National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, 2016

Proclamation 9487 of September 9, 2016

National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Ensuring opportunity is within reach for everyone
requires us to provide all our people with access to a
world-class education. Higher education gives people a
sense of who they are and sharpens how they see the
world, and in our 21st-century economy, it is an
investment that pays off--helping Americans work their
way into the middle class. Across our country,
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) have helped
Hispanic students--many of whom are the first in their
family to go to college--earn a college degree. This
week, we reflect on how these important institutions
have helped Hispanic students reach for their dreams,
and we reaffirm our commitment to supporting them for
generations to come.

HSIs have given more Hispanics access to the resources
and opportunities they need to compete in our economy.
More than half of America's Hispanic undergraduates
attend HSIs, which have played a critical role in
increasing access to a college education and have
worked to bolster enrollment, retention, and graduation
rates. In the last several years, college enrollment
among Hispanics hit a record high, and today, it
continues to grow. Over the past two decades, the
percentage of young Hispanics who have earned a college
degree has increased significantly--but in that same
time, disparities have persisted. HSIs are helping
ensure more Hispanics have the opportunity to complete
college, moving us closer to our goal of leading the
world in higher education by 2020.

Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority
group in America, and we must keep striving to ensure
they can pursue an exceptional education. My
Administration has sought to improve educational
outcomes and opportunities for every American,
including Hispanics through the White House Initiative
on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. We have helped
strengthen HSIs, which serve a higher proportion of
low-income students than other institutions of higher
education, by investing more than $1 billion in them
over 10 years. Because college has never been more
expensive, I have also taken steps to make it easier
for more Americans to pay for higher education--steps
that include expanding Pell Grants and offering tuition
tax credits. And I am fighting for 2 years of free
community college for any student willing to work for
it, because no American should be priced out of a
quality education.

The contributions of Hispanics have shaped our national
narrative, and it is crucial to our success that we
empower more Hispanics and young people across our
country to thrive. For generations, HSIs have helped
Hispanics earn college degrees, seek meaningful
careers, and aspire to be anything they want. At the
heart of our Nation is the idea that no matter where
you come from or what you look like, if you are willing
to work hard, you can make it in America. By expanding
opportunities for all, we can bring more people closer
to reaching their piece of the American dream.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim September 12 through

September 18, 2016, as National Hispanic-Serving
Institutions Week. I call on public officials,
educators, and all the people of the United States to
observe this week with appropriate programs,
ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the many
ways these institutions and their graduates contribute
to our country.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-first.