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New Initiative by the Eva Longoria Foundation, Henry Ford Learning Institute and
Momento Latino Selected for Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls Funding
Latina Leaders x Design will use a $1 million grant to create educational and economic opportunities for young Latinas amidst COVID-19 recovery.
DETROIT, Michigan, November 8, 2021 – Latina Leaders x Design has been named one of 34 selected projects to receive funds from the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. The new initiative is being led by a coalition of the Eva Longoria Foundation, Henry Ford Learning Institute and Momento Latino. Google.org’s $25 million philanthropy challenge was launched in March with a challenge to the global nonprofit community to submit their boldest and most innovative ideas to create a more equitable economic reality for women and girls.
Latina Leaders x Design will help U.S. Latinas ages 15-21 change their short- and long-term educational, professional, and economic trajectories. Through culturally relevant learning that is challenge-based and locally supported, the program nurtures Latinas’ leadership capabilities and aims to strengthen their skills and networks to lead community-first, grassroots movements for equality and create positive impact on our collective future. It is one of 6 U.S. projects selected for this funding cohort out of nearly 8,000 applications globally. In addition to funding, project leaders will participate in a four-month accelerator program led by Google’s Accelerator and Women Techmakers communities and Impact Challenge partner Vital Voices to move projects forward.
“Our teams at the Eva Longoria Foundation, Henry Ford Learning Institute, and Momento Latino are honored that our coalition’s project has been selected as a recipient of the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls,” says Eva Longoria. “Despite young Latinas’ importance to our collective future, our young women are lacking opportunities tailored to their cultural and community needs. Our program, Latina Leaders by Design, will bring young Latinas together to identify and address a real-world social challenge. We know they can make transformational change in their communities.”
“This capital and support comes at a critical time and will be used to increase staffing, refine materials from the Detroit pilot, and begin to scale this initiative. It will also provide stipends for young Latina participants to help offset essential wages for their families that they might otherwise earn at a part-time job,” says Deborah Parizek, executive director, Henry Ford Learning Institute.
“One of the reasons we launched Momento Latino last year was to connect members of our community with impactful programs like these,” said Momento Latino Cofounder Henry R. Muñoz III. “We are working hard to design programs and plans of change, especially for young Latinas who have been shut out of critically important opportunities that foster professional and personal growth.”
“Globally, women have been nearly twice as likely to lose their jobs during COVID-19 as men. It’s vital that we elevate and support work that empowers women and girls to reach their full economic potential, especially in marginalized communities,” says Jacquelline Fuller, President of Google.org. “The pandemic recovery must be an inclusive one, and we know that when we invest in women and girls, we all benefit.”
Google.org partnered with a women-led panel of experts and gender equity-focused organizations Vital Voices and Project Everyone to evaluate proposals based on four key criteria: innovation, impact, feasibility, and scalability. The selected nonprofits have outlined projects that will help women and girls, especially those in geographically, economically, or socially marginalized populations, reach their full economic potential.
Please follow this website link for more information about our project and other Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls recipients. To access media assets, please respond to the contacts listed above.
About Latina Leaders x Design
Latina Leaders x Design is a new initiative led by the coalition of the Eva Longoria Foundation, Henry Ford Learning Institute and Momento Latino to help young U.S. Latinas change their short- and long-term educational, professional, and economic trajectories. Original research from the Eva Longoria Foundation finds that while Latinas are highly ambitious, the barriers to their educational and economic attainment are created and perpetuated by systemic racial and gender inequalities and prevent them from reaching their goals. We are committed to working together to change their trajectory through an ecosystem of culturally-relevant learning and support for Latinas’ ambitious personal achievement and capacity to lead community-first, grassroots movements for equality, and create a positive impact on our collective future.
About Google.org
Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world’s biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle.
