AARP trying to get more Hispanics

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- AARP? Never heard of it, said the retired Mexican-American woman.

"Is that from the union?" asked Mary De La O, a former cannery worker, as she visited with friends recently at the Hank Lopez Community Center. "I don't know what that is." Her perplexed expression was reflected in the faces of other Hispanic seniors around the table.

For AARP, the 35 million-member group that lobbies and provides services for people 50 and over, scenes like that are too common.

Realizing it has largely missed the growing number of over-50 Hispanics with broad-based recruiting, the group is in the early stages of a campaign aimed specifically at attracting new Hispanic members.

Later this month, AARP plans to air Spanish-language television and radio commercials in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, following up an initial round of ads last fall.

It recently added Spanish-speaking staffers in four states and, in the next few months, hopes to create a bilingual Web site. Last fall, it sent 1.4 million recruitment letters to Hispanic households.

"This current boomer generation is more multicultural than any generation before," said Nancy Franklin, AARP's director of membership development. "Any organization that wants to be relevant in the future" needs to adapt.