UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ( La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including

immigration reform Immigration reform is change to the current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, ''reform'' means "to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses". In the political sense, "immigration ...

, a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and reduced deportations. Founded in 1968 (as NCLR), UnidosUS has regional offices in Chicago, Los Angeles,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

History

In 1963, a group of

Mexican Americans Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

in Washington, D.C., formed the National Organization for Mexican American Services (NOMAS). The organization existed primarily to provide technical assistance to Hispanic groups and bring them together under one umbrella. NOMAS presented a proposal to the Ford Foundation to establish an organization that could provide technical assistance and organizational structure to the Mexican American community. The Ford Foundation hired Herman Gallegos, Julian Samora, and Ernesto Galarza to travel the Southwest and make a recommendation on how the Ford Foundation could help Mexican Americans. Gallegos, Samora and Galarza founded the Southwest Council of La Raza (SWCLR) in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1968. SWCLR was given financial support from the Ford Foundation, the National Council of Churches, and the United Auto Workers, and the organization received

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

status later that year. In 1973, the SWCLR became a national organization, changed its name to the National Council of La Raza, and moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. Early disagreements among the organization's leadership caused the Ford Foundation to threaten to withhold funding, resulting in President Henry Santiestevan's resignation and the election of Raul Yzaguirre. The Spanish word ''raza'' is often translated into English as race. The phrase La Raza has a particular history in the context of political activism in which NCLR uses it. NCLR uses "La Raza" to refer to "the people" or "the Hispanic people of the New World". Beginning in about 1975, the NCLR began expanding its focus to include the issues of non-Mexican

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Latinos. This policy was made official in 1979. By 1980, the NCLR was funded almost entirely by the federal government. When the Reagan Administration reduced available federal funding, the NCLR cut back the scale of its operations. As a result, the organization began focusing on national policy and concentrating its efforts in Washington, D.C. After the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, state governments exerted more control over the disbursement of welfare funds, which led to the development of the NCLR's Field Advocacy Project to influence decisions at the state and local levels. On January 1, 2005,

Janet Murguía Janet Murguía (born September 6, 1960) is a civil rights activist in the United States. She is president of UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a Hispanic advocacy organization. Her twin sister Mary and elder brother Carlos ar ...

replaced Raul Yzaguirre as the president and CEO. On July 10, 2017, NCLR announced its new name, UnidosUS. On October 10, 2021, UnidosUS announced that it would sever all ties with Facebook after a former employee of the social media platform revealed the negative impact that the social media platform itself has caused in society, including the proliferation of

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

and misinformation.

Programs

The organization holds an annual conference. In 2016, Elizabeth Warren and

Steve St. Angelo ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

spoke at the conference. In 2019, Janet Murguía spoke at the conference.

Funding

Prior to 2000, three-quarters of the organization's funding came from private sources, including individuals and corporations, and one-quarter of its funding came from the federal government. As of 2015, the organization reported receiving 85% of its funding from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and 15% of its funding from the government. In 2018, 7% of its funding came from the federal government.

References

External links

* {{authority control Anti-racist organizations in the United States Political advocacy groups in the United States Hispanic and Latino American organizations Identity politics in the United States 1968 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1968

History

Programs

Funding

See also

References

External links