Through the Years: Ford Fund Hispanic Outreach

Ford collaborates with SER to drive workforce and leadership development. Programs have expanded nationally and SER remains a strong partner driving workforce readiness and STEM careers.

Initiated partnerships with HSF and HCF to help make education a top priority for Latino students. To date millions of dollars in scholarships have been awarded to Hispanic students.

League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Started collaboration with LULAC to support policy-making initiatives and develop education programs to benefit the Latino community.

Somos El Futuro Collaboration with Somos El Futuro, Inc. to create opportunities to increase the participation of the Hispanic community in the public policy-making process.

Cuban American National Council (CNC) Began supporting CNC’s early childhood education, finance, health and wellness and workforce development initiatives. Ford Fund continues supporting CNC’s Hispanic Youth Program which has made significant progress in closing the academic achievement gap.

Community of Honor outreach initiative in collaboration with the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. A state-based advisory board of elected officials — including Latino leaders at all levels of the community – was created to increase local participation in cultural and arts exhibitions.

Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America Collaboration with the San Antonio Museum of Art in celebration of the 500 years from when Christopher Columbus officially set foot in the Americas. This was the first major exhibition of Latin American folk art and Ford Fund underwrote a bilingual educational program which accompanied this exhibition.

Ford Fund and USHCC collaboration began, which included a series of "BizFest" youth entrepreneurship training camps throughout the country – the first ever to focus on the automotive industry. This was a five-year initiative made possible by a $1 million grant from Ford Fund.

Miami scholarship program begins. To date, Ford and Miami Area Ford Dealers have awarded more than $3.8 million to high school seniors throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County schools in Florida.

Ford began helping corporate advisory boards of national organization such as UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR); Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR); Service, Employment and Redevelopment (SER) National; and Cuban American National Council (CNC); to increase corporate participation in Latino nonprofits.

National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) NHFA is founded and Ford Fund begins supporting opportunities for young Latinos in the media, telecommunications and entertainment industries by providing scholarships to talented students from arts and performance schools across the country.

Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, Inc. (LA SED) For more than 28 years, Ford and LA SED — Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development, Inc. — have been collaborating to strengthen the Latino community in Detroit. In total, Ford Fund has invested nearly $1 million in LA SED programs and initiatives.

Ford Fund supported an exhibition that documented the deep and long-lasting influence that Spanish folk art exerted on the popular aesthetic of the Americas. The exhibition opened at the San Antonio Museum of Art and traveled to six cities across the country through 1999.

Ford Fund begins supporting USHLI scholars and programs to help Latino students succeed.

Launched the MANA AvanZamos^® Ford Fellowship program to train and educate a network of mentor-trainers for MANA's youth program. This initiative built a sustainable leadership structure with culturally relevant materials.

Created in collaboration with the National Latino Children’s Institute to raise awareness about child passenger safety to Latinos, in response to data that showed most car deaths with children at that time were suffered by members of the Hispanic community.

Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) Ford is a corporate founder of CHLI — an organization dedicated to fostering a broad awareness of the diversity of thought, heritage, interests and views of Americans of Hispanic and Portuguese descent. Ford Fund started the CHLI Internship Program (later renamed the CHLI Global Leaders program), which it still supports today, along with the organization’s Future Leaders program that began in 2007.

Ford Fund partnered with Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) to present Our Journeys/Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement – a traveling exhibition that highlighted the diversity of contemporary Latino success in the United States. The exhibition toured 13 cities from 2004-2009.

Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits Ford Fund and SITES presented another exhibition, Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits, which explored Latin American art and history through portraiture. Launched in 2004, this exhibit toured four U.S. cities through 2006.

Launched a child passenger safety seat initiative in partnership with Meharry Medical College and local community-based organizations in Detroit, Dallas and Nashville. The initiative continued during the National Child Passenger Safety Week annual campaign, helping bring public attention to the importance of properly securing all children in appropriate child safety seats, booster seats or seat belts.

Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) Partnership Ford becomes a member of HACR and was one of the founding sponsors for HACR’s Young Hispanic Corporate Achievers (YHCA), Corporate Executive Forum (CEF) in 2008, and Corporate Achievers Summit (CAS) in 2011.

Ford Fund began collaboration on the Young Ambassadors leadership development program for high school seniors with the aim to develop the next generation of Latino leaders.

Ford Fund teams up with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and its councils across the country to help combat dropout rates of Hispanic high school students by providing scholarships and community grants to implement programs aimed at encouraging students to pursue higher education.

Hispanic Federation’s Lucha Contra el Hambre Hunger Intitiative Ford Fund joins forces with Hispanic Federation to help ensure that the most vulnerable families in New York City and its surrounding areas have access to food through Lucha Contra el Hambre.

Ford Fund once again partnered with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) to present American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music. This traveling exhibition toured 12 cities from 2011-2015, highlighting the powerful influence of Latino music and culture on the pop mainstream in the years post World War II.

Ford Fund launches its signature Ford Driving Dreams education program in the U.S. Since it began, Ford Driving Dreams has equipped more than 200,000 students in 23 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America with tools to help fuel their academic and career journeys.

To date, more than 6,000 students have benefited from the donation of over $400,000 worth of musical instruments to schools in U.S. cities as well as internationally, as a result of the Latin GRAMMY^® in the Schools partnership.

Ford Fund teamed up with First Book to deliver educational resources to children in key Hispanic communities across the country. To date, more than 100,000 book donations have been delivered through this partnership, which has since expanded to include STEAM and literacy activities.

Ford Driving Dreams expands to Panama After four successful years in the U.S. promoting on-time high school graduation, Ford expands its signature Ford Driving Dreams program internationally, launching in Panama through a partnership with United Way Panama.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) After more than 20 years of supporting numerous CHCI initiatives, Ford Fund began supporting the R2L^™ (Ready to Lead) Next Gen program, which takes high school students from Ford Driving Dreams schools across the country to Washington, D.C. to build upon their personal and professional experiences as young leaders and develop a deeper understanding of how they can affect positive change in their communities.

Ford invested more than $1.2 million for expanded disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico and spearheaded a collaboration with multiple nonprofits to bring much-needed vehicles, supplies and services to affected communities on the island in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Multicultural Advisory CommitteeFord Fund launched the Ford Fund Multicultural Advisory Committee to develop innovative solutions for multicultural communities. Partners include LULAC, Hispanic Federation, HACR, First Book, SER Jobs, UnidosUS among other nonprofit organizations.

Ford Fund partners with Ford of Argentina to support Atomic Lab’s Argentinaton — the Argentina nonprofit’s 15,000-mile road trip in a Ford Ranger outfitted with a solar powered 3-D printer to deliver prosthetic limbs to children and people in need.

TalenPro TalenPro combines entertainment, culture, social responsibility and education through a talent competition for youth which Ford Fund supported by providing scholarships as part of the Ford Driving Dreams efforts.

Ford Driving Dreams launches #FordFluencer at Hispanicize Ford Driving Dreams teamed up with ASPIRA of Florida to launch a digital engagement and media mentorship pilot program called #FordFluencer at the annual Hispanicize (Miami) event.

Central Florida Empowerment Initiative Hispanic Federation and Ford Fund launch the Central Florida Empowerment Initiative to help uplift the growing Puerto Rican community in Central Florida.

Ford Driving Dreams expands to Mexico and Orlando, Florida Ford Driving Dreams reached another milestone when it launched in Mexico City, in collaboration with United Way Mexico and the Ford Dealers Civic Committee, to support the nearly 200 Ford schools they have built across Mexico. A collaboration with Hispanic Federation brought the program to Orlando, as well, to support the increase in Puerto Rican outmigration after Hurricane Maria.

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) After more than 15 years of supporting HACU’s mission to champion Hispanic success in higher education, Ford Fund launched its signature Ford College Community Challenge program for undergraduate student teams who attend HACU-member Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Through this initiative, students design and develop innovative solutions that address urgent and unmet community needs.

Latin GRAMMY in the SchoolsThe Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation®, in collaboration with Ford Fund, presented a donation of musical instruments to the A.C. Blunt Middle School in Aransas Pass, Texas. The school and music program suffered great losses due to Hurricane Harvey. The school was forced to close following the August 2017 hurricane and led teachers to meet with students in improvised, temporary spaces.

Ford Fund teams up with eMerge Americas, the premier technology event connecting the Americas, to support the development of innovative programs and opportunities across South Florida and Latin America.

Ford Driving Dreams expands overseas; launches in Spain Ford Driving Dreams teams up with the Asociación para la Intregración y Progreso de las Culturas (AIPC Pandora) to bring the program to Valencia, Spain and promote opportunities for social entrepreneurship and innovation.

Atomic Lab Ford Fund continues partnership with Gino Tubaro, founder of Argentina nonprofit Atomic Lab, by supporting the inventor’s mentoring organization and presenting Tubaro the first Ford Fund Entrepreneurship Ambassador Award.

Smithsonian Latino Gallery Ford Fund is one of the first corporate contributors to the Smithsonian Latino Center Center’s Latino Gallery, scheduled to open at the National Museum of American History in fall 2021.

Emerging Latina Music Recognition Pilot Program Ford Fund expanded collaboration with the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation^® to launch a new initiative recognizing emerging Latin music female high school seniors. Top music students from Miami high schools that benefited from the Latin GRAMMY In The Schools programs are nominated for the recognition and three students receive prizes to support their education.

Ford Fund joined the literacy and STEAM panel at First Book’s Co-Authoring Impact Summit to highlight collaborative initiatives. The summit launched to elevate conversations about the importance of quality education, to foster collaboration between partner organizations and to provide new books to a local school.

Ford Driving Dreams’ Spain HackathonFord Driving Dreams Spain continued with the Asociación para la Intregración y Progreso de las Culturas (AIPC Pandora) in Valencia, Spain, to promote opportunities for social entrepreneurship and innovation through a Hackathon for 120 students. Participating teams competed using innovative tools to develop social impact projects.

Ongoing Commitment to Puerto RicoFord and local partners held community event to provide more than $180,000 in services and resources to more than 300 persons affected by recent earthquakes. Since 2010, Ford has invested more than $3 million in Puerto Rico through Operation Better World initiatives, including community-building programs and disaster relief efforts. Ford Hispanic Network led a Ford employee donation matching program to further assist communities in need on the island.

Twentieth Latin GRAMMY in the Schools programMarking the twentieth donation since the partnership’s inception, the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation® and Ford Fund donated $20,000 in musical instruments to Escuela Especializada de Bellas Artes Ernesto Ramos Antonini in Yauco, Puerto Rico. The donation comes after the school’s instruments were damaged and the community sustained severe losses from Hurricane Maria as well as a recent series of earthquakes that severely affected the town of Yauco and the whole island.

Ford Driving Dreams and LULAC COVID-19 GrantsFord Fund continues its 10-year partnership with LULAC to increase high school graduation rates and college enrollment across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the program was adapted to provide grants to councils in need while continuing to serve Latino communities across the nation. These grants are supporting hunger relief efforts, technology and internet connectivity needs, mental health resources, mentoring and online educational resources.

Ford Fund and SER National adapt program for Latina entrepreneursLatina entrepreneurs receive access to expertise, interaction, and professional development from current leaders and officials in the business community. Some participants will be selected for SER MUJER one-on-one training and provided with access to small grants from Ford Fund. Webinars are on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 2p.m. CT, follow @sernational and @forddrivingdreams for more info.

Virtual Ford Driving Dreams Ceremonies in TexasAs COVID-19 social distancing requirements limited group gatherings, plans shifted and transitioned to virtual ceremonies. The highlight of the program, in collaboration with local Ford dealers and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National Education Service Centers, was the awarding of scholarships to high school students in San Antonio, Houston and North Texas to get a head start in their for college experience.

First Virtual Latin GRAMMY In the Schools ProgramDue to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, the program was adapted to a virtual format and featured a conversation and performance with singer-songwriter Becky G. The program included a virtual Q&A with music students from 20 schools that previously participated in and benefited from Latin GRAMMY In The Schools programs

Ford Fund and HACU Launch COVID-19 College GrantsFord Fund teamed up with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) to provide emergency relief funds for undergraduate students from Hispanic serving Institutions to overcome their financial burdens and provide stability as they work to balance their academic obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant program will assist Latinx college students with one-time relief assistance of $500 in one of the following categories: food, housing, transportation, or technology.