Latino Progress Plan Due Out Today
BY JENNIFER TODD,
Intelligencer Journal Staff
For four months, more than 250 people worked on a plan to fix problems that hamstring the local Latino community. Today, they show their results.
The plan will be unveiled this morning at a briefing where it will be presented to community leaders and organizations.
The process began in December, when Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board released a report that focused on the area’s Latino community.
The study, titled “Latinos in Lancaster County: Voices, Perspectives, Myths and Realities,” used statistics and personal accounts to seek a clear picture of the growing Latino population in Lancaster County.
While the 227-page report, prepared by Lillian Escobar-Haskins and George Haskins of Alegre Research and Demographics, identified strengths within the Latino community, it also pointed to areas — such as education and employment — where Latinos are falling behind.
The community members then went to work to develop an action plan to address five key issues the study identified as critical for progress among Latinos.
Nearly 50 action plans have been developed by five task groups in the areas of:- Underemployment
- Poverty in households headed by single women
- The many Latino young people who drop out of high school
- The low rate of home-ownership among Latinos in Lancaster County
- The large number of Latino young men who are involved with the criminal justice system.
Plans include refocusing and expanding existing programs and services and increasing engagement with the Latino community through better communication.
“Communication was something that came up over and over,” Scott Sheely, executive director of Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board, said. “Some suggestions were making sure certain community-based organizations were open hours that would allow people to come in after work, making sure there is someone on staff who can speak Spanish — it’s a matter of accessibility.”
Task groups also suggested greater communication and outreach through newspapers, radios and schools.
Sheely said the scope of the plan, which was not available Wednesday, is “broad yet specific.”
“They’re very detailed plans but in a big-picture sense, which sounds extremely vague but ... I think once people hear the plans it will make a lot more sense,” he said.
The initial study issued in December and the action plan report are available at www.lancastercountywib.com
“Development of the action plan had considerable input from the Latino community”, Sheely said.
“Of those comprising task groups, approximately 40 to 50 percent were Latino”, he said. In addition, task groups solicited input from people in the Latino community.
“We held three focus groups within the community, and the plan was very well received,” Sheely said. “I think the recommendations were on target with what many of them saw as well, and we got some really good feedback.”
Task groups have suggested six-month implementation schedules for most plans.
Sheely acknowledged the goals are ambitious but said with the cooperation of organizations and individuals the plan is “very doable.”
“Is it perfect? No. Does it accomplish everything we would like to accomplish? No,” Sheely said. “But if we can make strides concerning 60 to 70 percent of the problems, we look at that as making huge gains."
