Wednesday, April 30, 2008

U.S. Hispanic Population Continues to Rise Rapidly

I just did an interview with CNN Radio (national) about a U.S. Census Bureau report released tonight.

New data just released by the Census shows a Hispanic population that continues to grow quite rapidly. Hispanics, now the nation's largest minority population at 45.5 million, account for a huge percentage of overall U.S. population growth and this means America's future success will become more and more dependent on how well this population succeeds. The Hispanic population grew at 3.3% which is just slightly below the reported growth rate of 3.4%. Hispanics are now 15.1% of the U.S. population.

There are huge implications for this steady growth. Growth of the Hispanic, Asian and Black populations in the U.S. mean that by the year 2050, perhaps sooner, the U.S. will be a majority minority nation. Today a third of the U.S. population is minority and, if memory serves me well, some states like California and Texas now are already majority-minority.

Interestingly, today the National Alliance for Hispanic Health sought to draw attention to the fact that more than 15 million Hispanics are without health insurance. As the population continues to grow it will become more and more important that the U.S. government find a solution to this massive number of uninsured Hispanics.

I could write for hours on this, but simply put, we're going to need to meet the educational needs of this community to help ensure the U.S. continues to lead the global economy.

Putting my PR and corporate strategy hat on for a minute, continued growth of the Hispanic population (well over a million new Hispanics each year) continues to expand the Hispanic consumer market. And it doesn't take a genius to tell you that when a population continues to grow, the potential to serve the population and profit continues to grow.

Here are some of the first new clips on this Census data release:

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/washington/01census.html

The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003397.html

Star Tribune (from wire services)
http://www.startribune.com/nation/18435529.html

AP story with quotes from NCLR, NALEO and friend Larry Gonzalez:
http://news.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=823800
Excerpt: "Some Hispanic advocacy groups predict about 10 million Hispanics will show up at the polls, motivated by the usual concerns about the economy, health care and the war and an added catalyst of dismay over attitudes from anti-immigration movements."

Impact felt from Boston to McAllen:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/hispanics_called_fastest_growi.html
http://www.themonitor.com/news/car_10385___article.html/hike_light.html

More...

Here's the Census bureau fact sheet for Cinco de Mayo (May 5th):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080429/pl_usnw/u_s__census_bureau_facts_for_feature__cinco_de_mayo

Friday, April 11, 2008

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES SET RECORD SPENDING ON UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO STATIONS IN PRIMARIES

Initial Findings: Spanish-Language Advertising in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

The two leading Democratic presidential candidates spent millions of dollars on Spanish-language television ads, setting records for individual and combined Democratic expenditures in a presidential primary season. By combining original research, interviews and news reports, the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University estimates that the Democratic presidential candidates spent more money – at least $4 million – on Spanish-language television advertising this cycle, outpacing total spending in 2000 and total primary spending in 2004.

“Three factors have likely contributed to increased spending on Spanish-language appeals: a front-loaded calendar and extended process featuring states with large Hispanic populations, a very competitive Democratic contest, as well as record candidate fundraising and overall spending,” according to Adam J. Segal, founder and director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University.

The two remaining Democratic candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL) have continued to create and
air Spanish-language ads as the Democratic primary contests have dragged on, with attention now turned to Pennsylvania
(where both campaigns are airing Spanish-language TV spots) and eventually Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, Republican candidates also aired Spanish-language ads during the primaries and the campaign of likely party
nominee’ Sen. John McCain (AZ) recently released its first general election Spanish-language TV spot.

This information is the result of a research project that involved interviews with TV station managers, visits to TV stations to
review the public political files, as well as Internet and news media research. The findings were released late yesterday at the
“Understanding the Hispanic Vote in 2008” Conference sponsored by the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School at The University of Texas at Austin.

The full report is now available online in PDF form at http://advanced.jhu.edu/government/hvp

Monday, April 07, 2008

The Big Give

I think the ABC/Oprah show "The Big Give" is great and I try to watch every week.

But its biggest failing is that is has done virtually nothing to help build and promote the public movement that its always touting.

Why is there no update/report on what people are doing now that they have been inspired by the show?

There are zero interactive qualities to the weekly show and the program website. Perhaps the second season will incorporate all that, but I think ABC should learn from some recent movements that have take off people the public has been engaged as a partner.

If thought this brief from the Chronicle of Philanthropy was interesting:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/index.php?id=4270

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Diversifying Campaign '08 News Commentary

Like most political strategists and researchers in Washington, DC I have noticed the huge cast of commentators on CNN and other networks this campaign season. Felicia R. Lee of The New York Times had a nice summary and analysis of the diversification of commentators/contributors in the paper this week.

She writes: "All the commentators appear when the networks need them, but are on television more than guest pundits from the outside. While a few are unknown to general audiences, they all come with extensive résumés that mostly include backgrounds in journalism, politics, academe, nonprofit organizations or business."

No doubt there has been a shift, and I have liked it and I bet it has helped secure larger and more diverse audiences, but I am left wondering if the very best minds are making it through to TV this season.

Here's the NYT story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/arts/television/02pund.html?ex=1364961600&en=8ace7ab52b934216&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink