represents a 457 percent increase since 1990. When compared with the 176 percent increase in non-Hispanic buying power over the same period, the growth of the Hispanic collective wallet is quite remarkable.

An Elevation of Education
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1980 some 44 percent of Hispanic adults had at least a high school education. That figure rose to 59 percent in 2006. In 1980, less than 8 percent of Hispanic adults had a bachelor’s degree or higher. By 2006, 12 percent of Hispanic adults did. This average is misleading, however, and is one way in which the educational landscape reflects the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic community perhaps more vividly than any other area. According to recent Census statistics, Cubans living in the U.S. have much higher rates of educational achievement than Hispanics as a group. In 2006, one quarter of Cuban adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, and 73 percent are at least high school graduates.
Although the numbers generally tell a story of progress, a report published last year by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) tempered that enthusiasm with a simple but telling comparison: In spite of positive changes, U.S. Latinos are still more likely to start school later and leave school earlier than their non-Hispanic peers.
Greater Demonstration of Representation
Over the past decade, U.S. Latinos have managed to gain greater access to political power than ever before. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the number of Latinos serving in elected office has increased by 37 percent since 1996, and the number of Latinos serving in federal and state legislatures has grown by more than 50 percent over the same time period. An even clearer indication of progress is the fact that the number of Latinos representing jurisdictions that are not predominantly Hispanic has more than doubled since 1996.
But political power is not the only kind of clout Latinos are cultivating. The Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility reports that the number of Hispanics serving as board chairs, presidents and/or CEOs in the Fortune 1,000 has risen from 13 in 1998 to 22 in 2006.
Also good news is that since 1994, there has been an 87-percent increase in board seats held by Hispanics in Fortune 1000 companies. The bad news is only 16 percent of such companies had Hispanic representation on their boards in 2007. Marketing to Latinos is becoming an increasingly lucrative proposition, but Latinos are not becoming corporate decision-makers at the same rate as they are contributing to the earnings of many of these companies.