DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Michigan Hispanic Collaborative (MiHC), a non-profit purposed with accelerating Hispanic economic mobility and reducing the poverty rate throughout Hispanic communities, today announced the availability of the La Puerta portal, a dynamic site that helps students, parents, and young professionals navigate their way through college and careers, while making important connections along the way.
“We believe that the most important thing that our younger generation can hold to help the Hispanic community thrive is a bachelor’s degree,” said MiHC Executive Director Anita Martínez. “By 2050, Hispanics will represent one-third of the U.S. population, however, our college persistence outcomes have stalled for 40 years.”
“These facts propelled MiHC to create a scalable portal that provides our students with community, with mentorship, and with a blueprint to success in college and beyond,” Martínez said.
The La Puerta portal, powered by a partnership with Perficient, a leading global digital consultancy, is a dynamic digital roadmap for students, parents, and young professionals that simplifies the complex college and career ecosystem. Unmatched by other tools, La Puerta is the first to engage students and parents in a comprehensive and culturally relevant way, through the high school, college, and early career transitions. MiHC’s Hispanic “familismo” culture of strong extended and connected families ensures that when one Latino is educated, an entire community is empowered.
“At Perficient, we’re big believers in philanthropy and in giving back to the communities in which we live and work. We were honored to collaborate with MiHC to develop the La Puerta portal at no cost,” said Joel Stanesa, general manager of Detroit operations, Perficient. “MiHC is doing important work to advance education and career placement within Detroit’s Hispanic community. Our team of digital experts donated their time and expertise, and created an intuitive, comprehensive platform connecting MiHC Scholars with a variety of relevant resources that will help them achieve their educational goals.”
La Puerta is currently available to MiHC’s partner schools, with plans to scale access regionally and nationally over time. The portal is among the first to connect the broader Hispanic community with comprehensive digital tools to spur college retention, completion, and career success.
Using La Puerta, students and parents can find culturally relevant and focused resources for every step of the college pathway, from application, to financial aid, to career opportunities. Students can also connect with mentors, many who were first-generation students, access scholarship information, and more.
Universities can customize landing pages in the portal to engage with prospective students and present offerings relevant to their interests and needs. Additional functionalities will be added in the future, including the ability for employers to recruit and hire students for internships and positions directly through La Puerta, slated for 2022 introduction.
“Building a platform that helps our communities establish digital equity through relevant resources, support, and success was a critical concern that informed every decision we made about La Puerta,” said Martínez. “La Puerta provides the community an important resource to connect with information and opportunity that simply did not exist before.”
For more information about the program, visit https://www.michiganhispaniccollaborative.org/.
About the Michigan Hispanic Collaborative: The Michigan Hispanic Collaborative (MiHC) is a nonprofit organization that provides academic and career support programs and services in order to enable more Hispanic students to graduate from college and achieve career success. MiHC provides students and families with a coordinated ecosystem of culturally relevant resources, higher education partners, and mentors to support Hispanic student persistence.
