Procter & Gamble’s ‘Avanzando con tu Familia’ Supports College Education for Hispanics.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) announced that P&G’s Avanzando con tu Familia will support its 2005 community outreach program to provide scholarships to qualified Hispanic students throughout the U.S. as well as educational and community support to promote higher education among Hispanics.

Now in its fourth year, the HSF and Avanzando con tu Familia partnership has provided more than 100 one-year scholarships to Latino students, helped HSF establish regional outreach offices near large Hispanic population centers, and funded Town Hall meetings in nine cities that have helped to educate over 3,500 Latino students and their families about the college application process and financial aid options.

“Hispanic Americans are the largest minority group in the country and the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, and yet they have the highest high school drop-out rate and the lowest college graduation rate of any major racial or ethnic group,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, President and CEO of HSF. “Our partnership with Procter & Gamble is vital to provide high school students and their parents both the financial resources and the information and tools necessary to navigate the college enrollment process.”

According to the Trends 2005 Report by the Pew Hispanic Center, Hispanic students are much less likely to finish college than white, non-Hispanic undergraduates, as almost half of all white college students finish a bachelor’s degree, compared to fewer than a quarter of all young Hispanic students. Also noteworthy is the fact that Hispanics have a tendency to attend less selective community colleges or universities, which can be due to the lower tuition costs at these institutions and also to more accommodating schedules so students can work full-time as they attend college.

Victoria Reyes, a 2001-2002 HSF scholar who now works as a Human Resources Manager for P&G Beauty Care, is a great example of the impact a scholarship from HSF can have in a student’s life. “The HSF tremendously supported me academically in my last two years of school and played a critical role in alleviating financial burdens that I had. In turn, I was able to focus on what mattered most—academics.”

In addition to providing scholarships and underwriting Town Hall meetings, this year, through Avanzando con tu Familia, P&G is also enlisting several of its retail partners across the country that will in turn provide more scholarships and sponsor other Town Hall meetings in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, and Jersey City. To date, P&G has contributed more than $1.8 million to HSF in support of its commitment to help educate future Hispanic leaders.

For the last 30 years, P&G has partnered with HSF, the largest organization devoted to awarding university scholarships to U.S. Hispanics. This year P&G will once again contribute 10 cents to HSF*, up to $100,000, with each purchase of select P&G products, which include Crest, Downy, Tide, Gain, Dawn, Pantene, Bounty, Charmin, Head & Shoulders, Pampers and Iams. The promotion will run from August 1st through December 31, 2005.

“As the report by the Pew Hispanic Center confirms, Hispanics have become the second-largest group in the labor force, making it evident that education continues to be a key component to their success,” said Graciela Eleta, vice president and general manager of P&G’s multicultural business development organization. “I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep empowering Hispanics with the gift of education so they can take advantage of the different work opportunities and improve their lives.”

For more information at http://www.hsf.net