In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, to talk about the two pillars of the nonprofit’s mission: workforce development and education for the Hispanic community, the fastest-growing part of the U.S. workforce.

Over the next seven years, nearly eight in 10 new jobs in the labor market will be filled by a Latino, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority of those jobs will require some level of digital skills. Tijerino says the Hispanic Heritage Foundation is working with major companies across the country to offer training.

“We have a value proposition as the Latino community, and we want to make sure that we’re prepping our community to provide that value proposition in the workforce.

“We’re working with AT&T, for instance, in terms of skills building all over the country for youth, but also for people that are currently in a particular job and want to transition into another job. Same with IBM,” explains Tijerino.

“We want to make sure that they have access to not just tools but also certifications and access to a career path in areas that we need to fulfill. We want to make sure that our community is in good position as they move into those jobs – that they’re in the skilled areas – that they’re in the technology areas that (those jobs) are in.”

Tijerino adds that education is a key component of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation mission.

“Education is workforce development in the first place because, ultimately, what you’re trying to do is build towards the rest of your life and what you’re going to do with that education.

“For instance, in education, we teach 100,000 students how to computer code. It’s broader than just simply trying to teach a bunch of kids how to code, trying to give them confidence with technology, feel a sense of belonging in technology, for instance, and also make sure we’re building social capital at every step as they go into their careers and have that touch point.”

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is also trying to address the the digital divide in terms of Wi-Fi. A homework gap leads to a workforce gap, says Tijerino.

“We have found through surveys that we did with the Student Research Foundation that Latinos were most likely to say that their grades suffered because they didn’t have Wi-Fi at home to do their homework, most likely to say that they couldn’t finish their homework. Parents were most likely to say they couldn’t communicate with a teacher because they didn’t have Wi-Fi at home.

“We want to make sure that everybody’s connected because you can’t succeed in education or in the workforce or in community building if you don’t have access to Wi-Fi.”

We dive into how the Hispanic Heritage Foundation is working to close those gaps and increase tech upskilling. You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 332: Dr. Antonio Tijerino, President & CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here