Hills Lags in hiring Hispanics

(posted by Jesus Galindo)


Hispanics make up nearly one-sixth of the U.S. population, but a new study shows that they’re almost nonexistent in high-level staff positions on Capitol Hill.
Out of 100 Senate chiefs of staff, only one is Hispanic: Amanda Renteria, who works for Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow. There are no Hispanic legislative directors or deputy chiefs of staff in the Senate, the study shows, and only one Hispanic staff director.In the House, the study finds, Hispanics hold only 12 of the roughly 440 chief of staff jobs and only nine of about 440 legislative director slots.

The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association calls the results an “outrage.”

“For whatever reason, we’re just not getting into senior-level positions,” said the chairman of the CHSA’s Placement Committee, whose office would not allow him to give his name. “We’re really trying to avoid finger-pointing at any one individual office. The real problem is that every single office is hiring [fewer] Latinos than they should be.”

That’s not to say that lawmakers aren’t hiring Latinos to staff their offices — currently, 156 members of Congress, seven leadership offices and 27 committee offices have at least one Hispanic employee on staff, according to the Latino Leaders Network.

But when Latinos are hired, it’s most often for low-level positions that don’t offer opportunities for policy work. A 2009 House employment survey found that the greatest number of Hispanic staffers in the House work as schedulers, followed by staff assistants.

Gloria Montano Greene, former chief of staff to Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), is among the few Latino staffers who have risen to the top. She began her work as a part-time staffer in Grijalva’s district office and later moved to Washington, where she worked her way up through almost every position in the office before becoming chief of staff four years later.

“You do notice sometimes that you’re the only person representing your constituency, and you realize you have different ways to approach the conversation,” said Greene, who is now the Washington director for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund. “As a Latino staffer ... you have to understand how to deal with the disparities. You have to work to find networks of support, both professional and personal, to stay in the D.C. way of life. It’s a reason why beginning staffers might have difficulty staying in the long haul. The financial aspect is hard. You lack familial support, and you leave your community.”

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