In conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) conducted a webinar entitled, The 2010 Census: What the Numbers Mean and How Funders Can Respond. HIP’s mission is to strengthen Latino communities by increasing resources for the Latino and Latin American civil sector; by increasing Latino participation and leadership throughout the field of philanthropy; and to foster policy change to enhance equity and inclusiveness.
The webinar panelists included: Tara Sandercock, a board member of Hispanics in Philanthropy and Vice President of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro; Catherine Marsh, Executive Director of Westchester Community Foundation; Dr. Leo Estrada, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles; Dolores E. Roybal, Executive Director of Con Alma Health Foundation; and Cristóbal J. Alex, Program Officer for Democratic Participation, of the Ford Foundation.
The discussion centered around the 2010 Census, which indicates that the Latino population now makes up more than 10% of the total population in 17 states, with South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee showing the most significant growth. In the discussion one of the most notable trends that surfaced was suburbanization of the Latino populations. In fact, Westchester County, one of the most affluent counties in New York, showed a 41% growth in the Hispanic populations since 2000. Inspite of these gains, the percentage of grant dollars benefiting Latinos has remained flat for ten years, at about 1.3 percent of total U.S. grantmaking, while the Latino share of the U.S. population has risen from 13 percent to 16 percent during that same time period according to a report conducted by HIP and the Foundation Center. So, there's still a lot of work to be done.
Some of the challenges facing the Hispanic and Latino populations are immigration issues, political disparity, illiteracy (in both native and English languages) and teen pregnancy. To help address some of these issues the panelists discussed legislative advocacy focusing on immigration issues, increasing the voter registration rate in these communities to help increase political empowerment, and addressing socio-economic issues from a more holistic perspective. Overall, everyone agreed that there needs to be increased awareness of the issues and challenges facing the Hispanic populations along with greater cultural competencies, collaborations and partnerships toward finding and funding solutions.
In response to the growing Hispanic population, the Foundation Center has a number of resources in Spanish. What has your organization done in response to the changing demographics of the DC metropolitan region?
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