Seeding LCF’s first national fund with an initial investment of $500,000 for grassroots, Latino-serving organizations and calling on philanthropic partners to support

The Latino Community Foundation (LCF), the nation’s largest Latino-serving community foundation, today announced the launch of the Community Protection Fund (Fund), a bold investment in grassroots responses to the escalating threat of chaotic, violent immigration enforcement. As immigrant and mixed-status families from California to Minnesota to Maine live in fear of raids and roundups by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal authorities, community leaders are developing and adapting rapid response systems under extraordinary pressure.

The Fund supports two essential missions in this moment of crisis: holding ICE accountable and protecting families harmed by its reckless actions. LCF, with its long history of working alongside grassroots leaders rooted in the communities they serve, is independently seeding this fund with $500,000 and mobilizing philanthropic partners to join this effort.

The Community Protection Fund is LCF’s first national fund, reflecting the vital importance of this unprecedented moment in American history. The killings of Geraldo Lunas Campos in an ICE detention facility and Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis remind us all that our lives and our democracy are on the line. With ICE’s budget tripling and 12,000 new officers and agents added to their forces, every American community has reason to worry they are next on the administration’s list.

“The Community Protection Fund is how we protect families today and into the future, by equipping local communities to hold ICE accountable, by demanding justice for immigrants, and by providing crucial support to families affected by harmful enforcement actions,” said Julián Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation. “This effort will strengthen the essential work of Latino and immigrant leaders in this moment of profound crisis. In supporting this fund, donors join a coordinated, national, community-led response that prioritizes accountability, safety, and care at a moment of escalating need.”

“Building Healthy Communities is proud to partner with the Latino Community Foundation to continue to do the important work of defending immigrant rights,” said Reyna Olaguez, President and CEO of Building Healthy Communities Kern. “We cannot overlook the deplorable conditions in migrant detention centers across the nation, and we stand committed to ensuring dignity and respect for all people.”

“The support of the Latino Community Foundation is important and critical to our work. It allows us to focus our efforts on what matters most: Keeping our Latine community safe, housed, and fed,” said Francisco Segovia, Executive Director of COPAL. “To receive a grant from the Latino Community Foundation demonstrates the power, care, bravery, and warmth of our Latine community. From California to Minnesota, we keep us safe!”

LCF knows the difference between change and charity, both in long-term systems change and immediate crisis response. And it’s nearly two decades of experience supporting grassroots, power building organizations rooted in, and trusted by, Latino communities drive this urgent call to action. As a national fund, the Community Protection Fund will support organizations working in California, the Southwest region, and interior enforcement hot spots across the country—including both large urban areas and rural communities with vulnerable immigrant workforces.

The Community Protection Fund will support actions that hold ICE accountable and protect families and individuals in crisis across the country. These actions include real-time monitoring and legal observation of immigration activities; legal advocacy and litigation; policy, legislative, and oversight work; and research, data, and investigative journalism. The Fund will support families and individuals in crisis by coordinating community support services—like hand-delivering care packages and cash assistance to affected families—as well as mental health and trauma support. Together, these investments protect terrorized families and help build the community protection infrastructure that will support and defend them into the future.

The first round of Community Protection Fund grantees are:

• Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL), Minneapolis, MN
• Latino Economic Development Center, Saint Paul, MN
• Latino Communities United in Service (CLUES), Saint Paul, MN
• Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Building Healthy Communities Kern, Bakersfield, CA
• Make the Road Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

About the Latino Community Foundation

The Latino Community Foundation (LCF) is on a mission to unleash the civic and economic power of Latinos. LCF has the largest network of Latino philanthropists in the country and has raised over $100 million to build Latino civic and political power. It is the largest Latino-serving foundation in the nation. In 2023, LCF named former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro as its CEO. For more information, please visit latinocf.org.

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