Independent Financial Advisor, Blanca E. Blanco, was awarded the 2018 Best Small Business Award at the East End Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Awards Banquet. “I was honored to be nominated along other great companies,” said Blanco, who was overjoyed and surprised, since the other two nomi- nees are more seasoned in their businesses.

Blanco has fifteen years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to starting her financial firm three years ago, she did a six-year stint at Chase Bank, as a financial advisor. Although, becoming an independent financial advisor has its challenges, Blanco worked hard to overcome them. This tenacity helped to establish herself as the “go to person for women” who suddenly find themselves single with assets to invest. Blanco has discovered this exclusive niche that also includes a mix of Spanish-speaking clients and investors. She has expanded her services to include life insurance to protect the assets of her clients, as well. Her fifteen year trajectory in the financial services industry began at Edward Jones in Texas City in 2002, and then in 2005, she transitioned to Merrill Lynch in Galveston, Texas.

Blanco moved from her native San Antonio in the ‘80’s to Houston seeking greater opportunities in the law field where she worked as a legal secretary for 12 years. Although, the economy was in a downturn due to the oil and real estate bust, Blanco prospered working at large law firms, including Baker & Botts, and later at Gissell, Stone, Barker & Lyman.

One day she witnessed a friend doing a newspaper lay out, and Blanco, said, to herself, “I can do that”. Little did she know that her belief would be a portal that would one day lead her to publish VIVA! Magazine. The publication was a Hispanic themed newsprint tabloid insert, printed in English, which circulated in the Houston Post from 1991-1995. Blanco was the publisher, editor, writer, photographer and layout designer for this weekly periodical with a 300 thousand circulation. VIVA! Magazine featured Hispanic business owners, who went from rags to riches to build successful enterprises. In its heyday, the magazine was the place to be seen in the social pages.

Blanco is a high-profile influencer and master networker in Houston’s East End. She has a decade of being an active member of the East End Chamber of Commerce, where she has served on the Ambassador Committee. In that role, she has worked hard to expand the East End Chamber’s footprint recruiting new members and welcoming new business to the area.

She also gives her time serving on the board of the East End Management District, an agency that promotes redevelopment of the East End community. Other highlights of her career include serving as the Host Committee Chair, for the East End Street Fest this past October. In 2003, Blanco served as President of the Rotary Club in La Marque, TX. Her legacy has been to serve and give back to the community where she hangs her business shingle. Presently, Blanco assists the Cleveland-Ripley House in Pasadena, TX, conducting financial educational seminars in Spanish. Another milestone was being named “Woman of the Year” for the Business and Professional Women Association of Houston. She is also a proud inductee in the Hispanic Women Hall of Fame by the Houston Hispanic Women in Leadership.

Blanco is also an active Democrat who has worked on several campaigns including Tex- as State Senator-Elect, Carol Alvarado, Congresswoman-Elect Sylvia Garcia, and Harris County Judge- Elect Lina Hidalgo, as well as, Pct 2 Commissioner-Elect Adrian Garcia.
Her philosophy is to never forget where one comes from and to aid those that need a helping hand. Her goals for 2019 include growing her business so she can “pay it forward” giving more of her time and resources to those in need. Furthermore, she wants to mentor and pass on her life lessons that she has gained over her business life.

TheDream.US, el programa de acceso y éxito universitario más grande del país para jóvenes inmigrantes, comenzó su nueva ronda de aplicaciones de becas para el año académico 2019-2020.

TheDream.US, ha otorga- do más de 4,000 becas a estudiantes con DACA y TPS en más de 75 universidades asociadas en 15 estados y Washington, D.C., cree que todos los jóvenes, independientemente de donde nacieron, deberían tener la oportunidad de cumplir su potencial, obtener una educación y participar plenamente en el país al que llaman hogar.

Hasta la fecha, la organización ha comprometido más de 140 millones de dólares de becas para los DREAMers.

La nueva ronda de becas viene después de la reciente publicación de un reporte de The- Dream.US que resume las respuestas y las implicaciones de una encuesta nacional de 1,400 becarios de TheDream.US. Los resultados de la encuesta sub- rayan lo importante que son los logros educativos para los sueños y futuros de los becarios, mien- tras que muestran un retrato de la incertidumbre y la ansiedad que enfrentan los becarios en un difícil clima de inmigración, en particular con el anticipado fin de DACA y TPS.

Según Donald E Graham, el exeditor del Washington Post y cofundador de TheDream.US, “Seguimos totalmente comprometidos a ayudar a los DREAMers a acced- er a una educación universitaria. Pero, seamos claros, el compromiso más poderoso sigue siendo de los propios DREAMers. Como se describe en ‘En
sus propias palabras’ y como lo demuestra el número récord de applicciones de becas que The- Dream.US recibió el año pasa- do, los DREAMers se mantienen firmes ante la creencia de que na- die puede quitarles la educación universitaria”.

TheDream.US anunció la expansión de la disponibilidad de ayuda estatal para los DREAMers de New Jersey.

En un contraste desafortunado, la Corte Suprema de Arizona hizo más difícil que los DREAMers de Arizona accedieran a la educación universitaria en un fallo que negaba a estos estudiantes la matrícula estatal.

Reconociendo el impacto devastador que esto podría ten- er en los DREAMers de Arizona, Benedictine University Mesa y Grand Canyon University se unieron a Arizona State University para servir a TheDream.US be- carios que quedaron en el limbo. Las tres universidades han acordado cerrar la brecha entre los costos de matrícula y las cuotas y la beca.

TheDream.US ofrece dos becas. La beca Nacional de has- ta 33,000 dólares para una licenciatura es para graduados de la escuela secundaria o del colegio comunitario. La Beca de Oportunidad de hasta 80,000 dólares es para estudiantes que viven en estados específicos y cerrados donde no pueden obtener la matrícula dentro del estado y les brinda la oportunidad de asistir a una universidad asociada fuera de su estado natal