Let’s do more than just celebrate the Latino community. Let’s invest in it

Each September we celebrate the influence and contributions of Latinos in the United States. We are educators and entrepreneurs, farmworkers and first responders, attorneys and artists– and so much more. These celebrations are particularly salient in the Inland Empire, where Latinos are now the majority of the population, 51.5%, according to the 2020 Census – and growing.

But the Latino community deserves more than just one month of symbolic recognition and platitudes. We need increased investments from public, private, and philanthropic sectors that tackle the real disparities confronting our communities, and that strengthen the organizations doing frontline work to support our families, year round. The future outlook for the Inland Empire rises and falls based on the progress we make with respect to its Latino population.

A new report released by the UCR Center for Social Innovation in partnership with the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) evaluates the latest census data to show where Latinos are excelling and where need exists in the Inland Empire.

It shows that Latino educational attainment in the Inland Empire has increased in the last decade, with gains in both high school and college graduation rates. This is a promising trend. But it also shows that there is work to do to close the college graduation gap. Only 11% of Latinos in the region have a bachelor’s degree or higher, well below the state average of 35% and the national average of 33%.

A wage gap also persists. While Latino household incomes in the region have grown between 2010 and 2020 by nearly $10,000, Latinos still lag behind non-Hispanic Whites by nearly $14,000 per year as of 2020.

Poverty rates are also much higher among Latinos in the Inland Empire and these gaps are even more stark when it comes to child poverty. Latino children in the Inland Empire are twice as likely as White children to live in poverty. This concerning data point suggests adverse and inequitable long-term consequences for the Latino community, absent significant investments and corrective policy solutions.

Access to health care tells a similar story. The proportion of Inland Latinos without health insurance in 2020 was 12% which was more than double the share among non-Hispanic White residents in the region – 5%. Latino adults in the Inland Empire were also much less likely to have received routine health check-ups.

When it comes to civic participation, there’s room for improvement in terms of Latino voter turnout and representation. Only about 50% of eligible Latinos cast ballots in the 2020 November Presidential election, which past research has shown to be the result of insufficient investments in voter engagement and outreach–by parties, campaigns, and nonpartisan efforts alike.

In elected office, Latinos have the greatest representation by numbers at the municipal and education or school board level, but overall, hold less than 25% of all elected federal, state, and local posts in the region despite being the majority of the region. To be sure, there have been gains in congressional and legislative representation in the last decade, and importantly, two Riverside County legislators will chair the powerful Latino and Hispanic caucuses in Sacramento and Washington D.C. later this year.

Homeownership is a relatively bright spot for Latinos in the region. In 2020, Latino homeownership was significantly higher in the Inland Empire, 60%, than comparable figures for Latinos in Los Angeles County and in California more generally. Even on this issue, however, Latinos lag significantly behind White residents on rates of homeownership.

In the face of these disparities, the good news is that the Inland Empire’s Latino community is resilient and Latino leaders and allies are stepping up to fill in several gaps. Elected leaders and dozens of organizations like TODEC, and agencies throughout the region, provide important educational, health, immigration, legal, and other services daily to those in need. And new efforts like the Cultivating Inland Empire Latino Opportunity Fund, or, The CIELO Fund, at IECF, are creating a locally-driven philanthropic response through targeted grantmaking that aims to support many of these Latino led – and serving – organizations in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

This Latino Heritage Month, let’s remember that celebrating Latinos includes investing in Latinos and investments that empower the Latino community, empower every community. Because when the tide rises for us, it rises for everyone.

Jesse Melgar is the founding chair of the CIELO Fund and a board member of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. Luz Gallegos is CEO of TODEC Legal Services and a founding member of the CIELO Fund Leadership and Grantmaking Committee.