History

The National Latino Children’s Institute (NLCI) was founded in 1997 as a national non-profit organization whose primary focus is Hispanic children birth – 18 years of age. NLCI is the only national organization that concentrates exclusively on young Latinos. Its mission is to focus the nation’s attention on issues and challenges facing young Latinos and to assist communities in finding solutions. NLCI carries out its mission by working with community organizations and national partners. Our history and expertise in working with the Latino community, as well as the staff’s commitment and strong relationships with organizations across the country makes NLCI ideally suited to create and implement strategies that eliminate barriers to building healthy communities for young Latinos.

As “cultural translators”, our programs are designed to assist with the communication between the general population and the Latino community. We share our knowledge of what works in the Latino community with government, corporations, foundations and non-Hispanic organizations.

• documenting Latino children’s issues and bringing them to the forefront of the nation’s attention through public education campaigns that value Latino children;
• identifying, recognizing, and promoting community initiatives, projects, programs, and policies that make a positive difference in the lives of Latino children—and highlighting best practices in local communities;
• organizing, mobilizing, and developing the assets and strengths of Latino families and youth to create communities of opportunity and hope for Latino children; and
• implementing the principles of the National Latino Children’s Agenda in many cities and towns through a coalition-building initiative that creates public/private partnerships, collaborative efforts among children’s organizations and Latino groups, and open dialogue with decision-makers about policy that is needed.

How it began

NLCI was founded in 1997 in response to the forecast growth in the Latino population, coupled with the dismal status facing Hispanic children. While there were organizations that championed children and others that supported Hispanics, there wasn’t a single organization dedicated to the needs of young Latinos. In fact, it was a response to the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the lack of child-centered input to a national document developed by the leading Hispanic organizations. National leaders recognized that there wasn’t a children’s constituency represented in the NAFTA Latino Summit, although children represented the largest population group along the U.S.–Mexico border.

Hispanic organizations worried about workers and other issues, but children were not a part of any document or agreement. Additionally, discussions with other advocates highlighted the vacuum in which policies and programming for young Latinos existed. They were present, but not included. Action needed to be taken. A meeting was convened in Washington, D.C. in September 1994 to draft a national Latino children’s agenda—a statement of what needed to change for young Latinos. As a result, representatives of 46 regional and national organizations gathered to create the Agenda so that, in the future, everyone would be able to represent Latino children’s interests. The principles encompass elements from every aspect of Latino children’s lives−including health, environment, economic and educational conditions−and seek to promote initiatives and programs that create policies and services respectful of Latino values, traditions and language.

After two intensive days of work, Tipper Gore presented the Agenda at a breakfast. The Agenda, is guided by a set of principles and a mission aimed at supporting the healthy and prosperous development of Latino children in the U.S. Since then over 150 national organizations and hundreds of individuals have endorsed the Agenda, and many cities and groups use it as a guide to assure that children’s interests are represented. The Institute continues to implement the Agenda by working with community and national partners to create initiatives and programs that build healthy communities.

After the creation of the agenda, a series of focus groups on the status of young Latinos were conducted in large and small cities across the U.S. The ethnographic information generated, provided the framework for the First National Summit on Young Latinos held in 1996. From that summit, it became clear that there was a need for a new organization that would focus solely on young Latinos, and this led to the establishment of the National Latino Children's Institute in 1997. Since then, NLCI has been creating targeted strategies, programs and initiatives to support Latino communities nationwide. It works with a diverse network of over 200 regional and local community based organizations in developing and implementing community action Initiatives to support Latino children across the United States and Puerto Rico.