Areas of Research
While both centers conducted research on the general Hispanic and Latino populations, there were key differences between the two locations. The Claremont Center was focused on large national issues affecting the Hispanic community, and the Texas location was centered on local issues impacting Hispanics in San Antonio, and Texas as a whole.
The Texas location focused on three main subjects to research, stated in the Funding Prospectus in 1988, “The Texas Office of the Tomás Rivera Center will address on the following issues; the challenges facing the Latino community, providing education responsive to the realities and needs of Texas Latinos, providing employment and enhancing economic opportunities for the Latino population of Texas, providing effective social services for Latino citizens of Texas.”
From this statement, we can divide the topics into three categories: education, economic, and social. The research on these topics overlapped and so the recommendations made by the Center.
Pablo Vasquez graduated from Trinity University with a degree in Philosophy in 1992, and that same year he became a research assistant at the TRC from 1992-1994. In the following image, he is writing to Irma Guerrero to inform her about the work conducted at the TRC, and he included some published examples.
Policygram
A Policygram was a published product from the TRC to update its audience on the specific studies the Center was conducting at the time. Usually, based on this example, they only focused on one specific study at a time. It was meant to provide an indepth, but quick and consumable data to the reader and were usually only 1-2 pages in length.
Tomás Rivera Center Reports
The TRC published seasonal reports covering a range of topics related to the Center. Including new hires, new additions to the board, and ongoing research. It was intended to be used to inform the audience of the TRC about upcoming studies, topics of interest, and just general information on the people working for the Center, who they were, and their qualifications.
The Tomás Rivera Center Reports also included quick data graphics from their studies on a variety of topics related to Hispanic studies titled “Graphic News”. This example page includes research updates specifically about Hispanic high school students’ aspirations for college compared to their parents, and even publications that were available to purchase from the Center.
