hispanicheritage.org

MALDEF TO RECOGNIZE HISPANIC HERITAGE FOUNDATION PRESIDENT & CEO ANTONIO TIJERINO WITH EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD The DREAM US’ Gaby Pacheco and Attorney Abelardo Perez also to be Honored WASHINGTON, DC (April 9, 2019) – MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) announced Hispanic Heritage Foundation President and CEO Antonio Tijerino will be presented with the Excellence in Community Service Award along with The Dream US’ Gaby Pacheco and Attorney Abelardo Perez, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement and Excellence in the Legal Profession Award during the 50th Anniversary Gala in Washington, DC, on April 11, 2019. “I’m proudly accepting the Community Service Award from MALDEF in recognition and reverence of the MALDEF and HHF staff and board, the countless organizations and individuals serving the needs of the most vulnerable in our community, and on behalf of the advocates that tirelessly continue la lucha against hate and injustice,” said Tijerino

“We are thrilled to partner with the U.S. Army to identify, prepare and connect Latino software engineers to move the tech industry and America’s workforce forward,” said Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. The LOFT Coder Summits (LCS) are part of HHF’s broader Code as a Second Language (CSL) national initiative which includes LCS’s in major cities across the country as well as HHF teaching computer coding to K-12 students in up to 50 regions across the country as well as hosting nascent Latino start-ups through LOFT Labs. The Army is proud to partner with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation to emphasize the importance of computer technology and coding to the success of today’s Latino youth,” said Hamilton Lopezcruz, Marketing Manager for the Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG). By mobilizing Latino/a coders, programmers, hackers, developers and computer scientists for the free, one-day event in a series of panels and breakout workshop sessions with expert Army and Latino tech leaders, HHF and the Army are spearheading national change.

Google.org announced today that the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), YWCA, and UnidosUS will receive a $5M grant over the next three years to increase Latino student access to computer science education. We’ve benefitted from Google’s leadership in the CS space since Google volunteers from HOLA, Google’s Latino employee resource group, helped launch the Code as a Second Language (CSL) initiative in 2013 in LA, and then provided the start-up grant for the program which has grown across the US. Coding will also enable students to be creators, rather than just consumers, of technology While black and Latino students have equal interest (Google, Gallup: 2016) in CS education, they don’t have equal access to learning opportunities and face social barriers to learning CS, such as a lack of role models, and learning materials that reflect their lived experiences. While black and Latino students have equal interest (Google, Gallup: 2016) in CS education, they don’t have equal access to learning opportunities and face social barriers to learning CS, such as a lack of role models, and learning materials that reflect their lived experiences.

On February 14, 2018, one year ago, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing seventeen students and staff members and injuring seventeen others. This tragedy marred the Parkland community irreversibly and sent shockwaves throughout the country, already deep in the throws of a dissentious gun law debate