The Hispanic Federation (HF) is a U.S based non-governmental organization focused on supporting Hispanic communities through local, state, and national advocacy. The Federation was founded in New York City in 1990 by a small group of Latino leaders, establishing initiatives to advocate for the interests of the Hispanic community and has expanded to establish programs, and policies in 16 states. The organization's objective is to empower and advance the Hispanic community primarily through service pillars, membership services, advocacy, and community programs. The Federation has formed relationships with a network of 100 Latino grassroots nonprofits, as well as collaborating with organizations, government officials, and private sector partners to enact systemic change related to a variety of socioeconomic issues for Hispanic communities. The Federation has gained national recognition for its work in areas of education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement, environment, and organizational development to strengthening Latino institutions to ultimately increase the quality of life within Hispanic communities.
History In 1990, a small group of Latinos in New York City founded Hispanic Federation to support Hispanic communities and strengthen Latino institutions throughout the United States of America. Since its foundation, HF has collaborated with many organizations focusing on a variety of socioeconomic issues.
The organization began by establishing a base with a weekly public affairs show on Spanish-language radio stations and implementing a public education campaign. In 1993, as a response to a lack of resources and/or support for administrative needs of Latino non-profit organizations, Hispanic Federation established the Latino CORE (Community Organization Resource Expansion) initiative, providing grants to organizations in support of infrastructural development, and has awarded over 1,000 grants and in partnership with grant-making initiatives has granted over $40 million to HF member agencies. HF carried out the first Latino Civic Participation Campaign in 1996 to increase political involvement, and has since registered more than 350,000 new voters.
By 1999, Hispanic Federation created and launched several long-term programs that continue to be implemented through their major initiatives. HF created the Hispanic Leadership Institute, a unique college-affiliated management program designed for Latino nonprofit organization managers, currently with over 200 Latino graduates. A health insurance program has helped over 60,000 Latino families to obtain health care by providing access to free or low-cost health insurance. In the mid-2000s, HF began an expansion to continue to advance the interests and aspirations of Latinos on a national level, opening an office in Washington, D.C., in 2005, and opening the Las Americas Conference Center in 2006, the first Latino nonprofit conference facility in the Northeast region.
The expansion of Hispanic Federation allowed for the organization to implement programs pertaining to other issues Hispanic communities face. In 2008, a foreclosure prevention program was implemented to help Latinos affected by the nation's mortgage crisis, as well as launching an agency-wide effort to raise awareness of environmental justice issues. In 2013, a satellite office opened in Connecticut further expanding is geographical presence to strengthen its services to Latino communities across the state.
Partnering with League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Hispanic Federation implemented their first national immigration service initiative in 2014, working in ten states to assist with immigrant integration. A Central Florida office opened in 2015 to effectively support Hispanic communities in the Southeast USA. HF now works with network of 100 Latino grassroots nonprofits and collaborates with organizations, government officials, and private sector partners, and to establish and implement programs in 16 states.
Structure
Hispanic Federation has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Florida, and uses a nonprofit network with more than 400 grassroots agencies. Hispanic Federation is managed by a board of directors, consisting of 18 members. Although HF operates through a network of organizations, the board of directors possesses a degree of independence from its members, allowing the organization to establish priorities. Frankie Miranda is the president of HF, and his role is to be the principal spokesperson, manage overall operations of the organization, as well as advocate for Hispanic grassroots organizations and pro-Latino legislation through the media, public officials, the private sector and the community. HF created the Policy Leadership Council, a group of community leaders and advocates form their grassroots nonprofit network, to establish policy priorities by identifying the crucial issues for Latino communities in the United States of America. The Policy Leadership Council partners with the overall grassroots nonprofit network, and uses agencies such as ASPIRA, El Puente, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, to form coalitions to advance the priorities of the Council.
Funding
Hispanic Federation receives funding from corporations, foundations, and governments, as well as private donors. Hispanic Federation's total grants and contributions from government sources are within 25% to 49%, therefore the majority of funding relies on non-governmental sources. Approximately 90% of funds go directly to community services, receiving high ratings for transparency, accuracy, and responsibility for charitable giving by Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity, and GuideStar Exchange. Charity Navigator gave HF an overall score of 94.69 out of 100 for its financial responsibility and accountability & transparency in a report released in February 2018.
Strategy
Hispanic Federation supports Hispanic communities at the local, state, and national level primarily through three essential service pillars: membership services, advocacy and community programs. HF uses membership services to strengthen grassroots nonprofits to support core operational needs, through management classes, leadership training, recruitment, and workshops and seminars to provide Latinos with opportunities to develop essential skills. Advocacy services advance the interests and aspirations of Latinos through policy research, public education, advocacy, and voter mobilization. Advocacy services use reports and testimonials to highlight to a variety of inequalities and challenges for Latinos across the United States of America. Community assistance programs are designed to provide social services in a variety of socioeconomic areas to support individuals, families, and communities.
Programs
Education One of the main focuses of Hispanic Federation since its creation is investments in education for Hispanic communities. HF hosts an annual Hispanic Education Summit, the Northeastern region's largest community-wide gathering on Latino education, to advocate for policymakers to advance policies for improving Latino educational achievement, as well as creating strategies and recommendations for educational policymaking at the local, state and federal levels. HF supports all levels of education by conducting research and advocating for policies related to providing underserved students resources and opportunities for academic success. Through a variety of programs, Hispanic Federation launches campaigns for specific areas concerning education of Hispanics.
Pathways to Academic Excellence is an initiative to enable parents to support their children's education, divided into two main components: Pathways Early Childhood and Pathways College Prep. Pathways Early Childhood focuses on teaching parents and/or guardians techniques and skills to facilitate academic success for their children in areas such as literacy skills through language-building activities, providing resources, behavioural tracking, and collaborating with the school system to overcome social and academic challenge. Pathways College Prep is an initiative enabling parents and/or guardians to prepare their children for postsecondary education, supporting them through the application process, teaching them the advantages of education, importance of advanced placement classes, extracurricular activities, junior year, and college entrance exams, as well as developing relations with school counselors and providing resources for financial aid and scholarships.
In 2016, Hispanic Federation received a grant of $350 000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation towards their college readiness programs College Readiness Achievement and Retention (CREAR) Futuros is another program pertaining to post-secondary, focusing on systemic barriers for Hispanic students that have resulted in Hispanics having the lowest college graduation levels of any major racial group in the United States of America. CREAR Futuros addresses this issue by developing relations with public sector partners, such as The City University of New York (CUNY), private foundations, and corporations to implement student retention and achievement models, increasing Hispanic postsecondary graduation rates. In partnership with CUNY, CREAR Futuros focuses on providing Hispanic students with trained peer-mentors, academic tutoring, leadership training, and internships. Hispanic Federation plans on expanding this education program creating the CREAR 2.0 program to provide technology to facilitate learning, and National CREAR Futuros Initiative (NCFI) to expand the program to Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida.
Hispanic Federation's Latino CREAR Coalition is a program specific to New York City that advocates for improvements for postsecondary preparedness in public schools, working with community leaders, college leaders at New York State Hispanic Serving Institutions, New York City Department of Education (DOE), New York State Education Department (SED) leaders, elected officials, and other actors. These programs are threatened as New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a $500 million cut to the CUNY system. Because the CUNY system serves three quarters of all Latino undergraduates in New York City, Hispanic Federation is advocating for a restoration of funding to ensure Latino students have access to an affordable and high quality postsecondary education.
Health Hispanic Federation is concerned with the management of health disparities through access to affordable healthcare, diminishing socio-economic obstacles that prevent Latinos to access healthcare. The promotion of healthcare for Latinos is accomplished through three central goals: increasing access to healthcare, supporting healthy lifestyles, and advocating for sexual reproductive health rights. Healthcare Enrolment is a program to increase access to healthcare, focusing on the issue access to quality, affordable medical care. This program was established to assist families in registering in Medicaid and Child Health Plus, expanded under the Affordable Care Act, and currently assists New York families and small businesses with the enrolment process of the Official Health Plan Marketplace.
Hispanic Federation has implemented a health program specific to the issue of HIV/AIDS in Latinos. In 1996, the Latinos Unidos Contra El SIDA (LUCES) HIV/AIDS Coalition was created in response to the AIDS epidemic in the United States of America disproportionately affecting Latinos. LUCES established initiatives, such as the Latino HIV Testing Month to provide a culturally-competent HIV/AIDS education and advocacy. The organization partnered with the Latino Commission on AIDS to create the National Latino AIDS Awareness Day and is currently recognized in over 300 cities across the U.S.A.