Chairman of Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Former Secretary of Education Endorse Recommendations to Boost Latino College Completion

Washington, DC - Rep. Charles Gonzalez, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, and Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón, chairman of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, today joined Excelencia in Education and its 60 national partner organizations for a Capitol Hill event to release the Roadmap for Ensuring America's Future.

"America cannot become the world leader in college degrees, nor will it have a globally competitive workforce in the future, if it does not focus on improving Latino college completion," said Gonzalez.  "The Roadmap for Ensuring America's Future is a critical tool that provides us with a clear path forward to achieve that future."

"America's continued global leadership depends on producing an educated workforce prepared to compete in the jobs and economy of tomorrow," said Riley.  "The data is compelling that national, state, local, and community leaders in education, public policy, and workforce development must put particular focus on Latino college completion.  This Roadmap is an important step in that direction."

Sarita Brown and Deborah Santiago, co-founders of Excelencia in Education, presented findings and recommendations from the Roadmap.  The Roadmap is the result of a collaborative effort led by Excelencia in Education and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

The Roadmap includes a rigorous statistical analysis of completion to create benchmarks to measure America's progress toward becoming the world leader in college degrees.  Based on this research, Latinos will have to earn 5.5 million college degrees by 2020 for America to reach 51 percent degree attainment and become the world leader.