Social Justice Advocacy Issues

 

In collaboration with funders, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations across the Americas, HIP is working to:

• Strengthen grassroots organizations advocating for human rights and social justice in Latino communities, on issues ranging from workers’ rights to reproductive justice, using strategies from community organizing to voter registration.
• Build the capacity of the Latino civil sector to engage in advocacy, by seeding and developing coalitions, helping grassroots groups to develop more sophisticated policy apparatuses, and increasing the effectiveness of Latino nonprofits and leaders in communications and media.
• Facilitate dialogue among funders, community leaders, policymakers, academics, and activists to identify philanthropic strategies for advancing social justice and increasing civic engagement and political participation in Latino communities.

Current Programs

Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities

HIP has provided grants and training for more than Latino-led organizations that primarily focus on social justice advocacy, including community organizing, raising public awareness, legal action, policy research, and working to effect policy change at the local, state, and federal levels. Even more HIP grantees operate hybrid models, engaging Latino constituent both to provide vital social services and to advocate for long-term social change.

In New Mexico, HIP grantee Somos Un Pueblo Unido works to educate and organize immigrant communities to protect immigrant rights, stop abuses of workers and tenants, and advance racial and economic justice. HIP funding helped Somos obtain its 501(c)(3) status and built a stronger board and a fundraising infrastructure. Since its first HIP grant in 2003, Somos has grown from a staff of three to a staff of six and now has a budget of over $300,000 (View Campaign Details). Its membership has grown from 300 members in 2003 to more than 2,200 dues-paying members in 2011. The organization’s successes include the passage of a statewide law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver's license—a law that, unfortunately, Somos is now working to defend.

In some sites, HIP has not only built the capacity of existing advocacy organizations, but has also provided support for Latino organizations to expand their work to include a more sophisticated policy apparatus or to form new coalitions. For example, in North Carolina, HIP has provided support for the Hispanic League to build coalition of Latino-serving organizations to coordinate collective advocacy efforts on the issues most affecting Hispanic communities.

Facilitating Funder Dialogue

HIP actively convenes funders and other stakeholders around a range of social justice issues affecting Latino communities, to identify emerging trends and challenges as well as solutions and best practices.  Examples include community forums on immigrant rights in North Carolina and Philadelphia, several webinars and trainings related to 2010 Census complete count efforts, and an upcoming funders briefing with Human Rights Watch on rights abuses of children and indigenous people in Mexico.

Moreover, HIP convenes funders to discuss the broader context of social justice issues in philanthropy.  In particular, the underfunding of Latino communities both results from and perpetuates the social inequities faced by Latinos and other people of color. Throughout late 2011 and 2012, HIP is sponsoring a series of briefing papers and community forums to conduct an in-depth assessment of this underfunding and to identify solutions for expanding Latino philanthropy.

Why We Care

Hispanics in Philanthropy’s mission is rooted in social justice, in the notion that all people should have the freedom and the opportunity to reach their full potential as human beings. Fulfilling this vision requires us not only to protect the basic rights of all, but also to effect systemic change to address long-standing historical inequalities.

Latinos are the fastest-growing population in the United States, now 50 million strong, but lack political power commensurate with a community of such a large size:

• In 2008, only 30 percent of Hispanics voted in the presidential election—half the voting rate for African Americans and whites.
• Latinos are vastly underrepresented among elected officials, making up less than three percent of Congressional representatives, senators, and governors, and only a small fraction of officials at the local level.

This underrepresentation is partly a result of the political disenfranchisement of Latinos—but also helps perpetuate it. The continued disenfranchisement of Latinos leads to violations of basic human rights, whether in the form of racial profiling, voter suppression, exploitation of workers, tenant abuses, or persecution based on immigration status. It also means Latinos are less likely to have access to opportunities in a range of areas. The disparities faced by Hispanics in educational attainment, economic security, and access to health care are all social justice issues, as is income inequality in Latin America. The disparities are particularly alarming for the most vulnerable groups within Latino communities, such as older Latinos, undocumented immigrants, and LGBT Latinos.

Solving these societal problems requires changes in laws and economic policies, but it also requires the building of a stronger, broader movement. Systemic problems demand systemic solutions. That means empowering our communities with knowledge and tools to advocate for themselves, and it also means building an infrastructure for organizing our communities: strong organizations, effective leaders, robust networks, and resources to support them. While hundreds of strong Latino leaders and organizations are already working for social justice across the U.S., we don’t yet have the infrastructure or the resources sufficient for the challenges we face:

• There are currently 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S.—or one for every 200 Americans. By comparison, there are estimated to be less than 10,000 Latino-focused nonprofit in the U.S.—or one for every 5,000 Latinos.
• Latino organizations and programs only receive about one percent of all Foundation grant dollars—about $206 million annually.

HIP believes that a stronger Latino civil sector and greater philanthropic investments in Latino communities are crucial for building a Latino social justice movement.  That’s why we work to build the capacity of Latino leaders and organizations and to expand Latino philanthropy.

HIP has not only helped existing Latino social justice organizations to increase their capacity and get to scale, but has also helped burgeoning organizations develop new advocacy programs, and has seeded coalitions of Latino organizations working together to advance social justice on issues ranging from immigration to education.

We also believe that full equality for Latino communities is inextricably intertwined with social justice for all marginalized communities, and that social change will only be achieved through strong progressive coalitions.  HIP seeks to foster stronger alliances between Black and Latino communities, intersectional work on LGBT rights and racial justice, partnerships between women's rights organizations and Latino leaders, and strong links between the labor movement and immigrant rights groups. 

What Our Members and Partners are Doing

A number of HIP members and funding partners provide funding for social justice as a core focus of their mission: 

The Marguerite Casey Foundation is dedicated to creating a movement of working families advocating on their own behalf for change.

The Open Society Foundations seeks to safeguard fundamental rights and advance justice and freedom, supporting a variety of organizations and programs that promote civic participation among people of color, immigrants, poor people, women, and LGBT people. 

The Ford Foundation works to advance social change, including increasing civic and political participation of Latinos and other underrepresented groups, building knowledge for social justice, advancing racial justice, protecting immigrant rights, and mobilizing philanthropic resources for social justice.

The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation to create a stronger and more socially just society by building the field of art and social justice and amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities.

A number of HIP’s local partners and members are working to advance social justice for Latino communities at the local and state levels, including the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in North Carolina, the Woods Fund of Chicago, the Hyams Foundation in Massachusetts, among many others.