HISTORY
After 20 years of successfully working to change policies and practices that eliminate the barriers that prevent Latinos from accessing affordable and decent housing, Latinos United changed its name and expanded its mission in 2008. The new name, Latino Policy Forum, describes the broader policy agenda that the organization has undertaken since 2006. The Latino Policy Forum’s commitment to working on issues that come from community participatory processes is reflected in the name. It is through on-going community forums that the organization identifies issues, develops agendas, and increases civic participation in the Latino community.
The mission of the Latino Policy Forum is to build the power, influence and leadership of the Latino community through collective action to transform public policies that ensure the well being of our community and society as a whole.
Since 1988, the organization has provided a leading voice in housing – advocating for equitable participation and equal access to a wide range of housing options for Latinos in the Chicago Metropolitan region. The most visible victory in Latinos United’s 20-year history was the successful lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to combat discrimination against Latinos in public housing in Chicago. Over the following 10 years, the resulting Latino Consent Decree led to the allocation of over $70 million in housing resources directed toward the Latino community, through improved access to conventional public housing units.
Building on the housing policy and advocacy experience accumulated for two decades, in 2006 the organization expanded the scope of its work to include other issues of great importance to Latinos in Illinois: Education and Immigration.
In collaboration with the University of Notre Dame and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, in 2006 the Latino Policy Forum conducted a series of community forums with over 600 Latino leaders to identify the issues that would constitute a Latino Policy Agenda for the region. During the consultation process, six priority issues emerged: Education, Housing, Immigration, Jobs and Workforce Development, Health, and Community Safety.
In 2006, the organization began to build its Early Childhood Education program by first convening a group of Latino leaders and experts working in this field. The group identified the issues that must be addressed through policies to ensure greater participation of Latino children in early childhood education programs. Since then, the Latino Policy Forum has developed alliances among Latino and non-Latino organizations to advocate for funds and for policies that increase access to and improve the quality of early childhood education programs in the state of Illinois, with a particular emphasis on policies which attend to the needs of English Language Learners.
Since 2006, the Latino Policy Forum has actively advocated for policies to support the successful political, social, and economic integration of Latino immigrants into their new communities, as well as advocating at the federal level for policies to fix the broken immigration system.
In the spring of 2008, the Latino Policy Forum released the policy document “An American Agenda from a Latino Perspective.” This policy agenda is the culmination of a series of meetings with 600 Latinos of diverse backgrounds from across the Chicago metropolitan region. The document is an educational resource for policy makers and an advocacy tool for Latinos in Illinois. The Latino Policy Forum looks forward to building its capacity to address all the issues that the community identified as priorities to improve the quality of life of Latinos in Illinois. We will continue to build partnerships with Latino organizations and to develop alliances with non-Latino groups.
The mission of the Latino Policy Forum is to build the power, influence and leadership of the Latino community through collective action to transform public policies that ensure the well being of our community and society as a whole.
Since 1988, the organization has provided a leading voice in housing – advocating for equitable participation and equal access to a wide range of housing options for Latinos in the Chicago Metropolitan region. The most visible victory in Latinos United’s 20-year history was the successful lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to combat discrimination against Latinos in public housing in Chicago. Over the following 10 years, the resulting Latino Consent Decree led to the allocation of over $70 million in housing resources directed toward the Latino community, through improved access to conventional public housing units.
Building on the housing policy and advocacy experience accumulated for two decades, in 2006 the organization expanded the scope of its work to include other issues of great importance to Latinos in Illinois: Education and Immigration.
In collaboration with the University of Notre Dame and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, in 2006 the Latino Policy Forum conducted a series of community forums with over 600 Latino leaders to identify the issues that would constitute a Latino Policy Agenda for the region. During the consultation process, six priority issues emerged: Education, Housing, Immigration, Jobs and Workforce Development, Health, and Community Safety.
In 2006, the organization began to build its Early Childhood Education program by first convening a group of Latino leaders and experts working in this field. The group identified the issues that must be addressed through policies to ensure greater participation of Latino children in early childhood education programs. Since then, the Latino Policy Forum has developed alliances among Latino and non-Latino organizations to advocate for funds and for policies that increase access to and improve the quality of early childhood education programs in the state of Illinois, with a particular emphasis on policies which attend to the needs of English Language Learners.
Since 2006, the Latino Policy Forum has actively advocated for policies to support the successful political, social, and economic integration of Latino immigrants into their new communities, as well as advocating at the federal level for policies to fix the broken immigration system.
In the spring of 2008, the Latino Policy Forum released the policy document “An American Agenda from a Latino Perspective.” This policy agenda is the culmination of a series of meetings with 600 Latinos of diverse backgrounds from across the Chicago metropolitan region. The document is an educational resource for policy makers and an advocacy tool for Latinos in Illinois. The Latino Policy Forum looks forward to building its capacity to address all the issues that the community identified as priorities to improve the quality of life of Latinos in Illinois. We will continue to build partnerships with Latino organizations and to develop alliances with non-Latino groups.
