The Challenges of Change. A Report from the Aspen Institute Seminar on Hispanic Americans and the Business Community (Aspen, Colorado, July 27-30, 1997)

This report from the 1997 Aspen Institute seminar concerns how demographic changes in American will affect Hispanic Americans' role in the business community. Section 1, "Lashes: Back, Front, and Sideways" (Harold Hodgkinson), describes pervasive national pessimism over demographic change and documents universal backlash to that change among all groups. Section 2, "The Demographic Realities," provides background data on change, emphasizing the increase of the Hispanic populations. Section 3, "A Summary of Participant Discussion," summarizes the deliberations and conclusions of the participants regarding the roles advertising, the news media, and entertainment play in accurately representing America to Americans. This section also notes challenges that business faces in managing growing workforce diversity. Section 4, "Looking Ahead: Aspen 1998," is about action that seminar participants agreed to in order to promote a widespread business commitment to inclusion. Participants committed to four initiatives: developing a marketing and consumer data package; organizing a meeting with top national advisors; discussing the feasibility of establishing awards for the depiction of diversity; and creating a list of indicators beyond numbers that can measure how successfully an institution has achieved harmonious inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities. (Contains 20 references.) (SM)