Welcome Message from Janet Murguía
I am pleased to share the first issue of Unidos Impact, a quarterly newsletter reporting back to you, as donors to our Campaign for Equal Opportunity, how your investment is strengthening UnidosUS and bolstering transformational efforts to define a new Latino narrative, scale our work for maximum impact, and elevate Latino leaders, the three goals of the Campaign.
But first, I have to say THANK YOU! You believed in the vision of our Campaign for Equal Opportunity and helped us take the first bold steps toward building a stronger America where all Latinos flourish. Because of your leadership and support, we surpassed our goal raising over $56 million, and I am so grateful for your trust, confidence, and investment in UnidosUS.
You may recall, the Campaign kicked off quietly in February 2017 to mark UnidosUS’ 50th anniversary in 2018. Many of you helped us hit our first goal, reaching $25 million when we announced the Campaign publicly at our 2018 Annual Conference. As you might imagine during these last four years, we faced and confronted myriad challenges. But your leadership gifts gave us a strong start for the public launch, and you, our donors and funders, rallied helping us surpass our $50 million goal by 12%!
We’re launching this newsletter to share highlights with you of the work we’ve begun under this Campaign, the efforts we are moving forward, and how we are progressing on our Campaign goals. This is your special invitation to be part of this ongoing journey through quarterly updates in Unidos Impact. You will see how we apply the Campaign’s resources in creating the opportunities our community is thirsting for, as well as the invaluable role Campaign investments have played in our ability to adapt to the daily urgent needs and pressures of the evolving environment – response to COVID-19, racial injustice, threats to our civil rights at the voting booth, and beyond.
I can’t say it enough, you are our champions. Because of you, UnidosUS acted swiftly and strategically to address our community’s needs in these darkest of moments for our country. The early investments we received for the Campaign allowed us to strengthen our technology capacity, our leadership training and our communications platforms, so we were ready when the COVID-19 crisis hit. Without missing a beat, when the pandemic hit we took on and filled in the communications and information gaps for our community, and we kept momentum on advocacy efforts to ensure all of our community was included in relief and recovery efforts and that our community’s contributions on the frontlines were recognized. These efforts continue as we also stood united with the Black community to seek accountability and justice, while pursuing policy changes to address the structural racism and injustice that are pervasive across our country’s institutions.
When we spoke to you about our vision for this Campaign, you encouraged us to go big and be bold. We had no idea how big, bold, and fast we would need to be, but 2020 certainly showed us.
In each issue of Unidos Impact we’ll share with you examples of the bold Campaign investments at work making an impact for our community and with our Affiliate network. We’ll also feature a profile on Affiliates and spotlight stories on our donors and the special and unique ways our partners are leading during this incredibly tumultuous time.
I look forward to keeping you updated as we work to ensure the Latino community emerges from this crisis more resilient, stronger, and striving toward our vision of an equal opportunity to flourish and pursue our American dream.
Adelante,
Janet
