LaPlaza.net is supporting the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics as a destination to continue discussions following a popular series of Hispanic community action summits taking place across the US. LaPlaza.net is a new website dedicated to building Hispanic prosperity through education, political access, open communication, idea sharing, and resources offered by Hispanic organizations.

Administration officials are meeting with Hispanic community leaders, educators and small business owners at each Hispanic community action summit. These Summits are open to the public and organized in part by the White House Initiative on Excellence in Education. The Initiative was established to address academic excellence and opportunities for the Hispanic Community.

More dynamic than federal government events of the past, each summit consists of talks from White House Initiative and other Cabinet officials followed by Open Space Sessions. At the Open Space Sessions, members of the community propose and hold round-table discussions with federal officials and community members. Each session is spearheaded by a community member and typically addresses issues as they impact their locality and region: the economy and jobs, access to affordable health care, quality public education, comprehensive immigration reform.

Each open space discussion involves a description of the problem, possible solutions and follow-up tasks - all recorded in a session report. At the conclusion of the session, session leaders have an opportunity to share their findings on LaPlaza.net. Once the session topics are entered online, people can log-in to continue the discussion on the LaPlaza.net White House Initiative tab.

"There is so much passion and enthusiasm at these Hispanic Summits," said Demian Pedroza, COO,Dextro, LLC (parent company of LaPlaza.net). "Great ideas are generated at these meetings but we need to take the ideas and build on them. We designed LaPlaza.net as a place for Hispanics to share their problems, concerns and solutions with one another. We see it as a central location for Hispanic conversation and action so that real progress can be made."

LaPlaza.net is a one-stop shop for the Hispanic community with an emphasis on things that bring true prosperity: education, careers, networking, community outreach and civic engagement. Given its unique collaboration with the White House Hispanic Initiative, members can communicate with other community leaders and policymakers regarding programs, policies, and initiatives for the Hispanic community.

LaPlaza.net is still growing and evolving; but right now, members can take advantage of these (free) services: Hispanic/Latino Job Search, English Language Learning Discount, Hispanic Events, Hispanic networking and Hispanic Donors Choose. In the works are: open source educational content in both English and Spanish, scholarship info, and CNN Hispanic News.

According to Nadja Giuffirda, CEO of Dextro, LLC (LaPlaza.net's parent company), "Improving the education of the Hispanic Community is one of the single most important things we can do for the US economy. Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics declared that by 2010, 74% of the nation's labor force will be Hispanic. Layer on top of that the alarming 37% high school drop out rate within the Hispanic community and we're looking at a very dire economic situation in this country."

LaPlaza.net was founded on the idea of progress and prosperity for the Hispanic Community. LaPlaza.net is the brainchild of Thinkrs.org, a non-profit created for the sole purpose of developing disadvantaged minorities through education. Powering both Thinkrs.org and LaPlaza.net is Dextro, LLC, an IT consulting and training company specializing in transformational ideas for Latin American corporations and governments.

A schedule of upcoming Hispanic community action summits and registration details is posted on LaPlaza.net.

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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/WhiteHouseHispanicSummits/HispanicLatinoIssues/prweb9223451.htm

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