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Houston Economic
Forum Event
AVANCE Houston held
its second annual Economic Forum on Thursday, October
22, 2009 at the Federal Reserve Bank on Allen Parkway.
The luncheon event, which drew more than 100 attendees,
was geared to business and industry leaders in the
Houston area and offered them perspectives on the
changing demographics of our city and the ways in which
they impact us all.
Dr. Stephen
Klineberg, Rice University professor and Director of the
Houston Area Survey presented his most recent data and
emphasized the astonishing changes in our city’s racial
composition over the past three decades. Although
Houston is one of the first “majority minority” cities
in the United States, Klineberg stressed that Houston
mirrors the future of America. As the Hispanic sector in
our community continues to surge, Klineberg stated that
the major challenge facing all of our citizens is the
transition to the “information economy” in which “what
you earn will depend on what you learn”.
“Gone are the days
of blue collar careers, requiring minimal education”,
said Klineberg and he cited programs like AVANCE as
absolutely critical in helping families assure both
educational and economic success. How Houston handles
this transition can be a model for the nation, Klineberg
noted and he also cited numerous measures of
assimilation to support the fact that Hispanics patterns
of becoming “Americanized” are almost identical to all
the previous waves of immigrants who have come to our
shores.
Among those in
attendance were Paul Murphy, President/CEO of Amegy
Bank, Mexican Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Magallón,
Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos, and creator of
numerous innovative Houston restaurants, Michael Cordúa,
who will be will be honored at AVANCE’s Annual
Celebration on February 12, 2010.
The Economic Forum
was underwritten by the following companies: Centerpoint
Energy, ICON Information Consultants, Walmart, Chevron,
MFR, and Challenge Office Products.
For full access click each
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For more
information on this and future events, please contact
Nilia
Jimenez
Sr. Director of Marketing at 713 812-0033, Ext.177
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