CHANCE FOR WRITERS
To prepare and place Latino writers at major television networks, the National Latino Media Council has opened the submission period for “The NLMC Television Writers Program.”
Participants’ scripts will be read by network executives to pick the most promising. Those writers selected will be interviewed and mentored by the executives.
Those interested must be able to write at least one half-hour comedy or one-hour dramatic TV script in English within a five week period.
The program, to be conducted in Burbank, Calif., runs this year from Oct. 8 to Nov. 11. Flight, housing and meals will be provided, along with a $250 weekly stipend.
For more information visit: http://nhmc.org/writersprogram
WEBSITE AIDS STUDENTS
Hispanic students are known to be one of the biggest demographic groups struggling to achieve higher education due to the ongoing economic crisis and the increasing cost of college.
According to research done by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2009, 89% of Hispanic students ages 16-25 believe that college education is very important for their success, but only 48% can plan on attending college.
Most of the students who don’t pursue a college career are pressured to focus on maintaining a job in order to help support their family.
The website Speedy Prep is lending a hand to all of those students left behind by creating the new CLEP Spanish Study Guide. With as little as two-week preparation, bilingual Hispanic students can earn up to 12 college credits which completes up to 10% of their college degree.
CLEP exams are design to help students earn college credits by taking a multiple choice exam while saving them money at the same time. Today these exams are accepted in over 2,900 colleges and universities around the country.
For more information visit: http://www.speedyprep.com/
NEW SPANISH TV AD
The Democratic National Committee has released a Spanish TV ad, En Quién Confiar, to “set the record straight” on President Obama’s commitment to the Hispanic community.
It highlights his achievements such as the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which added more than 4 million children, student loan reform that provided an additional 150,000 Pell Grants to Hispanic students, tax cuts for middle-class families, and the Recovery Act, which it says helped 1.9 million Latinos stay out of poverty in 2009.
The ad compares his record to Republican Party attempts to end Medicare “to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”
Obama won 67% of the Hispanic vote in the 2008 elections vs. 31% for John McCain.
He is unlikely to repeat or improve on that, say pundits, due to his failed promise to achieve comprehensive immigration reform and his administration’s record on deporting undocumented immigrants, large numbers of whom had no criminal records.
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Editor’s note: This column was previously published on Hispanic Link News Service.
