Council Meeting

Held Tuesday, September 15, 2007

Host: Ms. Bonita White

 

Introduction

 

Ms. Delia L. Johnson, Co-Chair and Director, Office of Civil Rights for International Broadcasting Bureau, opened the meeting with a few remarks and then asked the attendees to give their names, agencies, and positions. She thanked Bonita White, Director, EEO Programs, DHHS, for sponsoring this meeting.

 

Jorge Ponce, Council’s Co-Chair, congratulated Milton Belardo for his election as the new Chair of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers. He hoped that both Councils could work on projects of mutual interest in the future. 

 

Mr. Ponce informed the group about the September 2007 issue of the Federal EEO Advisor -- specifically the article that quoted the EEOC Chair Earp as saying that starting next fiscal year, EEOC will allow federal agencies to meet their MD-715 reporting requirements with equivalent information submitted in the OPM’s Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) report.  He indicated that this was the first time that many EEO professionals had heard about this decision.

 

Mr. Ponce announced a new database that has information on the Limited English Proficiency initiative at http://www.lep.gov.

 

Mr. Ponce highlighted the significance of a 1947 decision (Mendez v. Westminster) by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal that desegregated the public schools in Orange County, California for Mexican and Mexican-American children.  Considering that the Nation is celebrating its 60th anniversary, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in September 2007 to commemorate the Mendez case that predated by seven years the Brown v. Board of Education decision.  

 

Mr. Ponce stated that he remains concerned that the EEOC’s E-RACE Initiative does not include the eradication of national origin discrimination – the basis that is most common in discrimination complaints filed by Hispanics.  While applauding the LEAD Initiative that deals with addressing the declining number of employees with targeted disabilities in the federal workforce and E-RACE that deals with the elimination of race and color discrimination from the workplace, Mr. Ponce hoped that EEOC will launch a similar initiative to combat national origin discrimination.  Considering that the LEAD and the E-RACE Initiatives are spearheaded by the EEOC Chair and an EEOC Commissioner, he suggested similar treatment for the national origin initiative to maintain its credibility and enhance its effectiveness. Since we are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, this would be the perfect time for EEOC to launch this initiative.

 

Mr. Ponce informed Council members that the Navy Department had advertised an SES position as Director, Human Resources Policy and Program Department in the 201 series (which belongs to the HR family) and with HR and EEO duties combined.  Mr. Ponce reminded attendees that the Council had written to the Navy leadership in the past to request that the HR and EEO functions and job series be kept separate.

 

Considering that the guest speaker was William Gil, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Assistant Vice President of Collegiate Programs and Federal Relations, Mr. Ponce made several points about internship programs.  He indicated that when the issue of Hispanic underrepresentation is brought up to federal managers, they respond instinctively by hiring HACU interns.  Mr. Ponce stated that the average age of a new hire in the federal sector is around 33 years old; thus, these jobs are outside the reach of the average college graduate at 23 years old.  Mr. Ponce said that this revolving-door policy did not help federal agencies to improve the Hispanic representation in their workforces.  While managers could convert HACU interns to permanent employees through noncompetitive means by using the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) and the Federal Career Internship Program, more managers need to take advantage of these hiring flexibilities.    

 

Mr. Ponce praised Mr. Gil for creating a database with all kinds of information about HACU interns – majors, GPA’s, skill sets, geographic location, etc.  This database currently has contact information for approximately 1,200 HACU interns.  He encouraged federal agencies to work closely with HACU to hire more Hispanics.

 

Mr. Ponce clarified that the name of Mr. Gil’s internship program was not HACU, but HNIP – which stands for the HACU National Internship Program. He stated that HACU is the organization, while HNIP is the name for the internship program.

 

Mr. Ponce stated that while recruiting college students in the federal sector is great, it is also necessary to find a way to promote as many of the ready-now, GS-15 Hispanics to the SES ranks – where decisions are made and budgets are approved.  To ignore the latter group would be an enormous waste of top talent, and create an adverse impact on the recruitment of younger Hispanics.  Those GS-15 Hispanics serve as role models to many younger Hispanics and to their own children.  

 

HNIP

Mr. Gil indicated that the Council and HACU were facing the same challenges.  While HNIP can provide federal agencies with outstanding interns, he agreed with Mr. Ponce’s assessment that there is a great disconnect in the federal sector in converting interns to permanent positions.  

 

Mr. Gil stated that while HNIP interns needed to have at least a 3.0 GPA, the average GPA for the most recent class of program participants was 3.39.  In addition, to be accepted to the program, students must have completed the freshman year of college, be currently enrolled in a degree seeking program and be eligible to work in the United States. Since 1992, HACU has placed nearly 7,000 college interns at federal agencies and corporations throughout the Nation.   During 2007, the HNIP program placed 626 students with 24 federal agencies and 7 corporations. Approximately, 76% of program participants are from HACU institutions, while 24% are from non-HACU member institutions -- consequently, the majority of the students are Hispanics.

 

Mr. Gil mentioned a new program that HACU rolled out in 2004 -- the HACU Cooperative Education Program, which is similar to the Student Career Experience Program or SCEP.  Through this program, federal agencies pay HACU to recruit interns for them.  These interns are hired as agency employees and, ultimately, are converted to permanent employees through noncompetitive means.

 

Mr. Gil discussed the presence of an inverse relationship between the aspirations of HNIP interns before and after they have served one tour of duty with a federal agency.  Of course, he said that this does not happen all the time.  But when it does happen, it’s caused by the high expectations that these students have and the disappointment that they face after getting menial assignments during their first tour duty.  Although he realizes that everyone does his and her share of menial tasks, if the latter is all that managers assign to these students, they are not going to be highly motivated and are not going to make the Federal Government their employer of choice. 

 

Mr. Gil stated that Puerto Rico (with 3.9M, U.S. citizens) represents one of the most untapped resources for Hispanic recruitment.  He said that while most states have two educational systems, Puerto Rico has three.  According to the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, there are approximately 391,000 Puerto Ricans with bachelor’s degrees and about 128,000 with graduate degrees.      

 

Mr. Gil indicated that OPM issued final rules on April 11, 2006, that allow federal agencies to credit up to 320 hours served as interns as part of the 640-hr. SCEP requirement to convert them noncompetitively to permanent employees.  Prior to the enactment of these regulations, the time spent as HACU interns at federal agencies could not be counted towards the 640-hr. requirement.  In addition, agencies can waive now up to 320-hr. towards the 640-hr. requirement if the interns graduated with a least a 3.5 GPA and received outstanding performance ratings from federal agencies.  See  http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-3391.htm.

 

Mr. Gil mentioned that HACU had commissioned an independent analysis of the HNIP, considering that HACU celebrated this past summer the 15th anniversary of HNIP.  One of the most important findings of this survey, published in July 2007, is that 38% of the HNIP interns are working for the Federal Government.  See  http://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/hnip/HNIP%2015-Yr%20Survey%20Rpt%20Sum.072507.pdf.

 

To view Mr. Gil’s PowerPoint in its entirety,  click on HNIP Presentation.  If would like to get in touch with Mr. Gil, you can do so at 202 467-0893, or via e-mail at wgil@hacu.net.