Greater Boston Latino Network and Boston Resiliency Fund Tackle COVID-19

July 17, 2020                                      

GREATER BOSTON LATINO NETWORK PARTNERS WITH THE CITY OF BOSTON AND KEY COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT LATINX YOUTH, FAMILIES AND ELDERS AT DISPROPORTIONATE RISK OF COVID-19 INFECTION

Latinx Groups To Tackle COVID-19 Through Culturally-Competent and Linguistically-Relevant Community Outreach, Engagement, Education, and Empowerment

BOSTON, MA – The Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) has received $275,000 from Mayor Marty Walsh and the City of Boston’s Health and Equities Task Force through the Boston Resiliency Fund to help tackle disproportionate COVID-19 infection rates in Latinx communities. Latinx residents make up 20% of the population in the City of Boston, but they are 28% of the city’s overall COVID-19 cases. 

The funds will allow nine Latinx-led and Latinx-serving community-based organizations to deepen and expand their collaboration with the City of Boston and with key institutions addressing the pandemic, including health centers such as the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Whittier Street Health Center and Brookside Community Health Center. 

GBLN’s members are providing culturally-appropriate and linguistically-relevant support to Latinx youth, families, and elders through an array of free programmatic, educational, social, legal and community services. Many are also providing food and financial support directly to families affected by the pandemic. 

GBLN members are launching an innovative bilingual campaign – “Masks Are Cool / Mascaras Son Genial” – to distribute masks, PPE, and life-saving public health messaging targeting youth, families and elders at high risk of COVID-19 infection, particularly among the hardest-hit demographic: Latinx young adults ages 21 to 39.

“GBLN will bring deep cultural, linguistic, and community expertise to the fight against COVID-19. Each GBLN member organization is deeply embedded in the Latinx community. Each member organization is a trusted partner in the community, and exerts significant influence. We deliberately and intentionally come together through GBLN to coordinate strategy, share resources, and mobilize across communities. Now, we are leveraging these strengths to fight COVID-19,” said Karen Chacón, Co-Chair of GBLN. 

“On behalf of GBLN, we are deeply grateful for Mayor Walsh’s leadership and partnership. We applaud the Mayor and City of Boston. Thank you for keeping us safe,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Co-Chair of GBLN.

Recent GBLN accomplishments include successful initiatives surrounding Latino College and Career Access (LaCCA) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which leveraged the collective power of the network: Each GBLN member disseminated resources; educated their families; and led parent mobilization. This coordinated process strengthens the quality of GBLN’s advocacy and amplifies our collective impact. 

GBLN produced a groundbreaking report, The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos and Why It Matters, on the need for greater Latinx representation in positions and institutions of power and influence. GBLN subsequently published an updated analysis in 2017 confirming continued Latinx under-representation. A new GBLN report focusing specifically on the vital functions of Latinx-led organizations is forthcoming. 

Greater Boston Latino Network members include:

 Samuel Acevedo, Higher Education Resource Center (HERC)

Marisol Amaya, La Alianza Hispana

Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Ph.D., Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (IBA)

Karen Chacón, Latino STEM Alliance (co-chair)

Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Lawyers for Civil Rights (co-chair)

Lorena Lopera, Latinos for Education 

Celina Miranda, Ph.D., Hyde Square Task Force

Alex Oliver-Davila, Sociedad Latina 

Frank Ramirez, East Boston Community Center