LETTER FROM THE HDF BOARD

November 17, 2016

Familia,

Today, more than ever, our work to build stronger Latino communities is needed. Over the past three decades, the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF) has provided grants, scholarships, and leadership in the community that have reflected the priorities established with direct input from our community.

HDF remains committed to being responsive to the needs that will surface from our community over the course of the next several years. The outcome of this election does not change our mission or the resiliency of our people. It only confirms how critically important our collective work is and the urgency by which we must act.

We will continue to support and strengthen our local nonprofits who work directly with our families. We are committed to provide resources that will address the critical priorities of our community.  HDF will delay announcement of our grantmaking process in 2017 until we have had an opportunity to evaluate where our grants will best be deployed to support emerging issues in the face of a new administration in Washington, D.C.

Not only will we marshal our resources to address critical needs, we will also seek to find partners to support the work of our nonprofits, together ensuring that our Latino community continues to prosper.

To that end, HDF convened a group of more than 80 nonprofit leaders and community members on Monday evening, November 21, 2016, to discuss how the new administration’s policies could impact immigrant and refugee families. This group, the Kansas City Immigrant Rights Coalition, is committed to standing with our immigrant communities to offer support and strength.

We will continue to convey gatherings of the Collation and concerned community members as is necessary to support our community and collectively face the challenges put before us. You will hear from us over the course of the next several months about upcoming community forums for parents, families, nonprofits, and philanthropy on how we can best support our community.

We will stand together, we will support one another, and together, we will persevere.

Con Fe,

Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund

 

News

HISPANIC DEVELOPMENT FUND IMMIGRATION REPORT
REVEALS NEWLY COMPILED STATISTICS
Announces Change In Leadership

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund hosted an event last week with Kansas City-area funders and nonprofit organizations serving local immigrant populations.  Representatives from more than 25 foundations and nonprofit organizations convened to better understand how to address the needs of immigrants and refugees in the region.

During the event on October 20, Randy Capps, Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., presented newly compiled statistics about the Kansas City metro’s 135,000 immigrants. The full report, presentation and summary infographic are available at www.hdfkc.org/grantmaking.

“Seventy percent of the Kansas City metro’s immigrants are lawfully present in the United States, and more than half have been in the country since 2000, and own their own homes. The report’s findings reveal that immigrants are contributing to the region’s economy as long-term residents, employees, homeowners and parents of U.S.-citizen children,” Capps said.

The event was part of the Hispanic Development Fund’s latest initiative to support Kansas City’s immigrant population in applying for citizenship and administrative relief through grants to local nonprofit organizations.