Latin American pop star Shakira participates in a meeting of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics Commission. President Obama appointed the singer to the Commission on the basis of her extensive philanthropic work on this issue. (by Adam Garber)

Latino youth are the fastest-growing group in America, and more Latino children are living in poverty than children of any other racial or ethnic group; one in four, that's 6.1 million Latino children living in poverty in the United States.

For a host of reasons, young Latinos in this country disproportionately drop out of school and far too few finish college.  And as I have seen in my own philanthropic work, the only road out of poverty is education.

Investing in the educational achievement of this vulnerable population will not only help determine the economic future and competitiveness of this nation, but can serve as a model for the world. I am grateful to have an opportunity to support and inform such important work.

I hope that through my appointment to this commission, I will be able to share what I've learned through the 15 years I have been involved in the education of Latino children. As we all know, race and ethnicity shouldn't be factors in the success of any child.

It is my belief that if we provide early childhood education to Latino children who need it but cannot afford it, it will take less than a decade to reap the benefits. There will be fewer Latino students being held back, fewer who need special education at a later age, less crime involving school-age children, and a smaller achievement gap between Latino and White students.

Ed. Note: Cross posted with the Department of Justice Blog.

Yesterday, along with COPS Director Barney Melekian, I traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, to discuss the Justice Department’s most recent efforts to support our nation’s law enforcement community – and to ensure that police officers from coast to coast have the resources that they need and deserve.

In recent years, police departments like Cincinnati’s – and law enforcement agencies nationwide – have faced extraordinary budget difficulties and have been asked to do more with less.  All across the country, law enforcement officials have risen to the challenge – and found innovative, collaborative ways to improve public safety and to keep crime trends heading in the right direction.  But at a time when approximately 10,000 officer jobs have been cut, and three times as many positions are currently unfilled due to fiscal constraints, we have a looming national crisis on our hands, both in terms of public safety and public employment.  In short, our citizens need protection – and our police officers and other first responders need jobs.

As part of the Department’s ongoing effort to meet these needs, I’m proud to report that the COPS Office is providing more than $240 million in new grants to support the hiring and retention of more than 1,000 officers in nearly 240 agencies and municipalities across the country.  The Cincinnati Police Department alone was awarded more than $6.8 million in grant money from the COPS Hiring Program, which will fund 25 critical positions for three years.

Today, the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics will host its second commission meeting here at the White House. The Commission is tasked with expanding academic excellence and improving educational opportunities for Hispanics by providing advice to President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Hispanics are already the largest minority group in the public education system with more than 1 in 5 students in the nation’s elementary, middle and high schools, but have the lowest education attainment level overall, according to a report by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

Dr. Jill Biden, a lifelong educator and wife of Vice President Joe Biden, will join the meeting today to give brief remarks on the importance of Hispanic success in education to America’s economy.  In addition, world famous singer, songwriter and record producer Shakira will join the meeting as a newly appointed commissioner.  Shakira has worked on a number of efforts to expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education around the world.  She joins a stellar group of other education and civic leaders who are Members of the Commission for the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics. 

Following the loss of visionary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, President Obama released this statement:

Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.

Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transitional Policy blog.

Last week the Department of Defense released a statement reminding Service members and Veterans that the deadline for Retroactive Stop Loss Payments (RSLP) is fast approaching. This is not an automatic entitlement, benefit or allowance. Eligible Service members and Veterans must file a claim by October 21, 2011 to receive this benefit.

The 2009 War Supplemental Appropriations Act authorizes Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay of $500 per month for each month or any portion of a month during the period specified that the current or former Soldier, Marine, Sailor, and Airman was retained on active duty as a result of of Stop Loss. The act applies to service members Stop Lossed during the period starting 11 September 2001 and ending 30 September 2009.

Ed. Note: Cross-posted from Fast Lane, the blog of the Secretary of Transportation.

Earlier this week, President Obama called on Congress to recognize the needs of unemployed Americans by taking up the American Jobs Act this month. 

I was reminded of my trip to St. Paul, MN, where I saw the progress being made on the Central Corridor Light Rail Line, which will connect St. Paul and Minneapolis.  That project is expected to create 3,300 jobs – and that doesn’t even include the local businesses that will benefit from being located near the line’s 18 new stations. 

We're talking about American transportation, built by American workers, and strengthening an American city.  It can and should be a model for the rest of the country.  And that's why I'm so excited about the American Jobs Act.

Every day, President Obama is fighting to put more Americans back to work.  That’s why he proposed the American Jobs Act – a package of bipartisan, common sense measures designed to help U.S. businesses grow and create jobs – which Congress should pass right away. 

Yesterday, the President took another step to help create and preserve U.S. jobs when he sent Congress three trade agreements,with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. President Obama is calling on Congress to pass the trade agreements and at the same time to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) that helps workers whose jobs are affected by global competition. All four of these items are important elements of the President’s balanced trade agenda to open markets for U.S. exporters and keep faith with workers here at home.

Together, these agreements are estimated to increase U.S. GDP by more than $12 billion and support tens of thousands of additional American jobs.  In fact, it is estimated that every $1 billion of goods and services we export supports approximately 5,500 jobs at home. That means the Korea trade agreement will support at least an estimated 70,000 U.S. jobs through increased goods exports alone. 

Naturally, the big job-building potential of these agreements has led many Americans to ask how increased trade translates into more U.S. jobs. The short answer is that trade agreements open overseas markets to significantly enhance opportunities for American businesses and workers to sell more innovative, high-quality products Made in America to customers all around the world. And as American exporters expand their businesses by increasing international sales into these newly-opened markets, they are likely to hire more workers to produce goods and provide services here at home.

These agreements will make it cheaper, faster, and easier for U.S. producers to sell more American goods and services in the growing markets of Korea, Colombia and Panama. They will put American businesses, workers, farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and service providers on a level playing field against foreign competitors. 

For example, today, there are plenty of Hyundais and Kias on American highways, because car customers here in the United States have the freedom to choose among many different brands and models at competitive prices. In contrast, there aren’t nearly as many Fords, Chevys, or Chryslers cruising the streets of Korea, in part because high tariff and non-tariff barriers currently put U.S. auto manufacturers at a disadvantage in the South Korean market. 

Seizing sales opportunities overseas can build jobs and businesses of all sizes throughout the American automotive supply chain here at home. That’s why, last year, President Obama sent a team back to the negotiating table to secure additional market access and a level playing field for U.S. auto manufacturers in Korea. Now there are more export opportunities – and more potential jobs – on the table in the U.S.-Korea trade agreement. Similarly, the Colombia and Panama trade agreements will enhance job-building export opportunities for U.S. producers.

President Obama wants to turn these trade opportunities into real jobs and more money for American working families. Now’s it’s up to Congress to act by passing the trade agreements and renewing TAA. By coming together to find common ground on a balanced approach to trade, we can get our economy moving full speed ahead with more jobs for hard-working Americans.

This morning, Chairman Cliff Stearns, who leads the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, told NPR that "We can't compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines."  

This comment reflects exactly the sort of counterproductive defeatism that Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned against this weekend when he spoke to a group of America’s most promising young solar innovators: 

“The United States faces a choice today: Will we sit on the sidelines and fall behind or will we play to win the clean energy race? Some say this is a race America can’t win.  They’re ready to wave the white flag and declare defeat… Others say this is a race America shouldn’t even be in. They say we can’t afford to invest in clean energy.  I say we can’t afford not to. 

“It’s not enough for our country to invent clean energy technologies – we have to make them and use them too. Invented in America, made in America, and sold around the world – that’s how we’ll create good jobs and lead in the 21^st century.”  

The race for clean energy jobs and industries is on – and it is a race well worth winning. The International Energy Agency projects that in the coming decades, solar power could grow to more than 20 percent of the world’s electricity. Conservatively, this means that there is an economic opportunity worth trillions of dollars for whichever countries claim the lead. The global market for wind turbines is also growing exponentially. 

But it’s not just the vast potential of jobs tomorrow – these industries employ a growing number of Americans today. In fact, business groups estimate that America’s solar industry accounts for about 100,000 jobs and the wind industry employs 75,000. Should we simply tell those workers that we’ve given up on them?  

A study released last month showed that, in spite of the intense global competition, the U.S. remains a net global exporter of solar technology – with $5.6 billion in exports and an overall positive trade balance of $1.8 billion.  

It is certainly true that China is playing to win. Last year alone, China offered its solar manufacturers $30 billion in government financing, vastly exceeding the U.S. investment.  And China has overtaken the United States market share in solar power – a technology we invented.  

Chairman Stearns and other members of his party in Congress believe that America cannot, or should not, try to compete for jobs in a cutting edge and rapidly growing industry.  We simply disagree:  the answer to this challenge is not to wave the white flag and give up on American workers. America has never declared defeat after a single setback – and we shouldn’t start now.  

America’s entrepreneurs and innovators are still the very best in the world. Our workers are second to none – and we have never been afraid of a challenge. It’s time to do what we’ve always done in the face of a tough competitor: roll up our sleeves and recapture the lead.

Suddenly it's October. The kids are settled back into school, and at the White House we're preparing for the 2011 Fall Garden Harvest tomorrow - so healthy eating is on our minds. Do you have a question about Let's Move!, the First Lady's initiative to end childhood obesity? Ask it on WhiteHouse.gov, Facebook or on Twitter with the hashtag #AskMichelle and the First Lady will answer a few in the coming days.

First Lady Michelle Obama and kids double-dutch jump rope during a taping for the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge and Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play, on the South Lawn of the White House. July 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)