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HIP Announces Two Emergency Funds in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Funds to Address Census Outreach Efforts and Migration and Forced Displacement  

Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2020):  Today, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) announced two emergency funds to help Latino organizations offset unexpected costs incurred by the rapidly-changing situation concerning Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its effects worldwide specifically in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean. “We are witnessing an unprecedented moment in our lifetime. For this reason, we as funders must continue to support and trust our partners on the ground who are rapidly making critical decisions on how to shift their operations to better serve our communities,” said Ana Marie Argilagos, HIP’s President and CEO. “While we are collectively doing our part to flatten the curve and ensure that our families and elders are taken care of, let us not lose sight that these investments will help assist in ensuring a fair Census count for underserved groups and respond to increased vulnerabilities in migrant communities.” Civic Participation Fund The Civic Participation fund addresses the critical issues at stake for a fair and accurate 2020 Census to ensure Latinos are counted. COVID-19 has forced organizations to quickly shift from field operations to remote digital efforts. To expedite these new efforts we are announcing a rapid response grant pool for grassroots nonprofit organizations to help ensure Latinos are counted. In 2018, HIP launched the Latino Civic Participation Grant in key southern states to provide funding to grassroots groups and nonprofit organizations that are using diverse strategies to build political power within the Latino community in places with limited financial and electoral influence to advance supportive policy change. We deployed $160,000 in grants that leveraged more than $1.25M in contributions and matching funds and HIP works with an extensive network of organizations on these critical civic participation issues.  We encourage funders committed to racial equity in civic participation to contribute to HIP’s pool and/or match our funding as it is deployed. For more details on the Civic Participation fund see here. If you are interested in partnering or learning more, please contact Justin Scheid at justin@hiponline.org or Sonia Melendez Reyes at sonia@hiponline.org. Rapid Response Migration Fund  The COVID-19 Rapid Response Migration Fund will award at least $200,000 in mini-grants to help frontline migrant-serving organizations develop and launch emergency protocols, cover unexpected costs due to office closures or disrupted revenue streams, increase agility in services and advocacy, and address other unforeseen impacts of the ongoing pandemic. We invite funders to join this emergency effort to ensure that frontline organizations in the region are able to continue serving vulnerable migrant, refugee, and asylum seekers populations in a safe and timely manner. HIP will offer rapid response funds to current grantee partners of our Migration and Forced Displacement program (as well as a limited number of organizations nominated by HIP’s current funders or partner organizations) who are at the frontlines of providing direct humanitarian, social and legal services to migrants, as well as advocacy and narrative shift work. This comprehensive program has raised over $8M over the last 2 years to promote and protect the human rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers across the Americas. For more details on the Rapid Response Migration Fund see here.