For immediate release

Hispanic internship program
tops the 5,000-mark

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s largest Hispanic college internship program surpassed the 5,000-mark for students served since 1992 by the acclaimed Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program, or HNIP.

More than 400 top college students, representing a record 31 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are participating in paid government and corporate internships this summer, boosting total HNIP participation above the 5,000 mark.

A program hailed each year as an enviable recruitment tool by participating employers, HNIP was established to reverse the under-representation of Hispanics in public and private sector workforce ranks. Each year, dozens of interns say yes to full-time job offers after completing 10- and 15-week assignments matching their career interests.

“This remarkable program opens doors to rewarding careers for our students each year, and provides opportunities for employers to build a workforce that better reflects the rapidly changing demographics of our country,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

“HACU applauds the dozens of government agencies and corporations participating in this outstanding program each year for contributing to its extraordinary record of success,” Flores said.

Each year, hundreds of top Hispanic college students compete for paid internship positions available during the program’s spring, summer and fall sessions. This summer, 418 students are on the job at 10-week internships in Washington, D.C., and at field locations in 35 states and Puerto Rico.

This summer’s interns hail from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana.

This summer’s interns also represent college campuses in North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

“HACU is proud of the remarkable caliber of this summer’s interns, who boast an average GPA of 3.41–placing them among the top ranks of all college students,” said William Rafael Gil, HACU Assistant Vice President of Collegiate Programs and Federal Relations, who oversees the Washington, D.C.-based program.

“More than half are seniors and graduate students eager to prove themselves to potential employers in challenging fields that range from finance, science and foreign affairs to engineering, research and technology,” Gil said.

Seventeen summer interns are participating in the new HNIP Co-op Program, which is allowing students to accrue enough on-the-job hours to make them eventually eligible for noncompetitive placement in certain federal positions.

“Hispanics now make up the largest ethnic population in this country, but they remain the only under-represented population group in the federal labor force. The co-op program is directly responding to long-standing government mandates to recruit and hire more Hispanics to better reflect the diversity of the civilian workforce,” Gil said.

HNIP was established in 1992 by HACU to address the shortage of Hispanics in the federal labor force, with a Corporate HNIP component added in later years. Fifteen Corporate HNIP interns are on the job this summer at Verizon Communications, Lockheed Martin Corporation, MGM Mirage and the Farm Credit Administration.

Federal agencies providing internships this summer include the CIA, NASA, National Science Foundation, Library of Congress, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board, International Broadcasting Bureau, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Consumer Product and Safety Commission.

Twelve interns are working at the new Department of Homeland Security. Other interns are assigned to offices of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

In addition to on-the-job training, HNIP interns are provided professional development workshops and career networking opportunities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and HNIP hosted a Minority Career Fair in Washington, D.C., on July 15 that also invited the participation of other minority student internship programs.

HNIP also set a new record this year for the number of internship field locations, with summer interns at work in cities as diverse as San Diego, Seattle, Syracuse, San Francisco, San Antonio, St. Louis, St. Paul and San Juan.

Field interns are on the job this summer in 92 cities in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

A majority of HNIP interns arrive each year from among HACU’s more than 350 member colleges and universities, which collectively serve more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students. This summer’s interns, who represent an array of ethnic and racial backgrounds, range in age from 18 to 57, with an average age of 23. Of this summer’s 418 interns, 258 are female.

HNIP also has spawned an increasingly active alumni association whose members each year participate in community volunteer activities, while also acting as role models and mentors to new interns.

“The HACU Alumni Association has developed a remarkably effective network sharing their school, internship and job experiences through regular meetings, an alumni newsletter and a continually updated Internet presence at www.hnip.net,” said HNIP Director Sandra Penaherrera.

“Our former interns are becoming after-school tutors, collecting donations for local food banks and encouraging Hispanic youngsters to pursue a college education,” Penaherrera said. “It’s also immensely gratifying to see so many of our former interns promote the importance of HNIP to future interns. Our alumni are our best testimony to the terrific success of this program.”

The 15-week fall HNIP session begins August 26. November 5 is the deadline to apply for the program’s 15-week spring session, which begins in January 2005.