The Enquirer

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - Northern Kentucky University is creating a Latino/Multicultural Center for Regional Development next year with the assistance of a $150,000 grant from Procter & Gamble.

The center, which opens next August, will concentrate on education, community outreach and corporate partnerships involving Latino students and community residents, said Leo Calderon, NKU's coordinator for Latino Student Affairs.

Of the estimated 14,500 students attending NKU, 142 - or 1 percent - are Latino, Calderon said. The center will create an atmosphere of support for those students.

It also will point more Latinos toward college and assist those already enrolled with mentoring and opportunities for internships. The center will even help companies find bilingual employees, he added.

The Latino population in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region has doubled since 1990, he said. Though Census figures estimate about 22,000 Spanish-speaking residents here, the actual number might be as high as 65,000, he said, including large numbers of people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan and Cuban descent.

The center will be an avenue for research into this population.

NKU already works with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the Garnes Scholarships for Management Training program. It also helps provide research into the Latino market and has staffed an IRS-funded tax clinic.