July 31, 2013  
The Polk County Caucus on Hispanic Affairs
SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY , LAKELAND, FLORIDA

LAKELAND, FL. – The Polk County Caucus on Hispanic Affairs will take place on Wednesday, July 31 from 9AM to 12PM at the Bolin Library on the Southeastern University Campus in Lakeland, FL. The Puerto Rican / Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Polk County and SEU will be the hosts of this Bi-partisan event. Sponsored by The RPOF and Commissioner Justin Troller This event is brought upon by young and upcoming community leader Mr. Alberto Rodriguez. Panels of special guest panelists will lend their expertise of the current issues in the county, state and nation. Immigration Reform (the need, success stories and the inconsistency of facts) , Affordable Healthcare Act aka Obama-care (Small business , larger business and the individual). The event is FREE and open to our community. Guests will get to meet leaders in the community and learn from a group of “bi-partisan” individuals the importance of these current topics. Head and moderator of the event, Alberto Rodriguez, says “it is important to bring forth all views on these current topics, the key of this caucus is to present balance on the topics, not a un-balance one, our community deserves this much”. Panelists such as Anna I Rodriguez (director of FCAHT) will be giving her expertise on the abuse of worker visas , etc. So come join us at the South-Eastern Bolin Library on the 31st of July, to engage in the very first Polk County Caucus on Hispanic Affairs. Participants will not only get the chance to learn something new, they will get to directly ask the experts questions, and they will get the chance to network with community leaders in person”, says Alberto.

Please RSVP by July 25/ 5PM to 863-838-1034 or 863-838-2084

Email: albertorodriguez2020@yahoo.com 

Confirmed Panelists

 IMMIGRATION REFORM- PANELISTS

 1.   Attorney Frank Valladares – Immigration Lawyer

2.   Mrs.Anna I Rodriguez – Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking

3.   Dr. Dario Cardona – local success story (from Colombia originally)

 AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT – PANELISTS

 1.   Dr. Elaine Thompson – Lakeland Regional Hospital

2.   Ms. Brittany Stahl – Stahl & Associates

3.   Mr. Mike Bingham – PolkHealth Care Plan

La Estrella de Tucson, Cox Business and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce have joined together to recognize two successful Latina entrepreneurs, Julie Gallego-Gonzalez and Tannya Gaxiola. 

Gallego-Gonzalez is founder and owner of Viva Performing Arts Center, a dance studio, and president of CHISPA, a nonprofit foundation that promotes Latinodance and culture. 

Gaxiola is the founder and owner of QuikHelp, a legal document preparation service. 

"Women-owned businesses are growing in Tucson," said Lea Marquez Peterson, president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (THCC), in a news release. "According to the Arizona Women- Owned Business Enterprise report, Latina entrepreneurs are more likely to plan on expanding over the next five years." 

The joint campaign includes 30-second spots produced in English and Spanish which will run across the Cox channel lineup in June. Profiles of the two honorees will be published in La Estrella de Tucson today and June 21. 

"These women embody a true entrepreneur spirit of creativity, dedication and hard work that positively impacts our community and state's economy," said Lisa Lovallo, market vice president of Cox Communications Southern Arizona, in the news release. 

Gaxiola is an alumna of the University of Arizona and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. She founded QuikHelp in 2009. 

She is chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was named the 2011 THCC Hispanic Business Woman of the Year. 

Gallego-Gonzalez, a graduate of the UA, founded Ballet Folklorico de San Juan in 1987 and has taught thousands of children the art of Mexican folkloric dance. In 2008 she opened Viva Performing Arts Center. 

In 2009 she was named the THCC Hispanic Business Woman of the Year. 

La Estrella de Tucson is the weekly Spanish-language publication of the Arizona Daily Star. 

Cox Business provides voice, data and video services for more than 260,000 small and regional businesses, including health-care providers, educational and financial institutions, and government organizations. 

Ernesto Portillo Jr. is editor of La Estrella de Tucson. He can be reached at (520) 573-4187 or at netopjr@azstarnet.com 

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013/7/23/hispanic_women_honored_for_entrepreneur_work.htm

Accepting payments via mobile device is becoming more and more mainstream. Right now, we are in the midst of a growth spurt that will see mobile payments in the U.S. hit $90 billion by 2017, according to a Forrester Research report released earlier this year. That’s up from $12.8 billion spent in 2012, the report states.

It’s also easier than ever to join the party, and retailers have an almost overwhelming number of options. There are several companies that cater to each type of mobile payment. Some companies (like Square) you are likely familiar with, but there are new faces popping up all the time.

It pays to check with your bank or merchant service provider to see what they have to offer. Organizations, like Community Merchants USA, also have resources on mobile payments and acceptance in order to help businesses understand this growing and rapidly changing method of payment.

To help you find the best fit for your business, here are a few things to consider when choosing your mobile payment processor:

What Type of Mobile Payment Works for You?If you are not ready to let go of swiping a physical credit or debit card, there are a number of companies that allow you to use a card reader inserted right into your smartphone or tablet, including:

• Square 
• PayPal Here
• Intuit GoPayment
• PayAnywhere
• Breadcrumb Payments by Groupon
• Chase Paymentech

If you’re looking for something that doesn’t necessarily require a card, you have options there as well:

LevelUp allows customers to present a QR code (linked to their credit or debit card) from their smartphones for payment. The retailer then uses a LevelUp terminal to scan the code to complete the transaction.

Similarly, MasterCard’s PayPass and Visa’s payWave use near field communication (NFC) technology to accept payments. Customers with NFC-enabled smartphones just tap or hover their phone over the terminal to make a payment. Both PayPass and payWave accept NFC-enabled credit cards as well, and PayPass also accepts payments fromGoogle Wallet.

How Much Will it Cost?Transaction fees for mobile payments are relatively cheap and simple to understand. Many companies advertise a flat rate per transaction with no hidden fees or monthly charges, but most also charge a higher rate for cards that are manually entered or keyed in.

Advertised fees typically hover around 2 to 3% of the total payment per swipe. Groupon’s Breadcrumb is on the low end of that range, advertising 1.8% plus $0.15 per swipe, while Square and GoPayment advertise 2.75% per swipe. Some companies offer a lower per-swipe rate for an additional monthly fee. For example, GoPayment offers an option to pay $12.95 per month for a 1.75% per swipe fee.

LevelUp is unique in offering completely free credit card processing if you participate in their Interchange Zero program. The program requires you to run a marketing campaign with LevelUp and for every dollar your customer spends as a result of that campaign, $0.40 goes to LevelUp.

Will it Work With What You Already Have?The majority of card readers and apps will work with both iOS and Android devices, but it’s more difficult to find those that support BlackBerry.

PayAnywhere and ROAMpay are two companies that have something for all three.

What Are the Perks?All mobile payment processors offer credit card transactions that are convenient and quick, so what else can they do for you? There are many different features available from various companies.

Intuit’s GoPayment will sync information with your QuickBooks program. Groupon’s Breadcrumb Payments offers a plan with features specifically tailored to restaurants and bars. PayPal Here also accepts checks and PayPal payments.

Find the company that gives you the most value for your needs.

Stay Open-MindedThere are a lot of possibilities out there, and this article is in no way a complete list. No matter what approach you consider, keep in mind that the mobile payments industry is growing and evolving. It’s a good idea to remain flexible and be wary of committing to a mobile payment method or company that restricts you from future options.

Don’t Forget to Ask Them to Show You the MoneyMake sure you are aware of the program requirements as to when you will get paid. Here are two important questions to ask:

1. When are your funds available?Groupon’s Breadcrumb advertises next business day deposits into your bank, but with PayPal Here, funds are available in your PayPal account within minutes.

2. Are there any limits?Square, for example, has a weekly deposit limit on manually-entered card transactions.

Online Video Ads Becoming More EffectiveJuly 10, 2013
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Television advertising is starting to see some serious competition from online video advertising in terms of effectiveness. 

Market research company eMarketer reported a recent survey of U.S. advertising agency executives found that 75 percent think online video ads are equally or more effective than traditional TV advertising. 

"I think, overall, online video is a very effective channel," said Matt Neilson, director of media at Hanon McKendry. "I think for certain clients it works better, and for other ones TV still is the way to go based upon their specific objectives." 

Online video advertising offers several benefits that today's marketers are particularly looking to achieve with their advertising dollars. 

"The targeting of consumers online overall, I'd say, is a benefit to its counterpart in the traditional TV space," Neilson said. "You can get more specific with a certain demographic, whether it's age or gender or even household income. ... With broadcast television in the traditional sense, you can certainly try and target, let's say, women age 35-54, but you are also going to get a lot of other people with those buys. 

"With online video there is the ability to get much more specific. If you tell one of the vendor partners you want to work with, like Hulu or Yahoo, or YouTube even, 'I just want to reach men age 25-34,' there is the ability for a lot of the vendors out there to specifically target just that audience that you want to reach." 

In addition to much narrower targeting opportunities, advertisers can focus on behavioral targeting to reach consumers. 

"If you just want to reach people who have looked at certain content online, like sports content, you can reach just those people with what is called 'behavioral targeting,' " Neilson said. "So there are ways to layer on not just who the people are demographically, but also what content they've looked at in the past and then continue to reach those people later. 

"With TV you can pretty much only reach them at that specific time and place where you know they are watching that show." 

Commercials are easier to avoid than ever, both on traditional TV and online. Still, Neilson thinks online video watchers are a little more accepting of a 15-second commercial than TV watchers who might have to watch a couple of minutes of commercials from four or five advertisers. 

But with the growing popularity of the second screen - an iPad, iPhone, or other device that a watcher can turn to as a distraction from commercial breaks - advertisers continue to be challenged in all entertainment channels for how to get people to pay attention to their commercials. 

An advantage online advertising does have, in general, over traditional TV advertising is the opportunity for engagement and calls to action. 

Still, despite the long list of benefits, Neilson said he doesn't see TV advertising falling out of favor with marketers and advertisers. 

"TV is still the No. 1 place out there that consumers consume content, especially for large advertisers and national advertisers - even local advertisers, in a lot of cases," he said. "TV reaches close to 100 percent of households and every demographic out there, whether young or old. Everyone watches TV, still, in large numbers, so if you want to get your message out there, it's a great place to do that." 

He expects that in the coming years television technology is going to change to become much more like smartphones and iPads in functionality and usage, and there won't he a separation between TV advertising and online advertising. 

"Your TV, your iPad, your computer and your phone are all going to continue to merge into one experience," he said. "In 10 years I don't think we are going to be looking at these things as really separate. I think it's going to be more like TV advertising and what we are calling online video advertising are almost going to be the same experience. Let's say you are watching TV in your living room. ... People will be able to interact with the ads they are watching on TV and go right to some sort of website and take action right in their living room. I would think of it as taking your iPad that's on your lap and putting it on your wall and being able to interact with it that way." 

He said that those televisions already exist and are being tested in markets, but they are not widespread at this point. 

Another growing capability is for ad targeting on television to be as narrowly focused as online targeting. 

"Let's say you have two different TV spots that are running right now. On the most basic level, you can really only run one spot to reach Grand Rapids, but down the road and in some test markets, there is going to be the ability to deliver maybe one spot to your household and a different spot to my household, because we've identified that your data indicates that your spot we should serve is different." 

An example is automotive advertisements. Auto companies like Ford will he able to target particular models to particular homes, based on data such as household income and behavioral habits, so that one home will receive one ad while a neighboring home will see a different ad. 

Neilson said today's advertising plans should absolutely consider online video advertising, though he cautions it might not be the best choice for everyone depending on their objectives, budget and how they intend to measure outcomes. 

"The overall thing in any medium is not to put all your eggs in one basket, because you are going to have the biggest impact with your audience when you are reaching them with many channels."




Source: Copyright Grand Rapids Business Journal 2013

Humberto Hernandez originally from Caguas Puerto Rico raised in Cleveland Ohio is an emerging young leader. His passion in technology, love of photography, a gift for vision and big picture planning contribute to his increasing success as an entrepreneur.

Being of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, he quickly became a respected Photographer in the Hispanic market for weddings, quinceañeros and city sponsored Latin events in Cleveland Ohio. A passion for working with the Latin community he was on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including the city of Cleveland’s Hispanic Heritage Month and Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center and The official Photographer and videographer for the Miss Latina Cleveland Ohio. Currently Humberto lives in Lakeland Florida where he now brings his talent and professionalism to Polk County,  President and owner of GlowPixs Photography & Media, which is the official photographer for the Miss Polk Latina 2013. Humberto maintains active involvement in several community service organizations. Currently, he is a consultant for El Club Hispano de Lakeland Festival and also part of the Downtown Lakeland ZombieFest Planning Committee. 
"I believe in passing on our knowledge and educating our young latinos, guiding them so that we may promote an educated generation."

Welcome Humberto and we look forward a great collaboration! Ana Rivera

Would you like to have a “skinny” health insurance policy? Probably not. But if you’re employed by a large company, you may get one, thanks to Obamacare.

That’s the conclusion of Wall Street Journal reporters Christopher Weaver and Anna Wilde Mathews. They report that insurance brokers are pitching and selling “low-benefit” policies across the country.

You might be wondering what a “skinny” or “low-benefit” insurance plan is. The terms may vary, but the basic idea is that policies would cover preventive care, a limited number of doctor visits and perhaps generic drugs.

They wouldn’t cover things such as surgery, hospital stays or prenatal care. That sounds similar to an auto insurance policy that reimburses you when you change the oil but not when your car gets totaled.

You might ask how Obamacare could encourage the proliferation of such policies. It was sold as a way to provide more coverage for more people, after all.

And people were told they could keep the health insurance they had.

As Weaver and Mathews explain, Obamacare’s requirement that insurance policies include “essential” benefits such as mental health services apply only to small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

But larger employers, they write, “need only cover preventive service, without a lifetime or annual dollar-value limit, in order to avoid the across-the-workforce penalty.” Low-benefit plans may cost an employer only $40 to $100 a month per employee. That’s less than the $2,000-per-employee penalty for providing no insurance.

‘’We wouldn’t have anticipated that there’d be demand for these type of Band-Aid plans in 2014,” the Journal quotes former White House health adviser Robert Kocher. “Our expectation was that employers would offer high-quality insurance.”

Oops. It turns out that Friedrich Hayek may have been right when he wrote that central planners would never have enough information to micromanage the economy.

It’s probably true that businesses trying to attract and retain high-skill employees for long-term positions have an economic incentive to offer generous and attractive health insurance. Otherwise they’d lose good people to competitors.

But the kind of businesses mentioned in the Journal story — restaurants, retailers, assisted-living chains — tend to employ lower-skill workers who typically work there only temporarily.

In a high-unemployment economy they may not need to offer gold-plated health insurance to get the workforce they need.

Such employers would have to pay a $3,000 penalty for each employee who buys insurance on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. But it seems likely that many workers, especially young ones, would opt not to pay the hefty premiums for that.

The problem here is that Obamacare’s architects seem to misunderstand the concept of insurance.

People buy insurance to pay for low-probability, high-cost and undesirable events. It doesn’t make sense to hold onto enough cash to replace your house if it burns when you can buy an insurance policy that will cover that unlikely disaster.

But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has a different idea of what insurance is.

In response to an American Society of Actuaries report that health insurance premiums would rise 32 percent under Obamacare, she said, “Some of these folks have very high catastrophic plans that don’t pay for anything unless you get hit by a bus.”

Her idea apparently is that insurance should pay for just about every health care procedure.

In her defense, the World War II decision to make the cost of health insurance deductible for employers and nontaxable for employees has moved things in that direction. Many people have come to expect that.

But as the Daily Beast’s Megan McArdle commented, “Coverage of routine, predictable services is not insurance at all; it’s a spectacularly inefficient prepayment plan.”

Some Obamacare architects, including its namesake, want to move toward a single-payer system in which government would pay all health care costs.

Many Obamacare opponents want a bigger role for markets, allowing consumers to choose insurance that covers catastrophes and paying for routine costs with tax-free (and in some cases subsidized) dollars.

But if large numbers of employees are enrolled in “skinny” health insurance plans, as the Wall Street Journal article suggests, Obamacare will have produced an unanticipated outcome no one wants.

People stuck with these policies will have insurance that pays for the equivalent of oil changes (up to six a year!) but not for the equivalent of wrecked car. Just the opposite of real insurance.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130529/OPINION01/305290001#ixzz2Y2UAdrDp