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NEW YORK — <\/span>Former housing secretary Juli\u00e1n Castro<\/a> sees at least one constant throughout the next decade.<\/p>\n That’s the need to build lasting philanthropic support for U.S. Latinos \u2014 who are among the country’s fastest-growing racial or ethnic groups and who he sees facing a \u201cfive-alarm fire\u201d with rollbacks to education, business and immigration opportunities.<\/p>\n So, the one-time presidential hopeful<\/a> is working to increase the assets and footprint of the California-based nonprofit he has led since January 2024. In a Wednesday announcement, the Latino Community Foundation pledged to build a $250 million endowment and expand grantmaking across the southwestern states.<\/p>\n \u201cThe destiny of the United States is intertwined with the destiny of the Latino community like never before,\u201d Castro told The Associated Press. \u201cWe\u2019re confident that by helping to ensure that the Latino community does well, we\u2019re helping to ensure that the United States does well in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Philanthropic support for organizations serving people of Latin American descent routinely falls below 1% of all funding, according to Hispanics in Philanthropy, despite U.S. Census data that nearly 20% of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino.<\/p>\n That disparity has become clearer as nonprofits help immigrant communities navigate President Donald Trump’s sweeping enforcement policies<\/a>. The administration is expanding the number of detention centers<\/a> and could eventually hold around 100,000 immigrants. Crackdowns in cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago have chilled predominantly Latino neighborhoods where some residents, regardless of their immigration status, are afraid to leave the house. They’ve also prompted neighbors to step up for one another in new ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Latino Community Foundation responded last month with its first national fund. An initial $500,000 supported five grantees in Minnesota, California and Nevada with aims to hold federal immigration officers accountable and protect families from harm.<\/p>\n The foundation has come a long way since its 1989 beginnings as a San Francisco United Way affinity group. But Castro aspires to give at least $10 million annually, like last year when the Los Angeles-area wildfires<\/a> pushed overall grantmaking above the norm.<\/p>\n Its roughly $35 million endowment \u2014 \u201cmodest,\u201d Castro said, \u201cas philanthropies go\u201d \u2014 can’t meet the growing need nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cNow is the moment, under these unique circumstances that we face, to go bigger and to seek to make a real, lasting impression on philanthropy,” he said.<\/p>\n Castro, who served as San Antonio mayor before leading the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during President Barack Obama’s final years in office, spoke with AP exclusively about his vision for the foundation. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n There\u2019s tremendous need just about everywhere in the country. Over the last couple of decades, the Latino community has grown enormously. Not only in the usual suspect places that we think of, but in smaller communities \u2014 in the Southwest, in the Midwest, in every part of the country.<\/p>\n What I saw in Arizona and Nevada is there are a lot of great nonprofits that are rooted in their local communities doing excellent work. We have a lot of great work happening on the ground to register voters, mobilize voters, to create more access to capital for small businesses, to empower the Latino community. But it\u2019s chronically underfunded.<\/p>\n It feels like an imperative. The moment that we\u2019re going through gives me and the LCF team an added sense of purpose and of urgency to serve our community. All of us on the team have an immigrant story. We all feel very fortunate to have been blessed with a lot of what America has to offer and have been able to pursue our dreams and aspirations.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s what we want for everybody in the country \u2014 of course, including other Latinos, whether they\u2019re recent immigrants or they\u2019ve been here for five generations. And what I see happening in the country right now is the taking away of opportunity. Subtraction instead of addition.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a source of investment for nonprofits that oftentimes don\u2019t receive dollars from mainstream philanthropy. LCF was born in part because a very small percentage of mainstream philanthropic dollars go to Latino-led or Latina-led organizations. <\/p>\n This endowment will help ensure that if somebody is doing excellent grassroots work to serve the Latino community, they always have a place to look.<\/p>\n Many of these organizations are very rooted in their own local communities. They are short staffed. They don\u2019t have grant writers. They don\u2019t have experts in drawing down philanthropic resources. Also, big philanthropy still has a long way to go in terms of looking like the country and understanding the needs of the entire country. So, I think it goes both ways. <\/p>\n We know that there\u2019s a very strong need. We know that that need is going to continue. And that the investments that we\u2019re making to Latino-serving organizations are consistent with the current law.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that some have begun to scale back their investments in organizations that serve people of particular backgrounds. That\u2019s unfortunate. Because we have so many of the inequities that we\u2019ve seen for generations that still exist. The Latino Community Foundation is absolutely committed to our mission. And through thick and thin, we\u2019re gonna have the community\u2019s back.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP\u2019s philanthropy coverage, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/philanthropy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n