By Lango Deen

"HACU is a great program, and I like to spread the word whenever I get a chance."

University of California, Berkeley student Estaban Ramirez

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) National Internship Program recently celebrated a decade of growth and success. The program, HNIP, was launched in 1992 with the first crop of 24 interns assigned to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Since then, the number of participants has climbed steadily to an all-time high of 632 interns in 2001. A total of 429 interns are participating this summer at more than 20 agencies and companies.

Estaban Ramirez, third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley, and Brenda Flores, a recent graduate of Berkeley, are two of the 400-strong group.

"HACU is a great program, and I like to spread the word whenever I get a chance," Ramirez says enthusiastically.

Flores says the internship program has broken her out of her shell.
"I was in Budapest studying on the Education Abroad Program when I applied to HACU. But I still had a lot of apprehension flying out to Washington, D.C. I discovered they're always there for you, sign-posting you from the moment you step off the plane," she says.

William Gil, executive director of HNIP, says one indicator of the program's success is that many students in the program are asked by their hosts to return. Last year, 74 percent of the students were asked to return to the agencies they interned with; 33 percent were asked to return as permanent employees.

"This speaks of the caliber of the interns," Gil says. "They're truly representative of the best. The program requires a 3.0 G.P.A., and the average G.P.A. is 3.3. They come from all backgrounds -- California, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Puerto Rico -- reflecting the rainbow of cultural backgrounds that make up the Hispanic community. HACU is actively involved in the education of the American work force."

Before coming to HACU, Ramirez says he had been planning a career in politics. He had run for student body president in high school. A political science major in college, he was considering going into international studies. But his internship at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has changed all that.
"I've learned so much in the Cooperative State Research Education Extension Services division, which provides grants to Hispanic-serving institutions conducting agricultural research programs," he says. "Agriculture is a huge thing in California; it's like $52 billion. The next state that compares is Florida, with about half of that. Fresno, where I grew up, has more agricultural exports than New York. Maybe the fact that I'm from Fresno had something to do with me being placed at USDA."

Ramirez now is planning to get a master's degree in agriculture after he graduates.

"We try to do the best match possible," says Gil. "Like all internships, the most important thing is that it expand the horizons of people taking part. The program serves as a door to a brand new world, opens up perspectives and aspirations and the way individuals look at life and what they thought about doing. A lot of them go back to school. A lot of them consider a career in federal government. It also helps individuals refocus what they may have been planning on doing and gets them real, hands-on experience."
Kimberly Sais, one of the original 24 interns in 1992, spoke about how the HNIP provided her with real work experience.

"I had graduated with a journalism degree and was halfway through an M.B.A. when I interned in the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Transportation. I wasn't just answering the phone and delivering mail; it was a meaningful experience."

Sais wrote for the DOT's national newsletter and returned from New Mexico the next summer for a second internship, this time at the U.S. Department of Energy, before becoming a permanent federal employee at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She is now policy advisor on environmental activities there.
Flores is also in her second round. She failed to get into the program the first time she applied in 1999, and went off to study in Budapest. Last year she spent 10 weeks at the Federal Aviation Administration.

"HACU's selection process is rigorous, and I was happy to be accepted in 2001," she says. "This year, I'm at the Environmental Protection Agency. Both experiences have been very different, though. I feel more self-initiated this year."

Flores will start the 10-month Congressional Hispanic Caucus Fellowship program in August.

Maria Oliveri, assistant director for diversity at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), regards HACU as a pipeline for entry-level recruitment and hiring.

"Interns have been a great tool for agencies to recruit co-ops who are still students (into) the Student Career Experience program. The program gives them an opportunity to see and fall in love with federal public service. It's a win-win situation for the students and agencies."

Several years ago, the OPM identified "Best Practices" for recruiting Hispanics into the federal work force. HNIP was identified as one of the critical programs to help increase the representation of Hispanics.

"That was the genesis of the program," Gil says, "The federal government was looking for a mechanism to recruit and bring in individuals of Latino descent into the federal work force. It's an honor to see such a small program grow from 24 interns to more than 3,800 participants in 10 years. That's why agencies come to us: We are the largest Hispanic partnership in the nation."
Eduardo Martinez, an economist in the Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1999, says his internship at the U.S. Department of Labor in 1997, provided him with an opportunity that would have been impossible to find or extremely expensive to experience by himself.
"Your resume gets distributed to several federal agencies," Martinez explains. "Students from Hispanic-serving institutions and associates get the same exposure as those coming out of Ivy League schools or other big schools. It kind of levels the playing field."

"The fact is Hispanics are an underrepresented group in federal government," Gil says. "Fifty percent of the work force will be eligible to retire in a few years, and yet Hispanics continue to be underrepresented. Here is a once-in-a-generational opportunity to look for new people and address the underrepresentation needs, taking into consideration the demographic changes taking place in the U.S. right now."

Lango Deen can be reached at LDeen@ccgmag.com