Our Story

The Latina Futures 2050 Lab builds upon the foundation laid by the California Latino Legislative Caucus’s Unseen Latinas Initiative (the Initiative) and the Select Committee on Latina Inequities created by the California State Legislature to address the continued and growing inequality that Latinas experience in economic outcomes, career and leadership opportunities, and educational attainment.

In 2022, the Initiative made a landmark investment in this work, allocating $15 million to UCLA to establish the Latina Futures 2050 Lab (Latina Futures), a pioneering initiative that envisions a society where Latinas have an equal opportunity to lead, and where everyone thrives. We aim to accelerate full inclusion through rigorous research, community partnerships, and leadership development.

Latina Futures leaders immediately got to work in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, analyzing the disproportionate impact of the Dobbs ruling on child-bearing age Latinas that live in states that ban or restrict abortions. Latina Futures recruited emerging and mid-career scholars to advance cutting-edge scholarship on the cultural, social, and economic contours of Latina life in the U.S. through the Latina Futures Anthology, a forthcoming publication featuring authentic narratives of Latina life. In response to a persistent wage gap facing Latinas in California, we initiated a multi-year partnership with researchers and advocates to tackle the economic inequities stifling Latina workers’ full earning and purchasing potential. Working with Equal Rights Advocates, Latina Futures partnered with the First Partner of California, the Latino Legislative Caucus, and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls to host a Latina Equal Pay Day briefing in October 2023. 

Through its partnership with a strategic planning committee of Latina leaders nationwide, the UCLA Chicanx Latinx Law Review, and the Latina Lawyers Bar Association, Latina Futures convened over 400 prominent Latina scholars, attorneys, politicians, policy leaders, and students to interrogate law and policy with a Latina lens and identify structural interventions to diversify the legal field and improve the efficacy of domestic policy. Latina Futures has also created partnerships with key campus organizations, including the UCLA School of Nursing and UCLA Law Fellows, to develop tailored initiatives to address the underrepresentation of Latinas in fields critical to our nation’s future. Convening Latina STEM faculty, we are harnessing a network for Latina-focused STEM projects to grow collective impact. These activities paralleled a comprehensive strategic planning process that integrated the expertise of a national cadre of stakeholders to create an operational vision and set strategic objectives.

Now with a robust strategic plan in place, we can build on the historic work of advocates, scholars, and leaders to advance gender parity.  Latina Futures is establishing new networks to accelerate the influence and power of Latinas across key decision-making tables that define the future. We are also leveraging strategic partnerships with key civil society partners like Hispanas Organized for Political Equity (HOPE), Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), and the UCLA Labor Center, to spur innovation and expedite cross-sector collaboration.  With these partnerships and pipeline building, we are tapping into the social and political might of Latinas to shape a truly inclusive democracy and economy for future generations.