Civil Society Structures Serving Latinos in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area

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Abstract

Over the past decade the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has become increasingly diverse, driven in large part by the growth of the Latino population. By 2006, almost 610,000 Latinos lived in the region. Today's immigrants, like those before them, contribute to the development of civil society organizations and rely on them for services and activities. Yet little is known about these organizations and the ways they help newcomers build and engage in civil society. This brief provides an overview of nonprofits and religious congregations in the Washington, D.C. region that focus on providing services and support to the Latino population.

Introduction

Over the past decade, theWashington, D.C., metropolitan area has become increasingly diverse, driven in large part by the growth of the Latino population. During the 1990s, the number of Latinos in the D.C. metro area nearly doubled; by 2006, there were almost 610,000 Latinos in the region. Latinos are roughly 12 percent of the metro area’s population and the region’s fastest growing group.

Today’s immigrants, like those before them, contribute to the development of civil society organizations and rely on them for services and activities. These organizations, composed of both community-based nonprofits and religious congregations, offer programs and supports that foster greater social capital and cohesion among the newcomers, encourage their civic engagement and political participation, and strive to maintain the cultural identity of ethnic-immigrant populations. Yet little is known about these organizations and the ways they help newcomers build and engage in civil society in theWashington, D.C., area.

This brief provides an overview of the number, size, and scope of nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region that are primarily devoted to offering essential services and support to the Latino population. It also reports on religious congregations that work with the Latino community. The study focuses on locally based organizations rather than the national nonprofits housed in the D.C. region. While national organizations have an important role in shaping the policies and services that affect immigrant populations, locally based groups may be more typical of nonprofits and religious congregations elsewhere in the country that work with ethnic-immigrant groups¹.

Locally based nonprofits were identified using data from the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), a national repository of 501(c)(3) organizations that file with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Seventy-five groups that filed IRS returns between 2003 and 2005 met our criteria as communitybased organizations serving the Latino population and are included in the analysis.

Religious congregations serving Latinos were found through the Hispanic Yellow Pages, the Hispanic Pastoral Ministry of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, and other sources. From these lists, 116 congregations were identified that in some way served the Latino population. Many telephone numbers listed in these sources were not current (many small churches, for example, tend to move often), and in many cases, we were unable to reach anyone in the congregations. Thirtyseven congregations agreed to participate in the telephone survey, which asked about the size and scope of their programs, the resources available to them, and the challenges they face.

¹ Because Washington, D.C., is the nation’s capital, many national organizations are headquartered in the region. Although national organizations are not generally involved in local problems, their location in the area occasionally makes them central actors in local politics regarding Latino issues.

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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.

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