Iniciativa is a great example of an ethnic community pulling itself up by its bootstraps. Nationwide and in Massachusetts, Latinos are the fastest-growing ethnic minority; in education, their children are not succeeding -- in Massachusetts, MCAS results are alarming, high school dropout rates are high, college enrollments are low. Without change, this rapidly growing cohort of young people will be condemned to lives of low-paying jobs, diminishing the Commonwealth’s capacity to compete in the “new economy.” Founded in 1998, Iniciativa has courageously and with strategic intelligence created a statewide system to address these issues. In every community with more than 10% Latino students in public schools (currently Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Holyoke and Framingham), Iniciativa develops coalitions of stakeholders to formulate a plan -- a Latino educational agenda -- with action strategies, goals, and accountability to remedy this crisis in Latino education. Parents, educators, and community leaders form task forces to solve problems; they report results back to the Latino community. Give credit where credit is due, and generously support this philanthropic Iniciativa.