Nonprofits Serving the Latino Community in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

The text below is the Introduction from the complete document. Read the full report in PDF format.

Abstract

This working paper offers a descriptive analysis of the Latino nonprofit sector in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It examines the extent to which Latino nonprofits are equipped to address the needs of a rapidly growing Latino population. The study finds that both nonprofit organizations and religious congregations that primarily serve Latinos offer a wide range of services. Many of these groups are located in the suburbs. While Latino nonprofits constitute a significant economic presence in the region, the majority of organizations remain small. Data on nonprofits are drawn from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, and data on churches were collected by telephone survey.

Introduction

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos are the second-largest minority group in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, after African Americans.¹ In the year 2000, 432,003 Latinos (8.8 percent of the total population) were living in the region. This figure represents nearly a twofold increase in the number residing in the area since 1990 (224,786). Much of this growth has been related to the rise in immigration. Among all Latinos living in the region in 2000, 62 percent were foreign born.²

As an ethnic minority group largely composed of immigrants or children of immigrants, Latinos have specific social, economic, language, and cultural needs. In 1999, the Latino population’s poverty rate in the Washington, D.C., region was 12.5 percent, compared with 6.9 percent for non-Latinos.³ Among those living below the poverty level, 68 percent were foreign born. In addition, almost half the Latino population age 5 and older residing in the D.C. area speaks English less than “very well.”⁴ Further, because 46 percent of Latinos in the nation’s capital area are not citizens, they have no or limited access to various benefits including voting, employment-related programs (such as unemployment insurance and Social Security), and social welfare programs (such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (DeSipio and de la Garza 1998).

Several scholarly articles have emphasized the role of community-based organizations, and especially immigrant and ethnic organizations, in the social, economic, and political incorporation of immigrants or ethnic minorities.⁵ Nonprofit organizations, in particular, have been depicted as playing a critical part in satisfying the needs and voicing the claims of these groups. What remains less known is how well immigrant and ethnic organizations are prepared to address the demands of and advocate for the growing Latino community in the D.C. region.

This paper offers a descriptive analysis of the Latino nonprofit sector in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The purpose is to examine to what extent the Latino nonprofit sector is equipped to face the needs of a community that has been experiencing significant quantitative and qualitative changes over the past few years.

Using data on nonprofit organizations from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) for fiscal years 2003 and circa 2005, this report portrays the type, size, age, and location of the Latino nonprofit sector.⁶ The NCCS data are based on information filed by organizations with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Because religious congregations are not required by law to register or file Forms 990 with the IRS, the data on churches in the NCCS dataset are very limited. Given that churches play a critical role in the lives of Latinos, both as civic associations⁷ and as service providers, a survey with religious congregations operating in the area was also conducted to fill that gap.

(End of excerpt. The entire report is available in PDF format.)

¹ From the Census 2000 Summary File 1, 100-Percent Data.

² From the Census 2000 Summary File 4, 100-Sample Data.

³ From the Census 2000 Summary File 4, 100-Sample Data.

⁴ From the 2005 American Community Survey.

⁵ See, for example, Abraham (1995), Bloemraad (2005), Cordero- Guzman (2005), Cortes (1998), García and de la Garza (1985), Hutcheson and Dominguez (1986), Koldewyn (1992), Minkoff (2002), Schrover and Vermeulen (2005), and Truelove (2000).

⁶ Only nonprofit organizations with more than $25,000 in annual gross receipts are required to file Form 990 with the IRS. Consequently, small organizations that do not complete Form 990 are not in the dataset and were not included in our analysis.

⁷ See Jones-Correa and Leal (2001).

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:

Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.

Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.

If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.