"comunidad del valle." we have a new clip plus a new exhibition at the mexican museum in san francisco. we begin today with a grant offer to nonprofits all over the bay area by nbc universal. it's a challenge grant and so if you run a nonprofit, here is a website for you. it's a $1.2 million local grant

for nonprofit organizations implementing new programs. we want to find organizations that are challenging conventional thinking and putting innovative programs into action. so if you run a nonprofit or benefit from a nonprofit, give them this web address. and then we'll be able to get you information on how you can benefit from this $1.2 million local grant. boy, do we need that now. we do begin this day here on "comunidad del valle" with the skip fund near and dear to the hearts of many of us. frank alvarez runs the organization out of san francisco. welcome to the show. >> thank you so much for having me. >> tell us, first of all, globally, how are we competing? how are we competing globally when it comes down to it?

>> today, the u.s. is 12th internationally when you look at the population in general, we have about 40% of all of the population with a two-year college degree, we're 12th in the world. to get to number one to be competitive and assure our way of life and republic, we have to get to 60. but if you look at the 40%, the lowest performing at 19% are latinos. so the u.s. cannot get to number one. they cannot get to 60 until latinos move forward and advance from the high school finish line to a college degree. >> and here's a tough question. is that how far we have sunk and how high were we at one point? i don't know if you have the figures for that. >> we're moving up. what we're finding is the population is coming up.

the children today are coming with higher expectations of getting in. it's part of our strategy as an organization. we have launched campaigns called "generation first degree". it's to put at least one degree in every latino household in the country. once you have a degree in a household, everyone else starts to believe they can go to and it changes the mind set. i suspect this. that your children have no choice because you're a college graduate. am i right? >> right. it's not a democracy. they don't have a choice. >> and it shouldn't be. so what we're looking to do is to have more of that going on so we can move from 19% to the 60%. we're going to do it one household at a time. we're going to get them all together and we're going to start moving our community forward. god gay us all the same talents. we just don't know how to get there. most of our parents have hnot hd

an opportunity to go to college themselves. so they say i want my child to go to college, they don't know how to help. so we put together a free resource. if they go to our website, we have a dvd in english and spanish chalked full of information for the parents. so we want to make it available to all the viewers so they can actually do something, e get involved, order more for their community groups. we want to provide this. this valley will not succeed into the future until latino population steps up to the full potential. >> the silicon valley is leading the way when it comes to innovation and technology. we have to make sure that happens. there's the web address for the hispanic scholarship fund. we'll keep a few copies of the dvd in our studios. log on to our website. we'll be back to talk more about

how we can progress as an entire educational community when we continue. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ transforming sounds ] [ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood.

we're back here with frank alvarez of the hispanic skip fund. you talk about one degree in every household. you get a corn husk and start peeling the husk off. once one comes off, it becomes easier. so if you get one person in every household with one degree, that's enough for them to say big brother did it. why can't i. >> that's exactly the case. what we found is this. when the children are exposed to college from the start, they assume that's where they are going to go. so it's not a question. what we want to do is to really help the parent in the household

to understand that they can get information. we're here to help them. not just with skips, but with information. then we have 55,000 people that we have given skicholarships to. we want to connect them. we can give them advice. so the thing is it's part of [ speaking spanish ] we talk about education. are the parents involved? the child said no. what we found as a parent, how are you involved? i make sure my child is clean and well fed and respectful.

but if they are not educated, we have to look at the whole thing by culturally saying we have to assume academic responsibility. most of the parents come from other countries where the education is provided by the state. so you don't have to advocate. >> also what we're finding is the community colleges are dropping classes and raising fees. usc is dropping classes and raises fees. what signal are we sending the students out there when these entities are doing just that? >> it's a real big problem. it's a problem from a couple levels. one, our community doesn't subscribe to the free money that's vanl or to the state free money. we don't describe in the same fashion. so there's money left on the table because we're not taking it. but we want to stay away from

debt. we have to understand you have to get involved. you're going to come out of school with debt, but it's going to be paid back. so you have to be informed about it. we're here to inform you. we want all the kids to go from high school into a four-year school is ideally what we want if we can get them there. the graduation rate is better. in a community college, it's a little less sure you're going to graduate. but if you have to go, i went to offering advice. we need to make sure we let the kids know high school isn't enough. you have to go to college. >> the good thing that i'm seeing is they are starting the kids out early. my daughter is going to start second grade and the mentality is already there at her school. i guess that's a good sign. >> it's a sweet sign. we also know this.

our parents who had not had the opportunity, they aspire and believe in the american dream. so what we do is the parents that have children that don't go to school, we want the kids to have the same opportunity. so let's get the word out. let's spread the word. >> you sound excited. you have seen the numbers. have you seen something that things are change canning? >> i believe in my community. i believe we can do this. i was the first in my challenge to go to college. my dad and mom didn't go. all four of my kids are college educated. i'm saving for my grand kids. i believe in the story i'm telling because i have seen it. >> you didn't use that as an excuse. my parents didn't go. too many people use it as an excuse.

we need to leave that behind and say, you know, we have to get ahead. >> we have one problem too. i want to just point this out. the progress that we're making that excites me is our girls are going on and we're now 60% of all latinos in college are women. but the boys are not pursuing the same way. so we want to get all of our kids into college, but especially the boys. we have a tendency to not be as focused. we can see it as role models for them. >> if you want a copy of the cd log on to hsf.net and find out how and why your kids why and should go to college. frank alvarez, thank you. >> thank you so much. up next, why the new film, stay with us. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ [ transforming sounds ] [ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood.

juan garcia is joining us. we'll show you the trailer you sent us. >> it's about a young man who lives on a farm with his parents and he struggles between fulfilling his dream to be a drag queen performer and fulfilling his obligations in the family farm and conforming to what's expected of him. >> let's show you the clip and see how powerful it is. ♪

[ speaking spanish ]. >> that's pretty powerful. this is part of your thesis work? >> yes. this was my thesis film. the academy of our university

rece recently got my masters in fine arts. >> tell us why you chose this. you chose a topic, but the way you addressed it was phenomenal. tell us how or why you addressed this topic. >> i wanted to make a film about a group of people i grew up stereotyping. i thought all gay people wanted to be women or cross dress or wear women's clothes, which may or may not be true. but i talk about the worst thing that a man could be. so even as an immigrant in the united states who doesn't look mexican, i just became intrigued of the concept of stereotypes and what if someone does conform to a stereotype. what if there's a person who is gay who does want to cross dress

and perform on stage? is that all they are about? and there was this nigerian writer who felt the problem of stereotypes is not that they are incorrect, but they are incomplete. they tell you one very narrow story of a group of people or a place. it prevents you from seeing humanity when you see people from just that one story. but i wanted it to be about someone who does conform to that stereotype in some sense and hopefully people can identify that this is a person who has desires and dreams and aspirations and we all feel tomorrow between decision we have to make between obligations and our desire to fulfill some dream that may be in conflict with what we see. >> that's very powerful.

but you had that stereotype. you decided to challenge your own stereotype by producing this film. by researching. >> yes. i ended up studying psychology and did a research paper about identity. i ended up going to a drag -- like a drag show and interviewing a few drag queens about how they feel about their persona and their evening person personas. we have katherine, the actor, who by day he's someone else. and i became interested in that and how they cope with that in society. having that -- knowing how they see themselves versus how society perceives them. and sometimes seeing how they

internalize it. so it's just a topic that also individually for myself when i was coming to terms with my own sexuality. i wasn't taught to understand what this meant. it's kind of like being raised in a family where they teach you to be everything that you inside you don't feel is consistent with you, but you're all confused. then you start believing some of those things and you realize you have to kind of question things and understand who you really are and distinguish between how others perceive you and be true to yourself. but at the same time, and this is one thing i address ed in my

film, is tolerance. there should be tolerance both ways. it could be changes in generational attitudes where the youth also have to be tolerant of their parents and their process and the parents also have to be tolerant. and i seek tolerance and i think that might lead to acceptance, but the most important thing for me is tolerance and respect for the individual. >> that's a very good point. you presented it very powerfully. we have information for you on the screen. and you can watch it. there's the screen there. any final thoughts? you're performing shows all over the world at festivals. >> it's showing at a lot of film festivals. the world premier was in switzerland. it was shown in san diego and san francisco and san antonio. and the next one will be actually here locally in the bay

area. it will be at third world indy film festival in september. >> good luck. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> good work. up next, the new exhibition at the mexican museum of san francisco. stay with us. so... [ gasps ] these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? maybe. rich chocolate chips... i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and, and...and then the awards started coming in, and i became addicted to the fame. topped with chocolaty drizzle... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one. fiber beyond recognition.

a new exhibition at the mexican museum of san francisco. with me back here on "comunidad del valle" is the curator for visual arts. welcome back to the show. tell us about this exhibition. it's colorful and it jumps generations, but tell us about it. you do a better job than i do. >> thank you, damian. our current exhibition has a nice long run. it's a about portraits in latin american art and latino art. it spans the centuries in terms of reflecting the museum's

mission which is to collect through the colonial period and into modern and contemporary times. >> there's one in particular that's personal to me. it's a sculpture. it's significant to me because this is from a small town where my parents were born. and so they have this exhibit and they have several other artifac artifacts from mexico city. >> the museum has a wonderful collection of prehispanic material. this is the ancient color material. so these go back 2,000 years. those small, little pretty ladies, they are called, were interesting because they showed how the people dressed at that

time and they probably depicted a living person. it might have depicted someone that someone was modelling for or there was some thought involved there. these small figurines were found in burial sites throughout the ancient culture. >> what do you think folks are going home with after they visit the museum? >> certainly the show is rich in a visual sense. every piece has its own story to tell. but what we'd like people to reflect on as they learn something new through the exhibition is about our own identities as mexican americans, as americans in general, as americans representing any ethnic group. our own personalities, what our makeup is. that's one of the underlying

messages of the show. >> it's kind of become the local smithsonian because of all the great items that you display. >> thank you for mentioning this because actually two months ago, we had a grand announcement that our museum, the mexican museum at fort mason, has now become an affiliate of the smithsonian. we're the only museum in san francisco that has this distinction. so that gives us a lot of opportunities in the future for the museum's collections and for the smithsonian collections to be interused and shared in our programming. >> and that crosses everything. >> yes. and as you might guess, the smithsonian resources not only the collections but learning opportunities through the smithsonian are very vast. so we're looking forward to a very exciting future for the

museum. >> i mean, it starts in p pre-columbian times. >> some of the more modern pieces are works that are contemporary. we have the rosa and miguel collections actually that were given to us. so we have a self-portrait by rosa herself. it's a self-portrait of her. miguel was a famous caricatu caricaturist. you know the types of drawings that he did and illustrated for the magazine. he was very an important figure. so those kind of things. plus we have latino art. the art of our times and the art

of living artists such as ze see ya alvarez who has contributed as well. >> if we can run by the slide show one more time because the images are beautiful. each one has its own story to te tell. >> this is a rosa. this is montoya. this is our own local artist. and carlos almares. an important artist. this is a major piece. cecelia alvarez. this is from a muralist who is still living. and this is a photographer from new mexico. colonial art is very important

for us. religious art, and we have a beautiful on view. >> this is running at the mexican museum of san francisco. this is a great opportunity for folks to come out and enjoy this great exhibition. there is the web address for more information. we have about 10 seconds. any final thoughts? >> one fun thing to do at fort mason is to come to the food trucks night every friday. and the museum is planning to be open in the evening. so you'll be able to get good food and see a great show. >> thank you so much. thank you for watching "comunidad del valle." we'll see you again. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [ transforming sounds ] [ male announcer ] transformers. the ride. ride it at universal studios hollywood.