Nonprofit group plans LV chapter

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, May 6, 2003 | 9:29 a.m.

A national group that works on behalf of Hispanic students wants to set up a chapter in Las Vegas, an official from the group said Monday.

The Washington-based group called Aspira has been working for more than four decades in seven states and Puerto Rico on such issues as dropout rates and learning English as a second language.

Its 2001 budget, at $36 million, was the highest among national Hispanic nonprofits, according to Hispanic Business magazine.

Ronald Blackburn-Moreno, president of Aspira, said that leaders in the Hispanic community in the Las Vegas Valley have approached the organization about setting up a chapter here. Blackburn-Moreno is in Las Vegas today for an annual conference on Hispanics and education organized by the nonprofit.

"The most important thing about us setting up a chapter here is that it comes from the community," he said.

The group's president said activities it would undertake locally would include helping to organize parents to participate more actively in their children's education, setting up clubs for young people to get involved in leadership, and lobbying the state Legislature for funds for education.

Aldo Aguirre, a member of board of the Latin Chamber of Commerce who ran for university Board of Regents in 2002, is one of the local leaders who has sought to bring the group to town.

"They've been a leader at bringing attention to problems ... and come with solutions tried in other places," he said.

"It's a group that has a history of working with Hispanic children and families ... that will strengthen the position of Hispanics in education here in Nevada," he said.

Aguirre also said that the nonprofit is one of a series of national Hispanic groups that has turned their attention to Nevada as the Hispanic population in the state has grown from 124,000 to almost 394,000 from the 1990 to the 2000 census.

"With the growth of the Hispanic population come needs," Aguirre said.