For immediate release

Acclaimed Hispanic college internship program
wins new support from Federal Aviation Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The nation’s largest Hispanic college internship program was awarded a new five-year contract with the Federal Aviation Administration to provide the agency with high caliber students through the acclaimed Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) National Internship Program – better known as HNIP. The contract is valued at more than $1 million over the next five years.

“HACU thanks the Federal Aviation Administration, a founding partner of HNIP, for the confidence placed in our ability to meet their current and future workforce needs, and introduce hundreds of our Hispanic college students over the next five years to rewarding careers in public service,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

“The Federal Aviation Administration is a proven leader in efforts to reverse the under-representation of Hispanics in the federal labor force. We are deeply grateful for this new, long-term partnership with the FAA in service to the largest ethnic population and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. work force,” Flores said.

HACU, founded in 1986, represents over 400 colleges and universities that collectively serve more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students in the United States. Since 1992, the nonprofit association’s HNIP program has provided more than 5,000 top Hispanic college students paid internships with leading public and private sector employers.

The FAA was the first federal agency in 1992 to accept HNIP students, and the success of that initial placement of 24 interns served to help attract the annual participation of dozens of federal agencies and the later launch of the Corporate HNIP Program engaging leading private-sector employers. Since 1992, the FAA has sponsored 384 HNIP interns in Washington, D.C. and at field locations throughout the country.

“This new contract with the FAA will allow us to multiply the numbers of students we can place in paid internships at the FAA, matching the career goals and skills of our students to the specific needs of the agency,” said HNIP Director Sandra Penaherrera.

“From the success stories we hear each year from HNIP participants, we are confident that this new contract will also lead to rewarding, full-time careers at the FAA for our students and to a more diversified work force at the FAA,” Penaherrera said.

Although Hispanics make up one of every three new workers joining the U.S. labor force today, they remain the only under-represented population in federal workforce ranks.

HNIP was established to reverse the under-representation of Hispanics in the federal government and has since been lauded as an “enviable” recruitment tool by independent surveys. Each year, many interns accept full-time job offers after completing 10- and 15-week assignments during spring, summer or fall sessions.

During 2004, when HNIP surpassed the 5,000-mark for student participation, more than 500 interns were on the job at 21 federal agencies and five private corporations. The 15-week 2005 spring session of HNIP, which began this month, welcomed more than 80 new interns. The 2005 summer session – the program’s largest session – will begin in June.

Dozens of students also have participated since 2004 in the new HACU Cooperative Education Program (HCEP), which allows interns to accrue enough on-the-job hours to make them eventually eligible for noncompetitive placement in select federal positions. 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.

In addition to on-the-job training, HNIP interns are provided professional development workshops and career networking opportunities such as annual career fairs and the Congressional Breakfast Series in Washington, D.C. HNIP also has spawned an active alumni association with members who participate in community volunteer activities and serve as mentors to new interns.

For more information about HNIP, contact HNIP Director Sandra Penaherrera (spenaherrera@hacu.net) at (202) 467-0893. Or visit www.hnip.net. For more information about HACU, contact HACU’s national headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, at (210) 692-3805. Or visit www.hacu.net.