GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Latinas in the United States make up about 16% of the workforce and contribute more than $1.3 trillion to the country’s economy, yet their earnings lag compared to other groups.
The Latina Network of West Michigan wants to change that, one networking and training event at a time.
This group is celebrating 10 years of helping Latinas advance their professional aspirations and strengthen their representation in the workforce.
The organization started in 2014 when Allison Lugo-Knapp invited three friends who barely knew each other for a cup of coffee to discuss how to support Latinas in the workplace.
“I was longing to connect with other Latinas,” said Velazques-Publes, one of the founders of the Latina Network, about responding to that invitation. The other two were Milinda Ysasi and Stacy Stout.
“There weren't a lot of people of color in Grand Rapids that I knew of, or in the spaces that I was working in,” says Velazques-Publes.
Ten years later, aside from networking among the current 700 members, this group offers free workshops on how to negotiate promotions and salaries, and other core business skills.
Hispanic women make up around 3% of Michigan’s population, according to the U.S. Census and it is projected to grow.
That’s not a big number, but the network’s goal is to help Latinas feel less isolated, especially at work, says Velazques-Publes.
“A lot of us are first generation into [a] university, first generation into this professional world and no one gave us the cheat codes or taught us how to navigate it,” she adds.
A recent Pew Research Center study showed that Latinas are more likely than Hispanic men to get a college degree, but they earn 85 cents for every $1 a Latino makes.
“They earn less than Hispanic men, they earn less than non-Hispanic women, and they earn less than white men,” says Sahana Mukherjee, Associate Director for the Race and Ethnicity Research Team at the Pew Research Center and one of the report's authors.
What’s undeniable is the Latinas’ contribution to the U.S. economy, which doubled from 2011 to 2021 and now reaches $1.3 trillion.
Valuable professional connections
Longtime member CC Moore says being a member of this group helped her to get her current director level job at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
“When I first came to West Michigan, I was a scientist, and I now work in philanthropy, and that's due in part to making connections within the community,” she says.
Moore moved from California to Grand Rapids and says this group’s mission helped her to find support in a new state.
“I can say I'm a Black Latina and this is how I identify,” says Moore. “The support of the network meant that I could stand in my identity versus having to pick one or the other, or have to think about how I might show up in one space or another way in another space.”
These Latinas come from different industries and businesses, but the professional networking is the connecting tissue that makes this network valuable.
“The connections you're making at the Latina network are much deeper,” Moore says. “They know your family, they know your background, they know certain things about you that I think make a difference for when you’re out there looking for a career change.”
While half of the Latinas surveyed in the Pew Research Center study reported that their economic situation improved over the past decade and expressed optimism about the future, the other half indicated that they have not experienced significant improvement and do not expect things to get better.
A recent report from the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles found that while Afro-Latinas are more likely to graduate from college, they have a harder time finding jobs than non-Black Latinas.
“That should tell us a lot about how gendered anti-Blackness is impacting Latino communities,” says sociologist Nancy López, author of the report. She now works at the University of New Mexico.
Bringing attention to these issues is at the heart of the Latina Network’s mission.
“I want Latinas to show up with their full selves,” says Stout, one of the Network’s founders. “I am Latina, I am indigenous, I am all of these things fully and whole, all at the same time. And I don't want other Latinas, me or my daughters, to ever have to put [aside] a part of themselves to go into the Latina Network.”
Ysasi, another founding member of this organization, says this group is helping reframe access to all Latinas.
While the Latina Network of West Michigan celebrates 10 years of connections, it is planning its next chapter, including launching an online job board to match Latinas with potential employers, and more training sessions and cafecitos to come.
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