National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, 2014

/ Presidential Documents

Proclamation 9167 of September 12, 2014

National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In America, every child should have access to a world-
class education. Our Nation's classrooms cultivate and
challenge young minds and build a skilled and
competitive workforce, securing a brighter future for
our children and our country. Across America, Hispanic-
Serving Institutions (HSIs) provide essential education
opportunities and play a vital role in fulfilling our
responsibility to the rising group of Hispanic
innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and scholars. This
week, we honor these halls of learning and recommit
ourselves to inspiring and preparing the next
generation of leaders.

Our Nation can strengthen our economy and have the
highest proportion of college graduates in the world by
2020, but achieving this goal will require us to unlock
the full talents and potential of every student.
Hispanic Americans represent the largest and one of the
fastest growing minority groups in the United States,
yet they are continually underrepresented in our
colleges and universities. HSIs--where more than half
of America's Hispanic undergraduates attend--are
critical to increasing the college enrollment,
retention, and graduation rates of this expanding
population. That is why the Federal Government is
investing more than $1 billion over 10 years in these
schools to renew, reform, and expand higher education
programs for Hispanics.

Today, the Hispanic dropout rate has fallen by more
than half, and more Hispanics are enrolled in college
than ever before--but we have more work to do to ensure
that hardworking students are never priced out of a
higher education. My Administration has increased Pell
Grants, expanded pathways to earn degrees at our
community colleges, and offered new tuition tax credits
and better student loan repayment options to millions
of people, and we will keep fighting to improve college
affordability throughout our country. By lowering the
cost of college for students and their parents and
supporting HSIs, we can extend the promise of a college
degree to an increasing number of Hispanics.

In a changing economy, a college education is one of
the surest ways into the middle class, and this week we
celebrate institutions that help improve the lives of
their students and revitalize the communities where
they serve. Let us never forget that the future belongs
to the nation that best educates its people. When we
strengthen our HSIs, we help ensure that all our
children, no matter who they are or where they come
from, have the chance to achieve their dreams.

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 14 through
September 20, 2014, 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
twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
ninth.