WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The nation’s largest Hispanic college internship program was awarded a new three-year grant with the Department of Commerce (DOC) 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 three years.

“HACU thanks the Department of Commerce, a long time 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 three years to rewarding careers in public service,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores. “We applaud the Department of Commerce’s efforts to reverse the under-representation of Hispanics in the federal labor force. We look forward to working with the DOC,” 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 Department of Commerce and HACU established a formal Memorandum of Understanding to increase employment and educational opportunities offered by the DOC for students from HACU member institutions. Since 1994, a total of 569 students have been placed in internship assignments with the Department of Commerce.

“This new contract will allow us increase paid internship opportunities at the Department of Commerce and will provide students with extraordinary professional development opportunities, which we believe will allow these students to make more educated career choices,” said William Rafael Gil, Assistant Vice President of Collegiate Programs and Federal Relations.

“These real life work experiences are extremely important because they allow students to become aware of the breadth of opportunities they never knew existed. In fact, past participant surveys confirm that, because of these internships, many students are hired for permanent positions. HACU is proud to facilitate experiences like these for talented Hispanic students,” Gil 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 this under-representation in the federal government and has since been lauded as an “enviable” recruitment tool by independent surveys. In fact, this year, the HNIP program and the newly developed HACU Cooperative Education Program (HCEP) were both recently recognized in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as “best practice” tools for the recruitment of Hispanics into the Federal workforce. OPM published these comments in its fourth annual report on Hispanic Employment in the Federal Government.

The 15-week 2005 spring session of HNIP, which began in January, welcomed more than 80 new interns, and the 2005 summer session – the program’s largest session – will begin in June and once again is planning on placing over 400 students across the nation.

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 http://www.hnip.net/. For more information about HACU, contact HACU’s national headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, at (210) 692-3805. Or visit http://www.hacu.net/.