The LGBTQ+ Latine community is getting a new support system thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ricky Martin, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Valentina, and Stephanie Beatriz. The entertainers joined forces with the Hispanic Federation to launch a new initiative to provide Latine organizations with grant money to better serve the community.
The Hispanic Federation is investing $1 million to start the Advance Change Together (ACT) initiative. Through the program, 20 LGBTQ+ Latine organizations would be able to receive up to $50,000 in grant money to advance the advocacy and community-building for LGBTQ+ Latine people.
“As we remember the 49 lives that were taken during the Pulse Club massacre, and as a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues to sweep across the country, there has never been a more urgent moment to launch the ACT initiative,” Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation, said in a statement announcing the initiative. “We hope that more community members, philanthropic partners, and businesses from across the country join our efforts by contributing and donating to this important work – not just during Pride Month, but for years to come.”
The funds from the initiative will help the organizations strengthen existing advocacy efforts, services, and infrastructure to better serve the community. Grantees will also be able to participate in convenings and capacity-building training to create a unified group of advocates pushing for inclusion and legislative protections for LGBTQ+ Latine people.
“I know firsthand what it means to have the support of a loving community as I navigated and embraced my gender identity,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “I am honored to be part of an initiative that will provide that much-needed support system to so many other members of the Latinx LGBTQ+ who are facing their own challenges or are on their own journeys of self-discovery.”