by James E. Garcia
Co-Author, “The State of Latino Arizona
Why should we care about the state of Latino Arizona?
For the record, “we” includes all Arizonans because Arizonans who happen to be Latino are part of our collective citizenry.
If you consider the demographic trends – the Latino population in Arizona grew 46 percent from 2000 to 2007, to 1.9 million (accounting for 30 percent of the population) – it’s reasonable to suggest that as Latino Arizona goes, so, too, goes the state.
Simply stated, Arizona’s future depends greatly on the growth and progress of its Latino community.
Arizona State University and Arizona Latino Research Enterprise, a non-profit Latino advocacy group, recently unveiled a 94-page report titled “The State of Latino Arizona” during ALRE’s annual town hall. Most of the essays in the report were written and researched by the faculty of the department of transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o studies at ASU.
Although the study does not necessarily offer the sort of “breaking news” nuggets that might be used to craft snappy front-page headlines, it breaks ground on other fronts. To read the full story click here.