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PowerUp Fund Starts Paying $60 Million
PowerUp Fund Starts Paying $60 Million

Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), Oakland, Calif., has made the first of its donations to nonprofits that aid Latino small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The donations will come from HIP’s PowerUp Fund, which eventually aims to raise $60 million – one dollar for each Latinx who lives in the United States.

The first wave of cash assistance, which was distributed in July, went to local organizations that support Latina-led small businesses in El Paso, Texas, Los Angeles and Miami-Dade County, Fla.

In El Paso, the PowerUp Fund gave money to The Lift Fund, a Latina-run community development fund that provides small- and microbusinesses educational resources necessary to develop financial stability.

Inclusive Action for the City, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, was given funding to provide small businesses in low-income areas with cash infusions and technical assistance. As part of its efforts, Inclusive Action for the City boosts street vendors in their efforts to become a recognized part of the local economy.

Allapattah Collaborative CDC, Miami-Dade County, is a Latina-run small business service organization and community development corporation. It will use its PowerUp funding to stem the displacement of Latina businesses from the Miami business district.

“HIP is committed to bringing resources to Latino communities through the PowerUp Fund as a way to help keep the doors open of Latino small businesses,” said HIP President & CEO Ana Marie Argilagos via a statement. “The PowerUp Fund helps break down barriers of inequity and build an entirely new mechanism to help build economic power for Latino individuals, families, businesses, and the nonprofits that serve them.”

In addition to its PowerUp Fund activities, HIP supports organizations that provide assistance grants to civic participation nonprofits, essential workers, farmworkers, migrant families and refugees. HIP receives support from New York City-based Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic partnership.