SAN ANTONIO – Julián Castro helped establish a Hispanic presence on the national political scene With his presidential candidacy in 2020now focused on empowering Latinos to help themselves.
Just four months into his tenure as CEO of the California-based Latino Community Foundation, Castro has pushed the philanthropic-activist group into high-stakes 2024 elections with grants to Latino groups in Arizona, Nevada, other key battleground states and California. several congressional races could decide control of the House.
“The desire to go outside of California and do this work is a reflection of the urgency of improving the economic prospects of our community and making sure people exercise their voting rights,” Castro said in an interview at a Mexican restaurant. Castro remained in his hometown of San Antonio, but has been commuting since in his new role.
He also signed the foundation to take the lead in providing for Latin Americans the vast majority Any boom that occurs in California’s Imperial Valley is not left out lithium mining frenzy takes place in the region.
“There’s going to be tremendous wealth in the Imperial Valley, and we want to do our part to make sure that it’s not just the extractive economy, but the people who live there benefit, not just economically. But in terms of health, education, quality of life, it’s a bigger opportunity in every way,” he said.
The Latino Community Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization that invests in Latino-led organizations. He has worked primarily in California and boasts the largest Latino philanthropic network in the country, investing more than $25 million in more than 375 local organizations, mostly Latino-led.
His work ranges from investing directly in Latino groups to creating and managing what he calls “giving circles”: 17 groups of Latinos whose members each give $1,000 a year and then choose which community groups receive the money they raise. It has invested $2.9 million, according to its website.
Castro said the grants provided by the foundation Make Nevada Road and Arizona Empowerment Center is a startup to expand its business beyond California and help groups focus more on Latino voices in those states. Both are progressive groups focused on registering and electing Latino voters.
The foundation also commissioned BSP Research to survey 1,200 Latino registered voters, 400 in each state, to gauge their views on candidates and issues and their likelihood of voting.
“I want all candidates and all parties to focus on the needs of the Latino community,” said Castro, a Democrat who served as mayor of San Antonio and housing secretary in the Obama administration. He is also a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.
A clear majority of Latinos surveyed in every state said they planned to vote, but significant shares also said they were not well informed about the policy agendas of President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump.
“My message to political candidates is that it doesn’t matter what your ideology is, if you want to win, you have to address the concerns of the Latino community,” he said.
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one Interview with NBC News In 2018, Castro said that the subtitle of his memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up From My American Dream, released on the eve of his presidential bid, recognizes that for many Latin Americans, simply working hard is not enough. for family and to achieve his American dream.
“A lot of times you have to improve your community and your community as well,” he said.
That belief explains his enthusiasm for his new role running a foundation he says helps community groups advocate for their neighborhoods, towns, cities and themselves before city councils and other government agencies on issues such as where to get referrals. . federal money given to municipalities.
Castro gave examples of the foundation’s mission, such as his Working with ALAS, a group that provides services to farm workers and their families (the acronym is Spanish for “wings”; it means Ayudando Latinos a Soñar, or Helping Latinos Dream). He also worked with the foundation Community Water CenterFocuses on providing safe and affordable water for communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
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“There are more places to organize Latino communities in any number of states in the country and to invest in Latino and Latino-led nonprofits across the country,” he said.
“Going around the country, I’ve seen that you have both areas with large Latino communities and small pockets — on school boards, city councils, boards and commissions, and oftentimes, you have a lack of representation. nor do you have the capacity to serve the Latino community of non-profit organizations. Finally, we want to be a part of this capacity building,” he said.
Leveraging Latino philanthropy—both formal and informal
Castro entered the philanthropic arena at a difficult time. Less than 1% of philanthropic financial support benefits Latino communities, according to Hispanics in Philanthropy. Hispanics in PhilanthropyCalling itself the largest transnational network of donors, it is also dedicated to the economic upliftment of Latinos and to strengthening their leadership and influence.
A report he released last year It found that Hispanic donations to charities fell in 2018, the latest year for which data is available, as it did for all other groups. But the decline was even greater for Hispanics, from 44% to 26% of Latino households giving to charities in 2018.
Even so, Castro said, Latino philanthropy that already exists, official and unofficial, is growing.
Latinos are often mistakenly perceived as less philanthropic than other communities, he said. But Latinos give at church, in neighborhoods, to family members, and in traditional ways. The Latino Community Foundation seeks to foster philanthropy at the local level and among professionals who have achieved their dreams and feel they want to give back to their communities, he said.
“We have been part of the American progress story for a long time,” Castro said. “This means that our community is fully invested in the future of our country, and that the destiny of America is intertwined with the destiny of the Latino community like never before.”