A HISTORY OF IMPACT NCLR traces its origins to the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century, particularly the early years of school and housing desegregation. Although Latinos participated in both movements, they did not gain widespread media coverage or national visibility, so iconic civil rights legislation of that era had relatively little effect on the Hispanic community. Recognizing the need for a critical institution around which the Hispanic community could rally, unify, and organize, a group of Mexican Americans in Washington, DC, formed a coordinating body that could provide technical assistance to existing Hispanic groups and bring them together into a single united front. This organization—NOMAS (National Organization for Mexican American Services)—met with the Ford Foundation to present a funding proposal. The meeting was one of several factors that contributed to Ford’s decision to finance a major study of Mexican Americans by scholars at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first grant of its kind in the United States. Research led to a series of organizational meetings among Chicano1 leaders and, as a result, activists Herman Gallegos, Dr. Julian Samora, and Dr. Ernesto Galarza found the Southwest Council of La Raza, NCLR’s predecessor. The credibility of these men contributed not only to building a strong foundation for the organization, but also to bringing together leadership in the community. Initial financial support came from the Council of Churches, the United Auto Workers, and a Ford Foundation planning grant.
Maclovio Barraza and Cesar Chavez
1968
EActivists Dr. Ernesto Galarza, Herman Gallegos, and Dr. Julian Samora found the Southwest Council of La Raza (SWCLR), NCLR’s predecessor. SWCLR begins to help establish and support community-based organizations.
Seven organizations in three states become its first “Affiliates,” Mexican American–run nonprofit organizations with a formal relationship to SWCLR.
1972
SWCLR is renamed the National Council of La Raza to reflect its commitment to all Mexican Americans throughout the nation.
Graciela Olivarez
Raul Yzaguirre
Dr. Ernesto Galarza Dr. Julian Samora
Herman Gallegos
1973
Bylaws are amended to require equal representation of men and women on the Board of Directors. NCLR establishes a Washington, DC headquarters office.
1974
Raúl Yzaguirre becomes NCLR’s National Director— and subsequently President and CEO in 1978—and will guide the organization for three decades.
1979
NCLR officially affirms its commitment to all Hispanic subgroups, a departure from its initial focus solely on Mexican Americans.
1980
The NCLR Policy Analysis Center is established to provide research on the status of Hispanic Americans.
1986
NCLR is instrumental in helping three million undocumented immigrants gain legal status with passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
1993
NCLR is a key leader in passing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion through Congress to help working families. NCLR continues to fight for and protect EITC today as one of the most important efforts to reward work and reduce poverty in U.S. history. In 2013, eight million Hispanic workers with 12 million children received the EITC benefit.
1994
NCLR establishes the Center for Health Promotion (now the Institute for Hispanic Health) to address a wide range of health conditions present in the Hispanic community. NCLR establishes the Youth Leaders Program (now the LĂderes Initiative) to increase the number, capacity, and influence of young Latino leaders in the United States.
1995
The first ALMA Awards (previously the Bravo Awards) is televised on Fox, celebrating the accomplishments of Latinos in American entertainment and media.
1996
NCLR successfully fights to restore benefits that were eliminated in welfare reform to legal immigrants.
1997
NCLR formally establishes the NCLR Homeownership Network (NHN), becoming one of the first national intermediary organizations to support communitybased homeownership counseling services. To date, NHN has assisted more than 500,000 households with their housing counseling needs, helped more than 30,000 households reach their dreams of homeownership, and saved the homes of more than 90,000 other families from foreclosure.
1998
1999
Raza Development Fund (RDF), NCLR’S community
development lending arm, is established in Phoenix. Now the largest Latino Community Development Financial Institution in the country, RDF has leveraged more than $2.5 billion in private capital for education, childcare, housing, and health care projects that assist low-income families.
NCLR’s Center for Community Educational Excellence (now the Office of Education) is expanded with a focus on assisting Affiliates and other community-based organizations in designing, establishing, and improving professional development opportunities for educators at the community level, and increasing Latino parent involvement in education. Today, NCLR spearheads a network of 115 community and charter schools, which together serve more than 35,000 students annually. NCLR holds the first Texas Latino Advocacy Day in Austin.
2000
NCLR collaborates with leading researchers to publish Moving Up the Economic Ladder: Latino Workers and the Nation’s Future Prosperity, which documents the employment status of the Latino labor force and offers guidance for policymakers and others to address the disparities that exist between Latinos and other workers.
INVESTING IN HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
2001
NCLR’s Workforce Development team creates and implements the Escalera Program: Taking Steps to Success, an employment and college-readiness pilot that promotes economic mobility and leadership opportunities for Latino youth. Nearly 90% of participants in this program have graduated from high school and gone on to higher education. NCLR helps draft the No Child Left Behind Act, protecting for the first time the needs of English language learners and increasing funds for English as a second language services for children and adults.
NCLR holds the first California Latino Advocacy Day in Sacramento.
2002
NCLR’s involvement in the passage and implementation of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act ensured that some legal immigrants, including all legal immigrant children, have access to food stamp benefits, resulting in improved nutrition and healthier lives. Research has shown that participation in the food stamp program reduces food insecurity by 30% and has increased access to five key nutrients among Latino preschoolers.
2003
NCLR Board of Directors unanimously selects Janet Murguía as Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer.
2004
Janet Murguía conducts a cross-country “Listening Tour,” seeking advice from Affiliates on ways to strengthen the NCLR-Affiliate relationship.
NCLR’s Institute for Hispanic Health expands national initiatives and establishes its community-based health education model using promotores de salud (community health educators). In the last decade, NCLR has trained more than 3,000 promotores from across the country. NCLR launches its first annual National Latino Advocacy Days, bringing together Affiliates from 22 states for a one-day training program on the tools of advocacy and lobbying; a briefing on the current issues affecting the Latino community; and one day of meetings with congressional staff. With hundreds of participants from across the country each year, Advocacy Days have helped elevate the voice of our Affiliates as well as that of NCLR on Capitol Hill.
IN 2004, RAUL YZAGUIRRE RESIGNS AND THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCES ITS SELECTION OF JANET MURGUÍA AS THE NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO.
2005
Janet Murguía takes the helm and NCLR establishes its permanent national headquarters just blocks from the White House, representing the organization’s role as a major influencer in policy and issues affecting the Hispanic community.
NCLR conducts its first state Latino Advocacy Days in California and Texas.
Janet Murguía visits New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and NCLR advocates on behalf of immigrants adversely affected by the federal government’s policies during the recovery effort. Activities include the publication of a white paper, establishing the NCLR Katrina Fund, and congressional testimony addressing fair housing issues.
2006
NCLR develops and adopts the Affiliate Member Services Business Plan, which outlines a new strategy to organize its work with its Affiliates, maximizing the value and power of the Affiliate Network.
2007
NCLR is selected as one of the best nonprofits in the United States by a survey of nearly 3,000 nonprofit CEOs and 60 expert interviews conducted for the book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits.
NCLR partners with national Latino organizations and the country’s largest Spanish-language media companies to launch ya es hora, ¡ciudadanía! a campaign that helped naturalize tens of thousands of new American citizens.
NCLR and advocates throughout California lobby to pass SB 1534, ensuring that the state can use its own funds to strengthen immigrant access to public health and preventative care services.
2008
In a historic election year, the NCLR Annual Conference is attended by more than 40,000 people and both presidential candidates. NCLR launches one of the largest Latino voter registration and engagement efforts in the country. By 2014, more than 500,000 voters have been registered through NCLR’s civic engagement efforts.
2009
NCLR is a key leader in advocating for the historic confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, the first Latina on the U.S. Supreme Court.
As a complement to national efforts to connect and engage more deeply with the Affiliate Network, NCLR expands its regional strategy by focusing resources in three states representing one-third of the Affiliate Network and 50% of the Latino community in the U.S. The first launch is an initiative in California, seeking to strengthen Affiliate capacity as advocates and raise their visibility and voice in the state.
NCLR plays a leading role in passage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, ensuring health coverage for four million more children in the United States—including 270,000 immigrant children—and ending a five-year waiting period for health care to which legal immigrant children and pregnant women had been subjected for more than a decade.
2010
NCLR’s advocacy on the Affordable Care Act contributes to the creation of new health insurance options for the most vulnerable Latino families and workers. The monumental health care law grants unrestricted access to a new health insurance marketplace for legal immigrants and citizens—securing affordable coverage for millions of working, uninsured Latinos—and makes unprecedented investment in public health measures designed to eliminate the risk factors for chronic disease and serious illness. Since 2013, 2.6 million Hispanics have gotten coverage, representing an 8% drop in the rate of Latino uninsured. NCLR plays an active role in passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which lays the foundation for a banking system that is fairer and more accessible to Latino families, including reform in the areas of mortgages, remittances, and consumer protections.
In response to Arizona’s SB 1070, NCLR and 51 other civil rights and social justice organizations call for a formal boycott and join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association, and the Hispanic National Bar Association in submitting an amicus brief to ask the federal court to stop implementation. NCLR’s efforts help defeat SB 1070 as well as copycat bills across the country.
NCLR relaunches its California Latino Advocacy Day with nearly 300 community leaders advocating in Sacramento on behalf of California’s Latino families.
2011
NCLR adds Texas to its state-specific initiative to complement our national efforts in connecting and engaging more deeply with the Affiliate Network.
NCLR establishes the Latino Leadership Institute to build the advocacy capacity of its Affiliate Network. The comprehensive five-day trainings have been held in California, Texas, and Florida.
2012
NCLR Affiliates become key players in providing assistance and information to DREAMers seeking deferred action through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
NCLR launches Mobilize to Vote (M2V) campaign, registering nearly 100,000 new Latino voters as part of 2012’s the largest nonpartisan voter registration effort in Florida.
NCLR and Affiliates successfully advocate for the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, which ends the practice of dual tracking, where banks move a homeowner through the foreclosure and loan modification processes simultaneously.
2013
NCLR’s advocacy efforts lead to passage of the bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act in the Senate—a huge step in the long and ongoing battle to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. NCLR and the NCLR Board of Directors endorse marriage equality and join an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8. Both laws have been overturned, marking a major step forward in the fight for marriage equality.
NCLR Texas Latino Advocacy Day brings 200 advocates together to meet with 125 Texas legislative offices, leading the Texas legislature to pass a budget reversing $4 billion in education cuts.
2014
NCLR launches a Special Initiative for Immigrant Integration to begin to meet the rising demand for critical services. The initiative deepens and expands immigrant integration services in education, workforce development, and financial counseling, while helping immigrants gain access to information and tools that will enable them to move forward on their path to citizenship. NCLR develops the Immigo app to deliver timely news and information for organizations providing immigrant integration services. NCLR’s focused immigration advocacy sets the stage for President Obama’s executive action, which could allow up to five million immigrants the opportunity to stay with their families and make even greater contributions to our economy. Poultry workers are protected thanks to NCLR’s two-year advocacy campaign, which prevented a federal regulatory change that would have harmed poultry workers by speeding up production lines and increasing risk of injury. More than 200,000 workers were impacted by this ruling—34% of whom are Latino.
2015
NCLR lays the groundwork to launch its statespecific initiative in Florida to complement our national efforts in connecting and engaging more deeply with the Affiliate Network. NCLR celebrates Janet Murguia’s 10th anniversary as President and CEO. NCLR fought to extend federal minimum wage and overtime protections to nearly 2 million home care workers who help the elderly and people with disabilities live with dignity in their homes. NCLR played a lead role in ensuring the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes new protections for English learners (EL) and holding states accountable for EL student performance. NCLR orchestrated a federal and multi-state advocacy campaign to defend immigrant eligibility in the Tax Relief Extension Act of 2015, which made permanent tax credits that boost incomes for working and middle-class families, an impact for about four million Latino working families, nine million children.
2016
NCLR partners with mitú to launch Latinos Vote mobile app, providing eligible Latino voters on-thespot access to voting requirements and registration. A four-year NCLR advocacy campaign leads to the Food and Drug Administration permitting fortification of corn masa flour with folic acid to prevent birth defects. Latino children are disproportionately affected by spina bifida and other neural tube defects that are linked to the absence of folic acid in a pregnant woman’s diet. NCLR state advocacy efforts with affiliates contributed to passage of Florida KidsCare, Arizona KidsCare, and California Kids Coverage impacting over 225,000 children who will now be eligible for coverage.