HispanicBusiness

State Farm joins forces with NALEO to empower Latino civic engagement; and launches new educational efforts CHCI to help support Hispanic students


BLOOMINGTON, Ill., July 4 /PRNewswire/ -- This Independence Day, State Farm(R) officially launches a lead sponsorship role in the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) Ya Es Hora (Now Is The Time) campaign to empower Latinos to become full participants in American life through increased civic engagement. The goal of the program is to help educate, mobilize, and integrate the Latino Community into the civic process.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080704/AQF501)

State Farm is contributing $1 million to NALEO's efforts to provide
state-specific voter registration materials to unregistered Latinos and U.S. citizenship information to documented workers. Additionally, participating State Farm agents' offices with Spanish-speaking personnel will serve as a resource and clearinghouse for such information. State Farm agents in various locations across the country also will be assisting NALEO with voter registration drives and citizenship information sessions.

"State Farm is not only helping with its pocketbook, its agents are helping with their hearts," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of NALEO.

State Farm, as part of its new initiatives in the Hispanic community, is supporting two new educational efforts. First, State Farm is the primary sponsor of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Educational Handbook, which provides information on scholarships, fellowships and internships for Latino students, which also will be made available through participating State Farm agents' offices. Second, State Farm is providing $200,000 in educational mini-grants ($1,000 each) to support work within Hispanic communities to close the academic achievement gap and encourage students to stay in school and earn their high school diplomas.

State Farm will be supporting all of these efforts with an associated advertising and public relations effort called "State Farm Es Para Mi(TM)" (State Farm Is For Me), which will underscore the importance of culture, education, and citizenship in the Latino community and tie-in with the companies current "I'm There(TM)" campaign in the general market.

"State Farm agents are already the leading supplier of insurance for cars and homes in the Latino community. Today's announcement only serves to deepen our relationship in a way that supports Latino families," said Mike Fernandez, vice president of public affairs at State Farm.

To learn more about State Farm Es Para Mi (TM) or to locate a participating agent's office in your area, call: 1-877-564-3119.

About State Farm
State Farm(R) insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 67,000 employees serve over 78 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 32 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com(R) or in Canada statefarm.ca(R).