UnidosUS identifies immediate needs for Biden Administration
In this second year of President Biden’s administration, UnidosUS identified the following priorities. Please consider advocating for these initiatives.
- Invest in health coverage and nutrition: Today, almost 25% of Latinos still don’t have health insurance. At the same time, the Census Bureau recently found that 20% of Latinos lacks access to enough nutritious foods.
- Support the economic empowerment and housing needs of Latinos: The pandemic slowed the progress of Latino families. Today, the typical white family has five times the wealth of the typical Hispanic family. Latino workers are over-concentrated in jobs with low wages as well as poor health and retirement benefits. UnidosUS calls for programs that promote economic growth and opportunities for Latino workers, business owners, and families.
- Strengthen the educational pipeline for Latino students: Within the next decade, one in three students in the United States will be Latino. Their parents are concerned about learning loss during the pandemic. And current college students are financially stressed, saddled with debt, and worried about earning their degrees on time. Our country needs to increase investments from early childhood education through college to ensure students can recover and thrive.
- Advance equity, inclusion, and civil rights: Structural racism and inequitable federal investments have contributed to lagging economic, education, housing, and health outcomes among Latinos. Today, our polarized political environment is rife with misinformation which further undermine the civil and human rights of Latinos and other historically marginalized communities. The nation needs a budget that roots out discrimination within federal agencies and pushes for equity.
- Protect immigrant and frontline workforce and their families: On average, undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States for 15 years or more. They collectively have six million children who are citizens and nearly 17 million other family members. Despite not qualifying for most safety net programs, they contribute more than $120 billion in state and federal taxes each year.