WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2003 — Hispanics have edged past blacks as the nation's largest minority group, new figures released today by the Census Bureau showed.

The Hispanic population in the United States is now roughly 37 million, while blacks number about 36.2 million.

The figures, the first detailed findings on race and ethnicity since the 2000 Census was released two years ago, confirm what demographers and many advocacy groups have anticipated for several years. The new numbers are based on new population estimates from July 1, 2001, that were compared with the census figures from April 1, 2000. The figures showed that the Latino population grew by 4.7 percent, while the black population grew by just 1.5 percent. The white, non-Hispanic population, estimated at roughly 196 million, grew by 0.3 percent during the same period.

"It is a turning point in the nation's history, a symbolic benchmark of some significance," said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington-based research and policy analysis organization. "If you consider how much of this nation's history is wrapped up in the interplay between black and white, this serves as an official announcement that we as Americans cannot think of race in that way any more."

The explosive growth in the Hispanic population results from higher birth rates and from the huge wave of immigration that has taken place in the last decade. The Census Bureau counts all people residing in the United States, whether they are legal immigrants or not.

In addition to their symbolic significance, the figures carry important implications for the allocation of resources. In recent years blacks and Hispanics have often felt in opposition in seeking financing and political representation, and the new numbers could bring fresh tensions.

Some Latino advocacy organizations, perhaps anticipating possible difficulties, are already playing down the significance of the shift. "Rather than comparing groups we should be looking at the status of communities," said Sonia Perez, deputy vice president for research at the National Council of La Raza, a national Latino organization. "When you look at Latino and African-American communities, the elements of the agendas are not that different. We share many of the same issues, interests and values."

In many ways, the new figures are an indication of the growing multiculturalism in American society and the change in the way the Census Bureau allows people to classify themselves. The 2000 census, for the first time, allowed respondents to choose more than one race in identifying themselves. In addition, Hispanics, a cultural and ethnic classification, can be of any race.

While the general African-American population is slightly smaller than the general Hispanic population, the number of Americans who declared themselves as black "in combination with one or more other races" is now 37.7 million, slightly higher than overall figure for Latinos.

"The statistics are in the eyes of their beholders," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the University of Michigan. "What these numbers reveal is a bit of a conundrum. But advocacy groups, policy people and politicians will pick the interpretation of them that works best for them at any given time."

Much of the social and political impact of the population surge may not be immediately apparent. Roughly one quarter of Latinos living in the United States are noncitizens. And while there has been a significant migration of Hispanics to cities in the South, Midwest, and central plains, more than 50 percent of the Latino population remains concentrated in Texas, California and New York.

The speed of population shift, though anticipated, has taken some demographers by surprise. "It came sooner than we thought," said Martha Farnsworth Riche, director of the Census Bureau during the Clinton administration.

Among the factors that contributed to the faster than anticipated growth, said Ms. Farnsworth Riche, was greater cooperation between the Census Bureau and Latino organizations, which helped undocumented migrants feel safer cooperating with census takers.

The slim numerical gap between blacks and Hispanics is expected to widen significantly in the next decade. Deteriorating economic conditions across Latin America, say many demographers, will continue to spur immigration. The birth rate among Latinos is also higher than among blacks.

Researchers expect the spurt to level off in a generation or so, as economic stability leads to lower fertility rates and Hispanics intermarry with other groups with some choosing to identify as black, some as white, and some as a combination of one or more ethnic groups or races.

"It will only get more broad and more complicated," said Mr. Suro. "It's a reminder that we will increasingly, as Americans, need to find new ways of categorizing people and talking about their differences."

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) - New York Chapter

Steering Committee Member

NHMC-NY, Lead member of the National Latino Media Council, umbrella group of prominent organizations working on media issues in the broadcasting and film industry joined by a multiethnic coalition who signed unprecedented Memorandum of Understanding with ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox.

We invite you to join in our campaign to seek a balanced image for Latinos in the media. NHMC is a non-profit organization founded in the fall of 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Since that time we expanded to New York, Chicago, Washington, and various other cities in Arizona, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and California.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition has two simple goals:
(1) To improve the image of Latinos/as as portrayed by the media; and
(2) To increase the number of Latinos/as working in all facets of the media industry.

The New York Chapter has been a leader in the NHMC since the organization's inception. Now we have partnered with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), which is housing our local operations and acting as our fiscal sponsor.

For more information please contact us at:

National Hispanic Media Coalition-New York Chapter
C/O PRLDEF
99 Hudson Street, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10013
(212) 965-9758
email: NHMCNY@aol.com
Website: www.nhcm.org

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LATINO GERONTOLOGICAL CENTER OBTAINING PUBLIC RECOGNITION AT EXCELLENT LEVELS

Glenn Close joins Mario Tapia, winner of the Freedom Medal at Gracie Mansion on October 2nd. More El Diario/La Prensa, also NEWS FOX 5 - VIDEO.

Mario Tapia, the Latino Gerontological Center's Executive was selected by the New York Post to received the Freedom Medal.

The second annual New York Post Liberty Medals are presented to everyday New Yorkers whose unheralded goodness and grit, compassion and creativity, enrich the lives of their fellow citizens.

This important event took place at Gracie Mansion (NY Mayors Official Residence), this past Thursday, October 2, 2003.

For additional information... Here...

On May, 2001, Speaker H. Peter Vallone and Majority Whip, H. Victor Robles presented a Proclamation to LGC, on behalf of the entire New York City Council.

PROCLAMATION

Whereas:
The Council of the City of New York is proud and pleased to recognize Latino Gerontological Center on the occasion of its 10^thAnniversary, for all it has done to advance care for the aged and to improve the quality of life for Latino seniors in the New York area; and

Whereas:
In 1991, the Latino Gerontological Center was established to help improve the lives of Latino seniors in the New York area through a program of advocacy and education on the issues facing older adults in America; and

Whereas:
Now, ten years later, the Latino Gerontological Center has grown to become an important community institution and resource on aging for advocates, policy makers and anyone interested in the future of aging in America; and

Whereas:
In many ways, a society may be judged by how it cares for its elders, and on that account, the Latino Gerontological Center has done much to make ours a stronger, healthier society, marked with greater civility and compassion; and

Whereas:
On this, its 10^thAnniversary, the Latino Gerontological Center has proven itself a true friend and an invaluable asset to the people and the City of New York; now, therefore

Be it Known:
That the Council of the City of New York honors the

LATINO GERONTOLOGICAL CENTER
On the occasion of its 10^th Anniversary

Signed this 23^rdday of May in the year Two Thousand and One.

Peter F. Vallone, Speaker
For the Entire Council

On October, 2000, LGC received the prestigious Monsignor Raúl del Valle Award at the Rockefeller Center in Nueva York. Above, Cynthia Santana from NY-Fox Television-Channel 5, conducted the event presenting the award to Mario Tapia, Presidente and Founder of LGC.

Mario Tapia spent 20 years working for various aging associations on the East Coast before he finally became so frustrated with the lack of services for Latino seniors that he created his own organization.

"I realized there was a disparity and a lack of access for Latinos in aging programs nationally," he says.

The Centro Gerontologico Latino was created 11 years ago by Tapia, who selected a group of close friends to serve as board members. Today the organization serves more than 25,000 participants by providing culturally appropriate activities for seniors in New York City. This includes, Tapia says, recognizing that food is the center of many Hispanic cultures.

"The main problem facing Latino seniors is access to existing services," he says. "Seniors have encountered discrimination and we are facing the problem of language and cultural barriers. These people have spent their entire lives eating rice and beans. Yet at the senior centers, they are given sauerkraut and kielbasa."

He says creating senior centers that provide activities that are welcoming to all cultures, in addition to staff members who can successfully communicate with participants, is also essential.

"They feel rejected and don't come back if the center isn't placating their needs and wants," he says. "Data shows the Latino elderly population will increase five-fold during the next 50 years, creating an unprecedented demand on the providers of social, nutritional, medical and financial benefits programs. This will only make our mission more important and relevant."

In addition to their work in New York, speakers from the Centro often speak at national conventions concerning aging and seniors. The organization sponsors an Inter-American Conference on Gerontology to further understand the cultural and aging issues in other countries.

Tapia, who is originally from Chile, says speaking for those who are under-represented will always be challenging, important work.

"We continue working with Latino senior advocacy to provide support," he says.

The Centro organizes an annual award given to those who work to improve the lives of Latino seniors. The Golden Age awards, now in the ninth year, were handed out in June to local and national officials, including Josephine Carbonell, assistant secretary of aging for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Gerri Warren Merrick, vice president of community relations at AOL/Time Warner.