Two New Reports Released by Amplify Latinx and Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) Detail the Vital Role that Latino-Led Community Organizations Play in the Commonwealth.
Amplify-Gaston Executive Summary and Full Report
GBLN Full Report
Tableau Mapping
October 8, 2020, Boston, MA. —Amplify Latinx—a non-partisan convener building Latinx economic and political power in Massachusetts and Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) — a collective of community-based organizations (CBOs) in Boston that collectively serve and empower the underrepresented Latinx population in Greater Boston — will jointly release two studies on the Latino nonprofit sector in the Commonwealth that highlight the critical role that Latino CBOs play in supporting and empower the growing Latino community with culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate services and programming. These organizations and their leaders have taken a first-responder role during the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, requiring many Latino nonprofits to pivot and provide basic human services and a critical safety net within their communities.
According to the reports, there are 80 Latino nonprofits in the Commonwealth that focus on serving Latino residents, a demographic projected to reach 15.3% of the state’s population by 2035 according to the Amplify-Gaston report. These 80 Latino organizations constitute less than 1% of the state’s 9,223 non-profit organizations identified in a 2014 inventory of all nonprofits in Massachusetts. The City of Boston has the largest number of Latino organizations (37), but the organizations’ average of net resources is less than $4 million.
Amplify Latinx and GBLN will co-host a virtual forum on Thursday, October 8th at 4:00 pm to release the reports. The event will provide insight from the Gaston Institute report and reveal the detailed mapping of Latino nonprofit organizations while GBLNs independent researchers will present a deeper dive of ten Latinx led/serving organizations in the City of Boston. The forum will include a panel discussion with local nonprofits, government and philanthropy leaders to highlight the vital role and relevance of Latinx-led/serving organizations and discuss the policy and programmatic recommendations to build the capacity of the sector.
The forum will also give an opportunity to reflect on the contributions Latino organizations have made to the City of Boston and the Commonwealth while providing an overview of systemic challenges faced by these CBOs along with lessons learned along the way. For more information register here.
About the Research
Amplify Latinx and GBLN commissioned two complimentary research reports on Latino nonprofits to understand the landscape of Latino-led community-based organizations (CBOs), their services areas, strengths, and needs. Amplify Latinx and the Gastón Institute partnered to gather data about the current Latino non-profit organizations in Massachusetts and establish a benchmark that would allow an assessment of the strengths of the specific services provided by these non-profits to Latino communities across the state. As part of the research, Gastón developed a first-of-its-kind mapping of the Latino nonprofit organizations in MA, and a report with recommendations to build the sustainability and longevity of the sector.
Concurrently, GBLN conducted a separate report on Latinx-led nonprofits in Boston to dive deeper and better understand the challenges facing this sector based on key voices. The GBLN study provides a unique view on the collectivity of the Greater Boston-based organizations and how these organizations have emerged as vital in assisting Latinx residents and others to meet challenges related to education and housing inequality, economic inequalities and poverty, anti-immigrant policies and sentiments.
The reports found that Latino CBOs and nonprofits have a long history of providing critical human, education, and community services in Boston and the Commonwealth. Latino CBOs generate economic contributions within and even beyond the neighborhoods where they are located, by hiring workers, improving physical infrastructure, retaining small businesses, and enhancing the quality of social capital, according to the GBLN study. The Latino nonprofit sector and their central contributions to Latino communities and overall civic life, however, remains invisible to many power brokers and philanthropy in Boston and Massachusetts, in spite of expanding demands due to the exponential demographic growth of Latinos in Massachusetts.
“One out of every five Bostonians identifies as Latinx, and 43% of public school students in Boston are Latinx. But many people still think of Boston demographically along a Black/white binary. Our report addresses this social reality and confirms the need to recognize Latinx-led and Latinx-serving nonprofits as vital anchor organizations," said Karen Chacon, Co-Chair of GBLN.
The Amplify-Gaston report found that Latino CBOs provide valuable community services, but the size and scale of the Latino non-profit sector is much smaller than what the community needs and Latino CBOs are deeply under-resourced. Based on the Gaston research, existing Latino nonprofits would need to increase their size and nearly 100 new non-profit organizations would need to be created to fill the current service and geographic gaps in ways that are proportional to the Latino share of the state’s population.
“The Gaston research provides a first-of-its kind mapping of the often overlooked Latino nonprofits across the state, many which have taken on increased social service responsibilities during the pandemic with few resources. It’s time that the philanthropic, government and business communities commit to making capacity-building investments in this sector to meet the needs of the largest, growing demographic in the Commonwealth, said Rosario Ubiera-Minaya.”
The Amplify-Gaston report also found that existing Latino organizations are struggling with financial stability as funding remains sparse with less than 2% of philanthropic dollars being directly invested in Latino-based organizations. 97% of the total net assets of Latino organizations are concentrated in just six cities in Massachusetts (Boston, Chelsea, West Springfield, Lawrence, Holyoke, and Worcester). While the population that Latino nonprofits serve is swelling and requires more services, their funding is insufficient to meet the needs.
Latino CBOs are also concentrated in a few areas, both geographically and by services. Suffolk County is home to just 23% of the Latino population but contains 50% of all Latino non-profit organizations. This underscores the urgent need for diversification and expansion of health, employment, education, and legal services.
