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MEMPHIS, TN - At yesterday's Radio Ambiente Festival Latino in Shelby Farms Park, Marcela Pinilla did what she does for a living: she sang a song.

But this song was different - and that performance was just the beginning. The song is about changing our world for the better, one small act of kindness at a time. It's called "Un Mundo Bueno," and Marcela (and some special friends) hope to bring its message to life.

All proceeds from the sales of the single will jointly benefit Excelencia in Education, a national organization that aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students through promoting education policies and institutional practices that support their academic development, and the National Hispanic Professional Organization (NHPO)'s La Sangre Llama and Future Latino Leaders Scholarships.

Marcela's goal is to raise $250,000 by Christmas. It may seem an ambitious figure to some, but not to the Colombian singer. "There are 50 million Latinos in this country," she said. "And all I'm asking for is $250,000. For 250,000 to give just one dollar for education."

SAN FRANCISCO - State and local elected officials joined Excelencia in Education and its partners to release "Latino College Completion: California" at the Westin San Francisco Market Street here today, and to unveil a new expansion of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund's "Generation 1st Degree" program.  Both are part of the initiative Ensuring America's Future by Increasing Latino College Completion, a collaborative effort among 60 national partners led by Excelencia in Education. 

"One in four Latinos in the United States live in California, and this research-based assessment of the status of Latino degree attainment is especially timely for state and local leaders committed to improving the California's human capital," said Deborah Santiago, co-founder of Excelencia in Education. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. [CapitalWirePR] - Excelencia in Education (Excelencia) has received support from Lumina Foundation for Education to further the national initiative, Ensuring America’s Future (EAF) by Increasing Latino College Completion. The $400,000 grant will be used to advance a growing collaboration of more than 50 organizations partnering across the country in support of a policy roadmap to increase Latino college completion. The roadmap will be released in March 2011 to inform and drive large-scale efforts at the campus, state, and national levels to better enroll and graduate Hispanic college students.

WASHINGTON, DC - Excelencia in Education today announced the next step in the national initiative, Ensuring America's Future by Increasing Latino College Completion, at a press conference highlighting the start of a new capital campaign-a human capital campaign. The national initiative is focused on increasing Latino college completion.  

The objective is to help reach the country's college completion goals now through 2025 by increasing Latino college completion.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new report released today examines the current state of Latinos in higher education and suggests what needs to change to successfully produce an educated workforce that meets the country's growing demands.

Leading national policy organizations announced today new efforts to identify why so many young Americans drop out of college and to propose new policies and practices necessary to help low-income, African American, and Hispanic students complete their educations. These efforts are funded by more than $6.4 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This study by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and Excelencia in Education, Student Aversion to Borrowing: Who Borrows and Who Doesn't reveals the demographic and enrollment characteristics of undergraduate students who are least likely to borrow for college and highlights tradeoffs they may face.