"The issues of the Chicano Latino Caucus are the issues of California. We want to work for you. We need to create more living wage jobs, improve our schools, adopt comprehensive immigration reform, and make civic involvement, voting in particular, a top priority."
LIST OF ISSUES
EDUCATION
The Latino dropout rate has been steadily declining for thirty two years. In 1972 the doropout rate was 40%. By 2000 it had fallen to 32%. But the decline since 2000 has been very dramatic. Today, the Latino dropout rate stands at 15 %. And the percentage of Latino high school graduates entering four year colleges has surpassed the white non hispanic population.We need to focus on the new local control funding formula and at large elections which hold the key to future change.
HOUSING
Latinos were disproportionately affected by the Great Recession. Half of all adult Latinos are homeowners. One in every ten Latinos admitted to missing a house payment during the recession. Three percent received foreclosure notices. Housing continues to be a problem for Latinos. Many live in homes with other families. affordable housing is tied to living wages.
HEALTHCARE
One fourth of all Latinos have no regular health care provider. Even so Latinos have a lower incidence of illness than white non latinos, except for diabetes. Hispanics are twice as likely as non Latino whites to not have a regular health care provider and three times as likely as non Latino Blacks to not have a regular healthcare provider. Latinos are the uninsured.
ENVIRONMENT
Latinos are split on key environmental issues such as the Keystone pipeline, fracking, and drilling. Latinos have disproportionately high unemployment and the lure of jobs will often trump environmental concerns when children are hungry. Latinos must become more educated concerning the affect that care for the environment can mean to their families.
DIVERSITY
The Hispanic population will triple between 2005 and 2050. Hispanics will account for most of the nations population growth during this time period. 64.1% of the Hispanic resident population in the United States is Mexican, 9% are Puerto Rican, 3.4% are Cuban, and 3.1% are Guatemalan. "The rapid growth of the Latino/Hispanic population in this country qualifies as one of the most dramatic demographic phenomena of the last century. This segment of our society is growing almost four times as fast as other groups. It is predicted that one out of every four Americans will be of Latino/Hispanic heritage by the year 2050."
http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/hispanics2006/Table-5.pdf
IMMIGRATION
"The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.—11.3 million in 2013—has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children."