Let’s seize the “Sí, se puede!” momentum to shape our future with an economy where we all thrive and a democracy where we all belong.
This essay is part of a Women & Democracy package focused on who’s funding the women and LGBTQ people on the frontlines of democracy. We’re manifesting a new era for philanthropy—one that centers feminism. The need is real: Funding for women and girls amounts to less than 2 percent of all philanthropic giving; for women of color, it’s less than 1 percent. Explore the “Feminist Philanthropy Is Essential to Democracy” collection.
Valiente means courageous. From the root, coeur, meaning to “speak one’s mind by telling all of one’s heart,” the word is now mostly associated with heroism.
Today, a feminist economy and true democracy feel far removed from women’s heroic everyday struggles—juggling multiple jobs, providing child or elder care, facing rising rents, and managing long days and short paychecks. For Latina women, this also includes suffering systemic racism, exploitative economies and state violence, including over-policing and rogue immigration enforcement. Xenophobia and toxic sexism hurts us all.
It takes real courage and resources to face these forces—and not only imagine but organize for a better future. Enter the Valiente Fund, a new but long overdue donor collaborative, grantmaker and accelerator unleashing the power of the next generation of Latine changemakers while addressing the severe underinvestment in our communities.
Despite being the largest and youngest sector driving American growth, the key contributions of Latine communities are often overlooked or erased. In fact, data shows that Latine leaders and organizations receive less than 2 percent of total philanthropic dollars. And even though the country voted in a record number of Latine leaders in 2022, we still make up less than 2 percent of elected officials nationwide.
To achieve a vibrant and multiracial democracy in the U.S., we must turbocharge Latine leadership and organizations. Our impact is not just economic; our influence is not just cultural. Our decisive electoral growth is what will undoubtedly shape our nation’s future. Consider that 1 of every 4 children in this country is Latine and that every 30 seconds a young Latine turns 18.
But Valiente’s multi-prong strategy is not merely about representation—it is about advancing the consciousness of leaders, the capacity of organizations and the connectivity of movements to fuel not transactional leadership but transformational change.
Latine leaders and organizations receive less than 2 percent of total philanthropic dollars.
Courage may come from the heart, but organizing strategy requires a sharp mind and real skills. In the last year, Valiente launched two Accelerators, which included capital grants plus capacity. The inaugural Operational Accelerator is a project-based effort to strengthen the operational capacity of emerging groups. While not always considered sexy, operations can make or break an enterprise, especially at the pivotal 3 to 5 year mark, when ventures can flourish or flounder.
The second program is a Media Accelerator bolstering local Latine journalism, a crucial effort given shifts in the news industry, weakening access to reliable information, precisely at the moment where democracy is in most peril.
A third Accelerator for a Tech/AI cohort in 2025 is being queued up to help groups leapfrog to a higher level of scale and efficiency, while remaining vigilant to the threats of mis and disinformation, especially among non-English speaking audiences. Tools, training and coaching are central to these cohorts, but it is the relationships and peer learning that are most meaningful—all of which will be long lasting, strengthening the fabric of our Latine ecosystems.
Understanding and impacting the consciousness of the diverse Latine communities around issues like reproductive freedoms and immigration is part of shaping their agency. For example, research in Ohio revealed that Latines, women and men equally, overwhelmingly protected abortion rights. Even self-identified Latino Republicans supported the abortion amendment at majority levels (52 percent).
(Editor’s note: Ohio Amendment 1 reads: “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including, but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.”)
Mexico elected its first female president in a landslide in June, joining a dozen other countries in Latin America who have been electing women Presidents since the 1970’s. It’s not just about holding a position, but having the capacity to set the agenda. No surprise Latin America is currently enjoying the greatest period of reproductive freedoms in this century, in contrast to women in the U.S. struggling to defend the few protections we have left. Latina leaders in at least five states—Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and New York—will play decisive roles in the success of the upcoming abortion ballot initiatives.
Valiente Action Fund is also responding to xenophobic attacks aimed at creating insecurity, fear and ultimately division among neighbors. Other patriarchal and colonial paradigms, including anti-blackness, xenophobia and white supremacy especially within Latine communities themselves are on Valiente Action Fund’s agenda to challenge and deconstruct.
As a collaborative fund, a grantmaker and an accelerator, the Valiente Fund is becoming a key player in aligning Latine ecosystems exercising their governance muscle as part of a broader Sunbelt revival. With hearts and smarts, these women are turning our pain into power and our poetry into policy. Such is the beauty of struggle. Let’s seize the “Sí, se puede!” momentum to shape our future with an economy where we all thrive and a democracy where we all belong.
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