La Opinión, News Report, Posted: Aug 12, 2011

In a two year assessment report, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) gave President Obama and Congress a "B" grade on addressing social issues important to Latinos.

The report analyzed the progress made in addressing major public policy issues facing the Hispanic community nationally in education, immigration, government accountability, health, civil rights and economic development for the last two years.

Findings from the report revealed contradictions in progress on different issues.

Despite positive initiatives made towards the Hispanic community in areas such as education, the failure to address immigration and the increase in deportations were a disappointment to the Latino community and because so deserved the grade, said Lilian Rodriguez, president of NHLA.

Immigration is an important issue for Hispanic families in the United States, because it affects access to other areas such as education and health, said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

The report cited criticized Obama and Congress for the negative impacts of Secure Communities, the lack of employment of Hispanics in high level positions in federal agencies, and the poor management of the administration to support and foster the development of small businesses.

The drastic budget cuts to social programs will put all the progress made in the past two years iat risk, according to Rodriguez.

“There will be 12 nominees to the ‘super committee.’ If there is no Hispanic nominee, then it will clearly be a failure. We want to see this type of representation,” assured Albert Zapanta, president of the Unites States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, in reference to the committee that will decide future cuts.

The report concludes that the 30 organizations that make up the NHLA will focus on immigration reform and education for the next two years.