RECENT REPORTS 

City of El Paso

• “The El Paso Expatriate Project: Constructing & Aligning Circular Pathways of Return for High School Graduates, Part 1" (December 2007)

• This is the initial investigation of El Paso area high school graduates that departed the city in pursuit of economic mobility and social stability elsewhere in the country. The intent of the first survey was to

  • generate 1,000 survey responses via the development of a rolling sample of El Paso high school graduates who reside throughout the United States;
  • supply a demographic profile of over 1,000 respondents;
  • produce a directory of respondents for future surveying; and
  • provide recommendations for how to cultivate relations with a greater number of expatriates in order to catalyze their return to El Paso.
  
  
• Primary Findings:
• • YEAR & AGE OF DEPARTURE: Within the sample, 91% of respondents left El Paso after 1980, and almost one third (30%) of respondents lived in El Paso for only 18 years.
  • DURATION OF DEPARTURE: Of all respondents, 29.5% have lived outside of El Paso for one to five years;31.3% have lived outside of El Paso for six to ten years;28.3% have lived outside of El Paso for eleven to twenty years; and10.4% have lived outside of El Paso for greater than twenty years.
  • WILLINGNESS TO MOVE TO EL PASO: When asked whether they would move back to El Paso, 79% consider El Paso as a destination community at some point in their lives (i.e., 37.7% stated yes, 41.1% stated maybe, and 21.2% stated no).
  • PRIMARY REASONS THEY MOVED AWAY: When asked what was the primary reason why they moved away, 30.7% stated to seek job opportunities, 61.0% stated to seek educational opportunities, 3.4% stated due to family/marriage, and 3.4% stated due to the military.
  • PERCEIVED BARRIERS FOR DEGREE HOLDERS: When asked what is the primary barrier to getting college-educated El Pasoans to return to El Paso, the majority of respondents (81%) stated career opportunities/earning potential was the most crucial factor.
  • PRIMARY REASON TO MOVE BACK: 58% stated that family is the primary reason why they would individually consider moving back.  
  • PERCEIVED REASONS TO MOVE BACK: When asked which aspects of El Paso would make former residents move back, 37.4% stated family is the primary reason as to why other Expatriates would move while 29.9% stated job opportunities, 18.4% stated cost of living, 3.9% stated culture, 3.0% stated weather, 2.5% stated access to border, 2.2% stated educational opportunities, and 1.1% stated safe neighborhoods.
  • EL PASO INFORMATION SOURCES: El Paso Expatriates keep up with what is going on in El Paso mainly through their parents (73.2%), on-line news sources (49.9%), other relatives (48.6%), former classmates (47.5%), and siblings (46.3%).
  • GENDER & BIRTH PLACE: Males accounted for 53.3% and females 46.7%. Furthermore, 75.7% of respondents were born in El Paso and 3.0% were born in Ciudad Juárez.
  • ETHNIC & RACIAL IDENTIFICATION: Although 74.5% identified as being Hispanic/Latino/a, the primary racial populations of analysis were individuals who self-identified as Hispanic (53.6%), White (32.4%), and Mixed (6.8%).
  • MARITAL & PARENTAL STATUS: 45.8% were currently married and 34.5% were parents.
  • LANGUAGE: Within the sample, 79.2% could speak Spanish while 8.4% could speak three languages, and 2.7% could speak four languages or more
  • GENERATIONAL COMPOSITION: Over 64% of respondents had a lineage that can trace two generations or less to El Paso while over 31% could identify a lineage of three generations or more.
  • FAMILIAL CONNECTION TO EL PASO: 82.7% of respondents had parents who still reside in El Paso and 62% had siblings that reside in the area.
  • HIGH SCHOOLS REPRESENTED: Although private schools graduates accounted for 17% of the sample, the top ten high schools represented in the sample in descending order were Coronado High School (12.9%), Eastwood High School (10.1%), Cathedral High School (9.7%), El Paso High School (7.1%), Hanks High School (7.1%), Loretto Academy (5.5%), Burges High School (5.4%), Austin High School (4.9%), Ysleta High School (3.6%), Franklin High School (3.4%).
  • GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Texas represented the state containing the most El Paso Expatriates at 60.2% of the sample while California (9.0%), New York (4.2%), Arizona (3.4%), and Washington, D.C. (3.3%) ranked as the states with a sizeable population of former residents (Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island comprised 3.7% of the sample collectively). The highest concentration of El Paso Expatriates in Texas are located in Austin (21.2%), Dallas (9.0%), Houston (3.7%), and San Antonio (2.9%). Outside of Texas, New York (3.4%), Washington, D.C. (3.3%), and Los Angeles (2.9%) provided the highest response rate.
  • UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE ATTAINMENT: 85 undergraduate institutions of higher learning where identified as containing El Paso Expatriate alumni, while 17 AA/AS and 473 BA/BS degree holders were identified.
  • GRADUATE DEGREE ATTAINMENT: 225 individuals have attained a MA/MS degree, and 53 have doctoral degrees (including 44 JD).
  • FIELDS OF EMPLOYMENT: 91.3% of El Paso Expatriates are employed full time; the top ten ranking fields of employment were education (12.7%), computer technology (8.2%), legal (7.6%), health care (7.2%), government (7.0%), accounting/finance (6.7%), arts and entertainment (5.1%), nonprofit (5.1%), communication (3.4%). Additionally, 11.6% own a business, and 14.7% are self-employed.
  • CURRENT EMPLOYMENT: Within these fields of employment, 18% of Expatriates had worked less than a year, 13.6% for one to two years, 20.2% for three to four years, 22.3% for five to ten years, 8.9 % for eleven to twenty years, and 2.5% for more than 20 years.
  • MILITARY SERVICE: 7.6% of the sample were identified as being veterans.
  • CURRENT INCOME LEVELS: Currently, 33.6% of El Paso Expatriates generate an income under $50,000 per year, 42.3% make between $50,000-$100,00 per year, and only 24.1% generate over $100,000 annually.
  • EXPATRIATE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: It was determined that 21.9% of respondents would start a new business in El Paso, and 2.5% would be willing to relocate their business to El Paso.
• Recommendations:
  

• Pathways & Incentives

  • Creating Circular Pathways of Return for Recent High School Graduates through the Participation of El Paso’s Organizational Infrastructure & Community-based Groups
  • Aligning Pathways of Return for El Paso Expatriates who Departed after 1980 through the Exploration of a New Range of Economic & Educational Incentives
  • Promoting Retirement in the El Paso Region for El Paso Expatriates
  • Utilizing Unused Spaces Downtown for Expatriate Housing & Offices

   Research & Data Accumulation

  • Analyzing Area School Districts & Postsecondary Institutions to Determine & Predict the Size of Expatriate Population
  • Utilizing El Paso as a Laboratory for Developing Recommendations on How to Reclaim Local Talent
  • Consolidating Oral Histories about El Paso Expatriate Transitions to be Featured On-line
  • Exploring the National Legacy of the El Paso Diaspora, 1940-2000

  Educational Development

  • Coordinating Opportunities for Strategic Postsecondary Educational Development Nationally & Transnationally based on the Future Landscape of El Paso
  • Promoting Graduate Degree Programs in the El Paso Region for Expatriate Undergraduate Degree Holders
  • Branding El Paso as both a Massive College-bound Market & Intellectual Center of the U.S. Latino Community

   Employment & Capacity Building

  • Luring Homegrown Talent & Creativity rather than Massive Employers for Local Job Development
  • Promoting Entrepreneurship & Organizational Development among Former, Current, & Future Expatriates

   Media & Connectivity

  • Establishing a Comprehensive Webpage for Current & Former El Paso Expatriates
  • Prioritizing Media Coverage of the Expatriate Project in Cities with Concentrated El Paso Expatriate Populations
  • Increasing El Paso Resident & El Paso Expatriate On-line Connectivity
  • Consolidating an El Paso Regional Alumni Network from All Area High Schools

   Social Networking

  • Networking El Paso, Ciudad Juárez, & Las Cruces with Expatriates in Ten Major Cities Across the United States
  • Promoting El Paso’s Internal Cultural & Racial Diversity Nationally
  • Conducting Direct Talent Recruitment in Five Texas Cities
  • Conducting Direct Talent Recruitment in New York, California, & Washington, D.C.

National Hispanic Institute, Collaborative Research Center

• “Synchronizing Latino Spheres of Influence: Eight Policy Recommendations for Altering the Educational Culture of Underperforming Students in Texas, Discussion Paper 2.” Maxwell: National Hispanic Institute. (July 2007)
• “Changing the Educational Culture of Underperforming Latino Youth, Discussion Paper 1.” Maxwell: National Hispanic Institute. (March 2007)
• "In the Midst of Leadership Crisis." (July 2005)
• "The Perfect Storm Scenario: A Developing Crisis in U.S. Latino Leadership." (March 2005)
• "The Family Leadership Academy: Accelerating the Academic Performance of Urban Latino Immigrant & First Generation Students through Intergenerational Dialogue,& Community Stewardship. (December 2004).
• "The Furthering Disconnect of High Ability Latino Youth: Assumptions & Consequences, Dialectic 1 (Prime). (February 2004).
• "2003-2013 Participant Survey & Ethnography: Interpreting the Conditions & Capacities of High Ability Latino Youth, Year 1 Report." (December 2003).

University of Texas at Austin, Department of Radio-Television-Film

Doctoral Dissertation

• “Exploring the Influence of an American Latina/o Intellectual Formation in Flux: An Analysis of the Multiform Capital & Protocultural Agency Accumulated by the Avowed Raza Mezclada Vanguard.” (December 2005)

Doctoral Candidate, Comprehensive Examinations

• “Conceptualizing Social Change through Strategic Ideological Reorientation: Hybrid Applications of Pierre Bourdieu’s Meta-theoretical Framework in Latino Fields.” (May 2004)
• “Conceptualizing Social Change through Strategic Ideological Reorientation: Latinos, Media, & Collective Resistance.” (May 2004)
• “The Impact of Cultural Studies on the Theorization of Race & Ethnicity: An Inquiry into the Ideologically Paradoxical Terrain of Racialized Latinidad.” (May 2004)

United States Department of Agriculture & University of Texas at Austin

• "Study of Rural Broadband Access in Zapata & Zavala County." (January 2005-May 2005)

M.A. Thesis

• “Framing the Latino Vote: Content Analysis of ABC, CBS, NBC, & CNN News Coverage of Latino Issues during the 2000 Presidential Campaigns.” (May 2002)

FORTHCOMING REPORTS

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Constructing & Aligning Circular Pathways of Return for High School Graduates, Part 2 (Analyses of Twenty Crucial Subpopulations)"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Constructing & Aligning Circular Pathways of Return for High School Graduates, Part 3 (Recommendations for the High School Graduating Classes after 2000 & Strategies for Postsecondary Degree Positioning)"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Constructing & Aligning Circular Pathways of Return for High School Graduates, Part 4 (Recommendations for the High School Graduating Classes before 1980 & Considerations for New Retirees)"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Analyses & Strategies for Four Texas Cities Containing a Heightened Concentration of El Paso Expatriates: Dallas, Austin, Houston, & San Antonio"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Analyses & Strategies for Three Southwest Cities Containing a Heightened Concentration of El Paso Expatriates: Albuquerque, Phoenix, Los Angeles, & San Diego"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Analyses & Strategies for Three Midwest Cities Containing a Heightened Concentration of El Paso Expatriates: New York, Boston, & Washington D.C."

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Regional Educational Outcomes, Part 1 (Entrepreneurial Capacities of Home Grown Talent)"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Regional Educational Outcomes, Part 2 (Evidence of Brain Drain Reversal)"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Recommendations for Regional Development, 2008-2020"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: Synchronizing Networks of Expatriate Subpopulations & Recommendations for Other Texas Counties"

• "The El Paso Expatriate Project: A Summary of Impact, November 2007 to December 2008"

FORTHCOMING ARTICLES 

• "Advancing ‘Protocultural Agency’: The Development of Coordinated Latino Student Networks within U.S. Undergraduate & Graduate Degree Programs.”
• “Crafting a Critical Mass of Latino Intelligentsia: Generational Shifts within College Bound Latino Youth.”
• “Exploring the Influence of Quasiracial, Monoracial, & Polyracial Latina/o Intellectual Formations: An Analysis of the Capitals, Habitus, & Agency Exhibited by Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.”
• “Framing the Latino Vote: Content Analysis of ABC, CBS, NBC, & CNN News Coverage of Latino Issues during the 2000, 2004, & 2008 Presidential Campaigns.”
• “The Future Intellectuals of the U.S. Latino Community Will be the Daughters of Immigrants.”
• “Hybrid Conceptualizations of Latino-oriented Media Studies: Challenging Paradigmatic Constructs of Race.”
• “Latino and Polyracial Resistance to Racialization: Applications of Pierre Bourdieu’s Theoretical Constructs in American Cultural Studies.”
• “Preserving, Altering, or Dissolving the Current Method of Latino Racial Classification: Policy Recommendations for the 2010 Census.”
• “Quasiracial, Monoracial, & Polyracial Intellectual Formations in Hispanic Serving Institutions in Texas: An Analysis of the Capitals, Habitus, & Agency Exhibited by Undergraduate & Graduate Students.”

RECENT REPORTS

    City of El Paso

    National Hispanic Institute

    University of Texas at Austin

FORTHCOMING REPORTS

FORTHCOMING ARTICLES