DaimlerChrysler & TELACU Help Latinos Drive Their Financial Future.

DaimlerChrysler’s West Business Center and TELACU, a Los Angeles-based non-profit community economic development corporation, have announced the “Manejando el Futuro” (“Driving the Future”) partnership program, which encompasses three areas related to financial self-sufficiency for California’s Latinos: financial planning, college financial aid and small business economic development.

“Achieving the ‘American Dream’ requires more than just hard work – it takes planning, as well,” said Patricia Romero, California Marketing Manager, DaimlerChrysler West Business Center, based in Irvine, Calif. “In Spanish, ‘Manejando’ means both ‘driving’ and ‘managing.’ We are very excited to join TELACU in providing tools to help Latinos take control of their financial futures – whether they are college students, young families, or business owners.”

DaimlerChrysler is contributing $100,000 to the TELACU Education Foundation to conduct a series of bilingual “Manejando el Futuro” financial planning, financial aid and small business workshops between July and December 2003 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. The partnership program also includes scholarships through the TELACU Education Foundation for four Latino high school students, and a college student internship at the West Business Center in Irvine, one of eight DaimlerChrysler Business Centers around the country that act as a link between the dealerships and corporate headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

“We are very pleased to partner with Daimler Chrysler West Business Center. Financial self-sufficiency is so important in today’s world, yet is often a neglected part of our education,” said David C. Lizárraga, TELACU President and CEO. “These workshops will help Latinos learn to manage their finances, and the scholarships and internships will assist our students.”

Louis Barajas, author of “The Latino Journey to Financial Greatness,” will conduct the “Manejando el Futuro” financial planning seminars, to be held in July in Los Angeles and in August in San Diego. Barajas has traveled around the country conducting seminars highlighting Latino cultural factors that affect financial planning. TELACU Education Foundation also will coordinate two bilingual college financial aid workshops for high school students and their parents on the campuses of Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education in Los Angeles and San Francisco in October and November. TELACU Education Foundation will conduct a DaimlerChrysler West Business Center-sponsored small business seminar in Los Angeles in September.

The DaimlerChrysler scholars will be named at the TELACU Education Foundation’s 20th anniversary scholarship awards dinner on June 20 in Los Angeles. In fall 2003, TELACU Education Foundation will place a Latino college student majoring in business administration, finance or marketing in an internship at DaimlerChrysler’s West Business Center to obtain on-the-job training in the automotive business.

“DaimlerChrysler believes in helping to support positive community efforts,” Romero explained. “We are pleased to form this partnership with such a respected community organization as TELACU that works to increase economic development and educational opportunities in the Latino community.”