Summer 2024 Directors’ Letter

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Latina Futures 2050 Lab’s newsletter. Grounded in rigorous research and trusted community partnerships, Latina Futures is actively redefining the story of America and amplifying the call to achieve gender parity. 

In 2022, after two years of a pandemic in which data was emerging that Latinas disproportionately bore the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, Sonja recognized it wasn’t enough to just focus on the needs of Latinos broadly through her work as the founding director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (UCLA LPPI). This sparked a conversation with the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC)  and we worked together to develop an initiative focused on Latinas that would be spearheaded by the CSRC. Leveraging resources at both institutes, we took this idea to the California Legislature and built the foundation for Latina Futures, working with our talented staff and student colleagues, as well as external partners, to identify the three pillars of our work: rigorous research, community engagement, and leadership programs. 

With a $15 million five-year grant from the state legislature in hand, we designed a robust program that delves into the diverse facets of Latina life in the U.S. through rigorous research. To begin, we engaged in a forward-looking strategic planning effort that involved academics, civil society leaders, and the private sector. Our goal was to develop an ambitious, but also pragmatic, approach to tackling persistent inequalities. This plan was informed by prior experiences with university-based research centers, our deep ties to California’s civic institutions, and our understanding of how Latina Futures can be part of a larger ecosystem advancing social justice. 

Our broad network helped us to refine our vision and save the funds for this historic initiative when they were at risk of being cut during the challenging 2024-25 California budget process. We are grateful to the chair and members of the Assembly Select Committee on Latina Inequities, the members of the Senate and Assembly budget committees,  Institute of American Cultures, Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, the UC Labor Centers, UCSC Institute for Social Transformation,  Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, the TransLatin@ Coalition  and all others who fought to save Latina Futures, so we can implement our strategic plan on a larger scale. We are proud to say that, to date, we’ve initiated or deepened community partnerships, supported nine research centers to partner with Latina-led organizations on research projects, resourced senior scholars to mentor emerging scholars, and deployed research funds to a small army of junior scholars to help us advance Latina Futures’ ambitious agenda.

With all our efforts, we are confronting the erasure and exclusion of Latinas and other women of color from decision-making tables by advancing multidimensional, nuanced analyses of the experiences and contributions of generations of diverse women leaders, workers, and caregivers. To address the alarming gap in Latina representation and leadership in law and policy, we hosted a national symposium that featured 14 distinct sessions that touched on a variety of topics, including affirmative action and reproductive justice, the intersectionality of Latina and LGBTQ identities, and the avenues towards advancing reforms advance racial and gender justice. 

Building off the success of the Latina Futures Symposium earlier this year, we aim to uplift the success of Latinas breaking glass ceilings in elite professions, as well as those who are fighting for a living wage and social mobility, through our trusted partnerships with civil society leaders committed to Latina empower and gender parity. Informed by rigorous data analysis, tactics like influence convergence and narrative change are critical to improving the economic, political and social status of the nation’s Latina cohort, who are projected to comprise 13% of the U.S. population by 2050.

Society depends on the full participation and leadership of America’s youthful and diverse girls and women from California to the Carolinas. Latina Futures is not just a vision; it is a commitment to action, grounded in research and inspired by the incredible legacy of leaders who challenge the status quo and pursue new avenues of inclusion and integration. Together, we will support and nurture future-focused actions that spur new collaborations to strengthen society for generations to come. 


In solidarity,