JASON ACOSTA JOINS THE HISPANIC COLLEGE FUND TO HELP DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF HISPANIC PROFESSIONALS

Jason Acosta named Director of the Hispanic Youth Institute, Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (June 13, 2011) – The Hispanic College Fund is pleased to announce that Jason Acosta has joined their staff as the new Director of the Hispanic Youth Institute, Los Angeles. A native of Los Angeles, Acosta is a 2010 Yale graduate and former Coordinator of the Maryland and Washington, DC Hispanic Youth Institutes. Jason comes to the organization having served as an intern with the U.S. Department of Commerce and as the La Casa Cultural Staff Coordinator with the Yale University Latino Cultural Center. Acosta also has experience working on local political campaigns and in the policy sector.
Jason knows the impact of the Hispanic Youth Institute first-hand: as a high school student, he was told by his college counselor not to “aim too high” when looking at his college options and so, upon graduation, he chose not to apply to any colleges. After volunteering with the Hispanic Youth Institute in 2005, however, Acosta had a change of heart. Realizing that the inspirational messages he was sharing with high school students also applied to himself, he decided to enroll in college with the goal of graduating from an Ivy League school. In 2007, he completed two years of Montgomery College’s honors program and was the sole recipient of the Presidential Scholar award at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus. Jason was then admitted to Yale University as a transfer student, where he studied political science.
“All I ever needed was to be provided with honest information about my possibilities and to have exposure to successful Latinos from a similar background,” said Acosta. “I know how much of an impact the Hispanic College Fund’s programming has made in my life and I am looking forward to making a that same difference in the lives of my fellow Angelenos.”
The Hispanic College Fund is proud to welcome Acosta to their staff as proof that making a difference in the life of one student can change an entire community.
“We are excited to have Jason as a new addition to the Hispanic College Fund,” said Dr. Carlos Santiago, chief executive officer of the Hispanic College Fund. “Not only can he relate to the students we serve because of his own personal experience, but he is truly invested in serving the community. Jason is exactly the type of young person that we hope to develop through our pipeline programming: he has been a successful student, and he is now a consummate Latino professional who gives back to the younger generation.”
Acosta is a member of the Kappa Omega chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honors society.
For more information about the Hispanic College Fund, visit www.hispanicfund.org.

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About Hispanic College Fund
Founded in 1993, the Hispanic College Fund (HCF) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to develop the next generation of Hispanic professionals. For 18 years, the Hispanic College Fund has provided educational, scholarship, and mentoring programs to students throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, establishing a career pipeline of talented and career-driven Hispanics.
The Hispanic College Fund annually awards millions of dollars, impacting thousands of students through high school to college to career. HCF has been recognized by USA Today as one of the nation’s top 25 charities and has twice received Charity Navigator’s top four-star rating for fiscal responsibility. In 2010, the College Board recognized HCF for program innovation.

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