NPS Team to Participate in National Organization for Mexican American Rights Conference and Recruitment Event
WASHINGTON, DC - The National Park Service (NPS) is sending a team of senior officials and recruiters to San Antonio to participate in the Tenth Annual Training Conference and Business Meeting of the National Organization for Mexican American Rights, Inc. (NOMAR). This year’s meeting, September 6th thru 8th, 2007, will focus on “Hispanic Americans: A Ready and Willing Workforce.”
The conference promotes equal access to employment and educational opportunities, and civil rights for Americans of Hispanic origin. Previous conferences have successfully informed the Hispanic community about the numerous careers, minority business opportunities, educational careers and employment opportunities with the Federal Government, national laboratories, corporate America, environmental organizations, educational institutions and state and local governments.
The NPS is a conference sponsor and will also support the event with a diverse team of experienced employees. David Vela, Superintendent of George Washington Memorial Parkway in suburban Washington, DC, will represent Mary A. Bomar, Director of the NPS, and provide remarks on her behalf.
Marie Eilander of the Washington Office and Bill Gwaltney of the Intermountain Region in Denver, serve as Co-Chairs of the NPS Recruitment Futures Implementation Team (RFIT) and will assist conference participants to better understand the NPS hiring process. They will be joined by Vanessa Russell, RFIT team member from the Northeast Region in Philadelphia; Steve Whitesell, Superintendent, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (NHP); and Danni Brown of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York.
Student participants will be offered the opportunity to join in a field trip to Mission San Jose, one of the San Antonio Missions managed by the NPS - San Antonio Missions NHP, which has also enjoyed a long relationship with NOMAR since 2000. San Antonio Missions NHP, under the leadership of Steve Whitesell, has worked with Dan Solis, chair of NOMAR, and other members of NOMAR senior leadership, in hosting previous events and in seeking their assistance to fill key vacancies in the park.
The potential boost in funding through the NPS Centennial Challenge may allow the NPS to hire an additional 3,000 seasonal employees in fiscal year 2008. This would represent a huge opportunity to recruit a workforce that will truly reflect the “face of America.”
The NPS is not only interested in improving the diversity of the agency workforce, but in telling all stories through interpretive programming in the parks, and taking a leadership role on issues that impact the Hispanic community through active involvement in the study and preservation of the nation’s natural and cultural resources.
Source: NPS
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