As organizations struggled nationwide with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hispanic Federation (HF) has remained determined to provide some much needed help.

According to a new report titled Hope & Unity: Latino CBOs Respond to COVID-19, the Hispanic Federation empowered 350 Latino community-based organizations and nonprofits to keep their doors open during the first 15 months of the pandemic.

Between April 2020 and September 2021, HF provided a total of $20.6 million in COVID-related grants. This helped individuals, families and organizations in 38 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. 

“It is true that the pandemic has spared no community, but the impact on Latinos has been particularly devastating,” said Frankie Miranda, President & CEO of the Hispanic Federation, wrote in a statement. “All across the country, Latinos have suffered with more cases, more hospitalizations, and more deaths than other Americans.”

The pandemic has also disproportionately harmed the Latino access in regards to health care, substandard and overcrowded housing environments, overrepresentation in on-site jobs, poverty, anti-immigration policies and more. 

“The virus has laid bare our nation’s long-term system disparities,” Miranda added. 

According to the report, nearly 60% of Latinos reported job loss or pay cut by the spring of 2020, and Latino unemployment reached 18.9% during that same period, constituting the highest rate for any racial or ethnic group. 

As a result of these disparities, the Hispanic Federation organized, mobilized and collaborated with hundreds of trusted Latino and immigrant-led grassroots organizations to make an impact, which led to the more than $20 million in grant funding.

HF’s grantmaking efforts included strengthening community health in the face of shifting needs brought on by the pandemic.

For example, when the COVID vaccine became available, but before federal assistance reached community clinics, HF gave emergency grants totaling $1 million to 19 organizations to conduct vaccination drives targeting the most at-risk and marginalized members of the community. 

Since the start of the pandemic, the Hispanic Federation’s network of COVID-19 grantees has been able to deliver emergency services, including food and housing assistance and healthcare, to some of the most vulnerable communities. 

This includes those without health insurance, undocumented and mixed-status families, children and youth, pregnant women, domestic violence survivors, farmworkers, day laborers, seniors and more. 

Beyond vaccine distribution, and food and housing assistance, HF has also used its grantmaking efforts to provide art and culture activities to children and teens to facilitate socio-emotional expression and well-being, as well as operational support for many organizations.  

HF also announced that it is working to provide another $7 million in essential support before the end of 2021.

Founded in 1990, HF is the nation’s premier Latino nonprofit membership organization and seeks to empower and advance the Hispanic community, support Hispanic families, and strengthen Latino institutions through work in the areas of education, health, immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment, & the environment.