This post was updated Sept. 2 at 10:10 p.m.

 

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute and Arizona State University Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research announced the launch of the joint Latino Data Hub Action Lab, welcoming a cohort of fellows who will use the database toward projects to support the Latino community.

The inaugural cohort of 16 policy advocates and leaders for the Latino community participated in a comprehensive learning experience – including learning data analysis skills – starting June 25, according to the UCLA LPPI press release. The Latino Data Hub Action Lab curriculum was designed to cultivate more effective advocacy initiatives by creating an easy-to-use resource for data on Latinos, according to the database’s website.

Consisting primarily of information from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the hub offers over 130 indicators in areas including education, employment, poverty, housing and health insurance so decision-makers can create data-driven policy, according to the LDH website.

“The Latino Data Hub Action Lab in Arizona represents a significant step forward in our efforts to empower Latino leaders nationwide,” said Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, director of research at UCLA LPPI, in the press release. “The program provides essential tools and training and fosters a collaborative environment where leaders can share insights and strategies to magnify their impact.”

The project is funded in part by a $1 million grant JPMorgan Chase awarded to UCLA LPPI in 2022, according to the press release.

Genesis Arizmendi, a member of the inaugural cohort, said the program aligns with her own area of research – improving outcomes for Spanish- and English-speaking Latino communities in the educational and health care systems.

“It really does open your eyes into different areas of potential inequities that exist as a result of a variety of different variables, and so it plants a seed for further exploration on those topics,” she said.

The group meets once a month and recently had its first virtual workshop, where it focused on developing a research question to explore, Arizmendi said. Each cohort member can tailor the information within the database to support their individual projects, which can range from political elections to business, said Arizmendi, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona.

Arizmendi added that she believes the vast amount of data – and its online accessibility – will help people understand the systemic issues faced by the Latino community. She said she integrated the database into her research goals by analyzing differences in educational attainment for bilingual individuals by state.

“I think that it (the Latino Data Hub) will open up a lot of folks’ minds in terms of what gaps, inequities, research questions to pursue, policies to support, understanding the realities of the Latino experience,” she said.

However, Arizmendi said the creation of the LDH provides meaning beyond her project and that the data hub supports her lived experience as a Latina.

“Now, with having access to the Latino Data Hub, we can easily pull that up and say, ‘Here’s the data,’” she said.

Alisha Vasquez, another member of the inaugural cohort, said she initially hoped to use the data hub to analyze the experiences of Latinos with disabilities and understand the barriers that certain groups face with access to resources.

However, the LDH does not have a category that tracks disability status, Vasquez said, adding that she still has to dig through statistics to see her identity as someone with a disability reflected.

“My body, my lived experience, is still a teaching mechanism to invite people in, to understand our community in multiple ways,” she said.

Vasquez, the communications and accessibility manager for the Southwest Folklife Alliance – a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying the voices of cultural workers and folklife artists – is now using the LDH to collaborate with her SFA co-worker and cohort member Nelda Liliana Ruiz Calles, she said. Together, they work to mitigate gentrification and displacement and utilize information from the LDH to better analyze home ownership, documentation status and household income, Vasquez said.

“Using this information to create policy based in community thought, based in community need, based in community desire is, I think, the ultimate goal,” she said.

Vasquez said a sense of togetherness is an essential element of what makes the cohort so important, a vast difference from 20 years ago, when she felt more alone in her research. She added that the entire experience will be a way for individuals to learn what information about the Latino community is out there, connect with other community members doing similar work and build off of each other’s projects.

“Some of the best teachers I’ve had have been people not in the classroom setting, but those on the ground doing the work day-to-day and trying new things,” she said. “I think that this data hub is also that invitation to try new things that are totally culturally relevant.”