Sacramento, CA (August 09, 2008)– Former Treasurer of the United States and current California Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, Rosario Marin, will address the area’s small businesses at the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Procurement & Job Fair on August 19th at 12:30pm at the Radisson Hotel.

With over 200,000 state workers soon facing minimum-wage checks, The Procurement & Job Fair will be a vital chance for many people now looking for new careers and expanded business opportunities.

“We are honored and excited to have Secretary Marin address the audience at this year’s Procurement & Job Fair. As a strong and faithful advocate for the Hispanic business community in California she will offer insight on ways we can work together in these challenging economic times,” said Diana Borroel, SHCC President. “Following her address, attendees can network with top companies offering procurement and career opportunities all over the region.”

The Procurement and Job Fair’s purpose is two-fold. Small businesses will use the event as an avenue for contracting opportunities with area companies such as SMUD, Walmart, City of Sacramento, Department of General Service, U.S. Small Business Administration, The Federal Technology Center and many others. Bilingual employees seeking jobs with local and national corporations will also visit the fair for valuable on-site interview opportunities.

“I’m honored and excited to visit with all the wonderful business men and women at the SHCC fair,” said Rosario Marin. “The Governor gave me a goal of ensuring that at least 25 percent of all state contracts go to small businesses and I intend to exceed it year after year by encouraging these talented business people to get registered and take advantage of these fabulous networking opportunities.”

The SHCC’s Procurement & Job Fair will be held on August 19 from Noon to 5:00pm at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento.  Cost is free for attendees. For more information about attending the fair, call Celia at (916) 486-7700 or visit sachcc.org.

About Rosario Marin: From Mexican-born immigrant to the 41st Treasurer of the United States, Rosario Marín’s life has embodied the “American Dream.”  Becoming the highest-ranking Latina to serve in the Bush Administration and the first U.S. Treasurer born outside the United States, Marín now serves as California’s Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency where she oversees the state’s civil rights enforcement, consumer protection, and the licensing of 2.4 million Californians in more than 255 different professions.  Her dedication and decades of work have made her a strong advocate of, leader in and inspiration to the Hispanic business community in California.

About the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: In 2007, the SHCC was named the “Chamber of the Year” by the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at their Convention and Business Expo.  This year the SHCC celebrates 36 years of business success and continues in its dedication to providing the Sacramento Hispanic business community with the best resources for enhancing the welfare of the local economy.  Since its founding in 1972, the SHCC has grown to a membership of more than 700 area businesses.

Sacramento, CA (June 9, 2008)— The Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (SHCC) is celebrating the Senate’s recent Budget Resolution that supports $101 million in additional funding for small business programs. Under the leadership of John Kerry (D-Mass) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), the resolution was signed last week and provides increased funding for Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, microloans, contracting assistance, veteran’s outreach programs, technical assistance programs and increased loan oversight while reducing oversight fees paid by lenders.

“We couldn’t be happier with the Senate’s decision to finally increase funds for small businesses nationwide,” said Diana Borroel, President/CEO of the SHCC. “Many businesses in the Sacramento region are being affected by the slow economy and need even more access to training, capital and procurement opportunities that the SHCC helps to provide. With this new budget resolution, we’ll likely be able to expand our support even more for local entrepreneurs.”

The SHCC offers their members services such as a microloan program, the Sacramento Business Service Center, weekly workshops with procurement opportunities, women focused business education and trainings such as the SCORE program.

The budget blueprint increases funding for:

• Small Business Development Centers to $105 million
• SCORE Program to $7 million
• Microloan funding to $3.6 million and Microloan Technical

Assistance to $20 million. Last year, small businesses received more than $31 million in microloans, proportionally helping more women and minorities than other programs.

Since 1972, The Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has worked tirelessly to promote business, industry, commerce and culture within the Sacramento community for all minority groups. With nearly 700 members, the Chamber seeks to increase better understanding between Spanish-speaking businesses and the community through networking events, advocacy efforts and educational trainings. For more information on the SHCC, please visit www.sachcc.org

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

The U.S. population will soar to 438 million by 2050 and the Hispanic population will triple, according to projections released Monday by the Pew Research Center.

The latest projections by the non-partisan research group are higher than government estimates to date and paint a portrait of an America dramatically different from today’s.

The projected growth in the U.S. population — 303 million today — will be driven primarily by immigration among all groups except the elderly.

“We’re assuming that the rate of immigration will stay roughly constant,” says Jeffrey Passel, co-author of the report.

Even if immigration is limited, Hispanics’ share of the population will increase because they have higher birth rates than the overall population. That’s largely because Hispanic immigrants are younger than the nation’s aging baby boom population. By 2030, all 79 million boomers will be at least 65 and the elderly will grow faster than any other age group.

The projections show that by 2050:

•Nearly one in five Americans will have been born outside the USA vs. one in eight in 2005. Sometime between 2020 and 2025, the percentage of foreign-born will surpass the historic peak reached a century ago during the last big immigration wave. New immigrants and their children and grandchildren born in the USA will account for 82% of the population increase from 2005 to 2050.

•Whites who are not Hispanic, now two-thirds of the population, will become a minority when their share drops to 47%. They made up 85% of the population in 1960.

•Hispanics, already the largest minority group, will more than double their share of the population to 29%.

•Blacks will remain 13% of the population. Asians will go to 9% from 5%.

•The gap between the number of working-age people and the children and seniors who depend on them will widen as boomers age. There will be 72 young and elderly for every 100 people of working age by 2050 compared with 59 in 2005. The gap would widen more if immigration slows because immigrants tend to be of working-age, the report said.

The projections are based on detailed assumptions about births, deaths and immigration levels based on recent trends. Those trends can change. For example, a new immigration policy could substantially limit the growth.

“Immigration has long-term consequences on the make-up of the country and the size of the population and we need to take those results in account when we make immigration policy,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that promotes limits on immigration. “Growing our population by 100 million more than we would otherwise is a choice. Immigration is a choice. … It’s all up to us.”

The ethnic and racial profile of the nation could change because of inter-marriage. It’s not clear how the children and grandchildren of multiracial and multi-ethnic unions will identify themselves in the future.

“We’ve assumed that the definitions and categories that are being used today will continue to be used in the next 50 years,” Passel says. “Fifty years ago, we didn’t have the definition for the Hispanic population.”

Adds Krikorian: “Will that category of who’s white be redefined? What is a non-Hispanic white?”