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In a ceremony in the East Room today, President Obama will sign an Executive Order to renew and enhance the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics so that it better serves communities across the country by engaging them in the process of improving the education of Latino students, who represent 1 of every 5 students in our nation’s schools.

The new Executive Order is based on feedback gathered by the Initiative in more than 100 community conversations across the country with experts in education, community leaders from more than 30 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and from comments from more than 10,000 Americans on how to develop real solutions to the challenges confronting the Hispanic community in education.

The signing ceremony follows a National Education Summit and Call to Action hosted by the U.S. Department of Education that began on Monday and brought together experts and community leaders from around the country on issues ranging from early childhood learning to higher education.

Watch parties are also being held nationwide. Watch at 1:50 by going to WhiteHouse.gov/live and clicking on the link on the right.

UPDATE: The President has now signed the Executive Order, read it in full, or watch the video and see a photo below:

President Barack Obama looks over to Javier Garcia of Brownsville, Texas, after Garcia introduced him at the signing ceremony for the Executive Order on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans in the East Room of the White House, October 19, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Luis Miranda is White House Director of Hispanic Media

In the second edition of White House White Board, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, looks back at the President’s record on the economy through the perspective of the last three years in private sector employment.

This week, we kicked off Tuesday Talks -- an invitation for people around the country to engage with policy experts, administration officials and more every week on a whole host of topics. Next week, we’re bringing you two talks: a conversation with Austan Goolsbee on the economy, followed by a dialogue on the arts and humanities.

Join us for two talks on Tuesday, October 19^th:

• 1:30 p.m. EDT: Talk with Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, on the economy.
• 2:15 p.m. EDT: In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month, talk about the arts and arts and humanities education with co-chairs and members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH), including:
  • Chuck Close, Member and visual artist (view bio)
  • Margo Lion, Co-Chair (view bio)
  • George Stevens, Jr., Co-Chair (view bio)
  • Damian Woetzel, Member and ballet dancer (view bio)

Here's how you can participate:

• Ask your questions in advance on Facebook
• Watch the chat through WhiteHouse.gov/live
• Join the discussion live through the White House Facebook application

See you on Tuesday and check out previous Tuesday Talks:

• What You Missed: Tuesday Talk with Elizabeth Warren

Middle school and high school students from across the country descended on the State Dining Room at the White House today with their award-winning science fair projects in tow.  From a robot that plays soccer to a smart toilet that conserves water and an innovative approach to treating cancer, these student projects represent most cutting edge science, technology and engineering. 

The White House Science Fair is part of President Obama’s Educate to Innovate program move American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.  The President has made STEM education a priority for his Administration – recognizing that that a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering and math is key for laying the foundation for our future prosperity.

Before making remarks in the East Room, President Obama took a minute to check out the projects at the Science Fair and congratulate the students on their impressive achievements.  The President also stressed the importance of inspiring students to excel in STEM subjects:

Tracy’s son Sami was diagnosed with a medical condition when he was very young and, because of his pre-existing condition, and she was worried about how she was going to maintain or find coverage for her son in the future.  But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children based on a pre-existing condition and, in 2014, this consumer protection will be extended to all Americans.  The new law also eliminates lifetime limits on coverage, so insurance companies can no longer determine how much care children like Sami can receive throughout their, and places new restrictions on annual coverage limits.  The Affordable Care Act is providing new benefits and consumer protections to Tracy, Sami and millions of families across America, ensuring that their coverage will be there when they need it most.

“We are happy that he cannot be discriminated against for having a pre-existing condition.  I think it’s life changing.”

Tracy is just one of the many people who have shared their experiences with the new health care law.  Visit the map to find stories from people near you and hear first-hand how the Affordable Care Act is helping Americans. 

The President lays out his agenda to foster investment here at home. He vows to close the tax loopholes for sending jobs and profits overseas that Congressional Republicans have tried to protect.

Lorene Nelson, Dr. Biden, Joy Foster and Tina Tchen after the call in Dr. Biden’s office October 15, 2010. (by Chris Smith - HHS)

Today I had the pleasure of co-hosting a conference call with Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to emphasize the importance of early detection and regular screenings. 

We were joined on the call by breast cancer survivors, advocates, and various women’s group from across the country.  I was especially honored to have two breast cancer survivors, Joy Veronica Foster and Lorene Nelson, join me in my office so they could share their personal stories on the call.  Listening to these women, and knowing we were joined by many others on the line was truly inspirational and heartwarming.

Chances are that anyone reading this post has been touched by breast cancer –

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but the battle against breast cancer takes place every day, every hour, every 69 seconds as someone’s mother, sister, daughter, and friend loses her life to breast cancer.  We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but today’s conference call gave me hope. With the ongoing commitment of the Obama-Biden Administration to ensure that affordable and accessible preventive care is a reality, and the many breast cancer advocates, and survivors like Lorene and Joy who are changing lives with their work every day – I know we are moving closer to a breast cancer-free world.

-Jill

Empowering Americans to make good financial decisions for themselves and their families is necessary to building a financially stronger America.  To meet this goal, we must improve Americans’ understanding of financial products and terms, expand financial access, and provide appropriate and robust consumer protection.  President Obama is committed to building a country in which more families have the knowledge, skills, and financial access to make good financial choices and to establishing the consumer protections that enable and encourage them to do so.

As part of this commitment, President Obama issued an Executive Order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability (“Council”) and appointed a highly qualified group of men and women from the private and non-profit sectors to advise him on these critical issues. The Council, which will work at the direction of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, will advise the President on how to maximize the effectiveness of existing private and public sector financial education efforts and identify new approaches to increase financial capability for all Americans.

Ed. Note: As part Change.org's Blog Action Day, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson reflects on the importance of protecting America's clean water supply.

When EPA was formed 40 years ago, water pollution was generally something that could be seen, touched, and smelled.  We knew something was wrong when algae began to coat rivers, when the smell from untreated sewage reached our communities, or when massive fish kills appeared in lakes and streams.  Perhaps the most famous example is the Cuyahoga River, which was so covered with pollution and industrial waste that in 1969 it literally caught fire.  

Four decades later, we’ve seen considerable progress.  The Clean Water and the Safe Drinking Water Acts have significantly reduced threats to our environment and our health.  The widespread expansion of water infrastructure has brought clean, safe water to millions of Americans.  And the Cuyahoga – along with a number of other water bodies – is cleaner than it has been in generations.  

But this doesn’t mean we can take clean water for granted.  While we have had success on traditional pollutants, there are other challenges to face in protecting America's waters today.  

Contaminants and chemicals we’ve only recently had the science to detect move into our water supply from a variety of less-conventional places. Rather than gushing from the end of a pipe, pollution trickles from front lawns, city streets and parking lots.  We can’t ask a single polluter to shut off its flow, so we have to find more creative solutions.  

We’re working to find those solutions through efforts like our developing Urban Waters Initiative, and the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, in which EPA’s water protection investments will work in concert with housing and transportation investments from other agencies.  We’re developing a strategy to incorporate green infrastructure into our clean water rules and actions, which will encourage strategies that work with nature – rather than against it – by using soil, vegetation, permeable materials and landscape changes to capture stormwater, filter contaminants, beautify communities, and reduce the runoff that flows into local waterways.  We’ve issued clear guidance to protect Appalachian waters threatened by valley fills from mountaintop removal mining.  And we’re working with the USDA and the agricultural community to reduce water impacts and encourage sustainable farming techniques.  

Another issue we face is deferred maintenance in our infrastructure, which in too many communities is over-worked and under-budgeted.  Our system is deeply stressed, our financial and our natural resources are limited and our needs are not negotiable.

The good news is that the Recovery Act provided almost $6 billion in funding for clean and drinking water projects.  Those investments, along with EPA’s budget, comprise some of the strongest support for water infrastructure in recent memory.  But if our water systems are going to work harder in the years ahead, we have to start working smarter today.  Earlier this year I outlined a vision to improve drinking water protection by harnessing invention and innovation.  I proposed enhancing efficiency by taking on water contaminants in groups, engaging innovators and entrepreneurs to develop new technology and using technology to improve information sharing and monitoring between federal, state and local authorities.

Finally, the BP spill has presented an unprecedented challenge as an emergency environmental response and a long-term restoration effort.  I’m proud that President Obama has appointed me to lead the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.  That single event has illustrated just how important clean water is to the health of our communities and our economy, and how entire ways of life count on clean water and a healthy environment.  Those are the same reasons President Obama mobilized EPA and other federal agencies to revitalize cleanups in the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, and why we are recommitting to our work on other great waterbodies such as Puget Sound, Lake Tahoe, the San Francisco Bay Delta, as well as our oceans, estuaries and precious wetlands like the Florida Everglades.  

Whether we face an immediate, emergency situation like the BP spill, or the gradual accumulation of challenges and degradation, our responsibilities to address the problems and find solutions are exactly the same.  In each case, our efforts are focused on getting real, measurable results in the restoration of waterbodies that millions of people depend on.  
 
In protecting America’s waters today, we have a responsibility to continue the work that began 40 years ago, and begin new work that will change the course of the next 40 years and beyond.  This is what we have been doing since taking office, and what we plan on continuing to do in the months and years ahead.