USA Funds Grant Supports Tomás Rivera Policy Institute Gala, Education Conference

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, TRPI hosted A Night of Celebration Gala Dinner May 18 at the Center at Cathedral Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. A total of 600 elected officials, corporate officers and community leaders attended to celebrate the organization. The gala also was an opportunity to recognize those who have helped the Latino community make significant advancement over the past two decades.

USA Funds ^®awarded a $35,000 grant to TRPI to help sponsor the gala celebration and a November education conference that will focus on tools to increase Latino college access and achievement.

“USA Funds is pleased to be a sponsor of the 20th-anniversary gala to recognize the valuable work that the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute has undertaken throughout the years in research and policy issues facing the Latino community,” said Henry Fernandez, USA Funds executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy. “USA Funds shares the institute’s interest in promoting education access for Latinos and is pleased to work with the institute to create these opportunities.”

TRPI is dedicated to the memory of one of its founders, Tomás Rivera, who received international acclaim as an educator, author and scholar. Rivera envisioned a future in which Latinos would play an integral role in establishing a better life for their community through involvement in government, business and education.

“From its founding, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute has been dedicated to examining and understanding the uniqueness of the Hispanic community,” said Harry Pachon, TRPI president and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. “The gala dinner afforded us an opportunity to recognize our accomplishments as well as the tremendous progress of the Latino community.”

TRPI strives to take innovative approaches to its research, providing information about the effects of policy decisions, changing demographics and the progress of the integration of Latinos across the nation.

A part of the USA Funds grant will be used to support the third-annual TRPI Education Conference, set for Nov. 10 in Long Beach, Calif. The conference will bring together more than 600 administrators, program directors, teachers, researchers and public policy-makers to focus on the issue of increasing Latino college application, enrollment and graduation rates. Attendees will learn about research and replicable programs that effectively improved college-matriculation rates of Latinos. 

“The public interest in TRPI’s 2006 events has exceeded all expectations,” said Kathryn Grady, TRPI director of special projects. “Sponsors like USA Funds, which make these activities accessible for the Latino community, are invaluable partners in helping us ensure these events have reach and impact, and are of the highest quality.” 

USA Funds’ other work with TRPI includes sponsorship of the institute’s 2005 conference “The Unacknowledged Crisis: Latino Males and Higher Education,” for which USA Funds underwrote a fact sheet providing key statistics about the participation of Latinos in higher education in California.