Research & Outreach on Latinos and Changing Communities in Missouri

Cambio Center News - August, 2009

From the Center

Cambio de Colores Annual Conference

The Eighth Annual Cambio de Colores conference, “Latinos in the Heartland,” was held at the University of Missouri – St. Louis in May 18-20, 2009.  Around 150 presenters and participants came from most Midwest universities and beyond.  The conference was opened by University of Missouri President Gary Forsee and University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George, as well as Cambio Center’s Domingo Martínez, and Jan Flora, from Iowa State University.

Plenary speakers included Lori T. Chesser, an immigration lawyer from Des Moines, Iowa; Ryan Barker, of the Missouri Foundation for Health, and Benjamin Mueller, from the University of Illinois National Center for Rural Health Professions; Elena Morales of El Centro Inc., Kansas City, Kansas; and Mario A. Magaña, from Oregon State University. There was also a plenary research panel composed by Georgeanne Artz, Corinne Valdivia, and Stephen Jeanetta, of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The closing session featured special guests from St. Louis who spoke of their own experiences and from their different perspectives: Gilbert Bailón, Editor of the Editorial Page, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and Linda M. Martínez , Director of the Department of Economic Development of the State of Missouri.(Unexpected health reasons precluded the attendance of the Hon. María Chappelle-Nadal, District 72 (University City), Missouri House of Representatives, who sent her regrets.)

The full program, which includes links to all abstracts, selected papers, and many presentations, is available online:
http://www.cambiodecolores.org/2009/Program/

2010 Conference: By mid-September, the Cambio Center will announce the date and venue of the 2010 Cambio de Colores conference.

Asset Accumulation Research Project

The Cambio Center’s main research project Asset Accumulation Strategies in 3 New Settlements Communities, funded in 2006 by a competitive grant from USDA’s National Research Initiative (now replaced by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)), is completing its third year.  The field data collection has been recently completed with an extensive household survey applied to 450 Latino residents in three non-metro areas of Missouri.  The project’s research team members are Cambio Center fellows Corinne Valdivia (PI, Agricultural Economics, CAFNR), Stephen Jeanetta (Rural Sociology & Community Development, CAFNR), Lisa Flores (Educational, School, & Counseling Psychology, College of Education), Domingo Martínez (Cambio Center & CAFNR), and Pedro Dozi (Ph. D. student, Agricultural Economics), who was in charge of coordinating the survey.

The growing list of scholarly articles and conference presentations is available online:
http://www.cambio.missouri.edu/Assets/output.php

Opportunities

Julián Samora Midwest Conference (new deadline for submissions): Call for Papers and Panels: The Julián Samora Research Institute, based at Michigan State University, will hold a special 20th Anniversary Celebration Conference: Latino/a Communities in the Midwest, Nov. 5-7, 2009, at  East Lansing, Michigan. The institute is soliciting submissions by researchers and practitioners on a broad range of topics focusing on Latino/as communities in the Midwest. For more information, visit the Conference website. (Submission Deadline extended: Aug. 31st, 2009)

Resources

¡Primer portal en español del gobierno estatal de Missouri!
6 de agosto: El Procurador General de Missouri, Chris Koster, pone a disposición del público hispanohablante su sitio web en español.

First Missouri State Government Website in Spanish!
August 6: Attorney General Chris Koster unveiled a Spanish language portal for his office.

Publications of Interest

• Cato Institute: Trade Policy Analysis no. 40: Restriction or Legalization? Measuring the Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform, by Peter B. Dixon and Maureen T. Rimmer, Cato Institute Center for Trade Policy Studies.
• National Governors Association: Immigrants in the Land of Opportunity: Benefits and Challenges for States, an archived and very current webcast (from June 10th, 2009), National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
• Missouri Foundation for Health: The 2008 electronic MFH 2008 Annual Report is available (online only).  MFH is the founding source for the Cambio Center & Centro Latino’s “Promotoras de salud” project, and a sponsor of the Cambio de Colores conference since 2004.

Pew Hispanic Center Reports:

• "Through Boom and Bust: Minorities, Immigrants and Homeownership" – a report by Rakesh Kochhar, and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, Pew Hispanic Center, and Daniel Dockterman, Research Assistant, Pew Hispanic Center (12 May, 2009).
• “Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants” - a report by Richard Fry and Jeffrey S. Passel, Pew Hispanic Center (28 May 2009).
• “Who’s Hispanic?” – a report by Jeffrey Passel and Paul Taylor, Pew Hispanic Center (28 May 2009).
• “Mexican Immigrants: How Many Come? How Many Leave?” – a report by Jeffrey Passel and D'Vera Cohn, Pew Hispanic Center (22 July 2009).

Pew Hispanic Center Factsheet:

• Puerto Ricans in the United States, 2007 (July, 2009)