Message from the President and CEO

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Esperanza Hope for All Supports COVID-19 Recovery

I hope you had a wonderful summer and thank you again for your support of UnidosUS! You may have heard about the ambitious work we’ve undertaken as part of our Esperanza Hope for All (EHFA) Campaign, launched last year to mitigate the health, economic, and education effects of COVID-19 on our community. For example, throughout the spring and summer, we deployed our mobile vaccines education tour across the Southwest. Since the launch of the tour in April, UnidosUS has reached more than 20,000 Latinos in seven cities with accurate and culturally relevant information on the COVID-19 vaccines, and we’re expanding to Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, with more sites coming soon.

I am also proud to report that, through the EHFA Campaign efforts, we have promoted trust in the vaccine among Latinos, which has grown from 34% to 41% –according to data from the COVID Collaborative and Langer Research Associates. This is a significant accomplishment and, while there’s still much to be done on the vaccination front, we are excited to celebrate these small victories with you!

As we head into the start of the new school year, it’s also important to note the impact on Hispanic students and parents throughout the course of the pandemic. One of our primary goals has been to mitigate disproportionate learning loss among K-12 students, especially English learners, due to remote schooling. We fought tirelessly for key provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act, including an additional $6.8 billion for the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate Program, which assists thousands of schools and libraries to obtain affordable broadband—a critical step toward helping Latino children access the internet for their schoolwork.

Finally, UnidosUS released an expert-led Spanish-language webinar this past spring, offering guidance to parents to ensure their children are as safe as possible from COVID-19 upon returning to in-person classes.

These are but a sampling of the comprehensive initiatives with our community partners taking place across the organization under our Esperanza Hope for All Campaign. While there is still much to do, with you as our champions, our incredible UnidosUS team, and our inspiring Affiliates, I am hopeful that our community’s health, economic, and education recovery from the pandemic will continue to move in a positive direction.

Thank you,

Janet Murguía
President and CEO