Critical Mas: 20 For 2000

PHOENIX, ARIZ., AGE 20 She started Children for a Safe Environment at the age of 9 and has been fighting to keep hazardous waste and pollution out of minority neighborhoods ever since. "Poor people shouldn't always be the ones dumped on," says Arvizu-Johnson, who is of Mexican-American and Native American heritage.

NEW YORK, AGE 30 His CD, "Contra la Corriente," won a Grammy this year. Of Puerto Rican descent, he is recording his first English-language pop album.

MIAMI BEACH, AGE 23 Cardona got the idea for yupi.com, an Internet portal site, while introducing his father to the Web in 1996. Now it's the most-visited Spanish-language site, drawing 6 million visitors a month.

WASHINGTON, D.C., AGE 27 As the executive director of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, the Peruvian-born Crespo aims to bring more Latinos into the Republican fold. "Our Hispanic ideals are very conservative," he says.

WASHINGTON, D.C., AGE 29 The first Latino to clerk for the chief justice of the United States, in 1996-97. His father emigrated from Cuba in 1957 and, Cruz says, "Education opened the American dream to him. We're failing to provide that education now, especially to poor minorities."

NEW YORK, AGE 30 His critically acclaimed "Drown" (1996), a collection of stories about his childhood in the Dominican Republic and New Jersey, established him as one of the strongest voices of Generation N. A Guggenheim Fellow, he's working on his first novel.

LOS ANGELES, AGE 25 She recorded her punk-inspired 1998 CD, "Tree of Hope,'' on her own label, and is a stalwart in L.A.'s "Chicano alternative'' music scene. Flores appears in the Telemundo series "Reyes y Rey,'' and is a fund-raiser for environmental and Latino causes.

NEW YORK, AGE 35 In his off-Broadway shows "Mambo Mouth," "Spic-O-Rama" and the Tony-nominated "Freak," the Colombian-born actor turned Latino stereotypes into real characters with heart. He plays an Italian in Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam."

NEW YORK, AGE 25 The WNBA star, whose great-grandfather was Cuban, is injured and out for the season. But the kids wearing pint-size number 50 New York Liberty jerseys won't forget their 6-foot-4 hero.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS., AGE 30 A MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant winner, this Argentine physicist's specialty is "string theory."

GALVESTON, TEXAS, AGE 29 As coordinator of the National Network of Latin American Medical Students, the Ecuadoran-born Mesa works to get more Latinos into medicine.

LOS ANGELES, AGE 30 Her lyric novels explore society's rough edges. "Locas" was about female gangs in East L.A. Her latest, "What It Takes to Get to Vegas," is set in the Mexican-American boxing scene.

NEW YORK, AGE 32 The NBC news correspondent-anchor is a one-woman melting pot. Her Cuban-born mother is black, her father is Irish-Australian.

HOUSTON, AGE 33 A fourth-generation Mexican-American, he will finish the year-long NASA Astronaut Candidate program in the fall, making him the ninth Latino astronaut.

LOS ANGELES, AGE 26 On June 9, Padilla became the youngest Latino (he's Mexican-American) to win a seat on the L.A. City Council.

SEATTLE, AGE 23 A-Rod, as Mariner fans call the Dominican-American shortstop, is the first 40-40 infielder--40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in one season--in major league history.

AUSTIN, TEXAS, AGE 30 His debut film, "El Mariachi," was made for only $7,000 and won him a Sundance Audience Award. A Mexican-American, his most recent film was the teen thriller "The Faculty."

MIAMI, AGE 22 Her gutsy 1998 rock album "Donde Estan Los Ladrones" won her a zealous following among young Latinas. She's currently working on an English version with Gloria Estefan. A native of Colombia, she wants to show the world that Latinos "don't just do ranchero and salsa. We can do good rock."

MIAMI, AGE 31 The second-generation Cuban-American founded Generation N magazine, and coined the term. "It's about saying, 'Wait a minute. We're not all Generation X'."