Nuestras Raíces, the Hispanic/Latino 501 C-3 community-based cultural organization whose mission is to contribute to the education, preservation, and promotion of the richness and diversity of Latino culture and heritage throughout the Baltimore Metropolitan Region, received $25,000 this year from Baltimore Children & Youth Fund’s Presidents Fund. The President’s Fund aligns with the BCYF mission, vision, and values and offers flexibility to address pressing issues at the discretion of the President. The President’s Fund is an invitation-only grant opportunity.
Nuestras Raíces, which means “Our Roots” in Spanish, was founded by Angelo Solera, who is also the organization’s Executive Director, who says “we [are] trying to change the narrative about the Latino Community by educating non-Latinos about the richness and diversity [in our culture] and by reconnecting your Latinos to their native culture.”
Solera says he was inspired to create Nuestras Raíces due to the longstanding lack of Hispanic and Latino representation he saw in Baltimore City. “I have been working in the Baltimore City community for the past 30 years, in different positions in government, nonprofits, and for-profit businesses. The biggest problem the [Hispanic/Latino] community has is the lack of having our own voice. Everybody else is telling our story. So, I decided to create an organization [where we] can tell our story.”
There was one problem, however. “The Latino community is composed of people from 25 different nations. How do you bring people together?” Solera wondered. “Through culture. We can be from different countries, but we can all relate [through] our [shared] culture.”
Over the last 5 years (the organization turns six in February), Nuestras Raíces has been steadily growing its influence and reputation, or “branding” as Solera says in Baltimore and throughout the state, as an organization where Hispanic and Latino culture is celebrated and shared with the masses unapologetically and in ways large and small, but mostly large.
“We’ve created cultural programs including festivals, parades, and art galleries,” Solera says. “In August of last year, we opened Casa de la Cultura, a Latino Educational, Cultural and Empowerment Center where the Latino culture can thrive. [It is] the first and the only center of its kind in the state of Maryland,” he beams, adding that they also created Fiesta Baltimore, the largest and most anticipated Hispanic/Latino cultural event in the Baltimore Metropolitan region. Solera says 15,000 people attended Fiesta Baltimore this past October, and his organization served 5,000 children and youth during that event alone. The organization is also creating a Cultural Youth Camp with the funds they received from BCYF.
Solera says the grant from BCYF’s President’s Fund helped their organization further their work creating cultural opportunities in this community for children and youth to experience, including a youth camp held in their new space, Casa de la Cultura,” which means House of Culture in English. “The key to our program is not just creating a flier,” he says. “You have to create a program that is culturally competitive and culturally sensitive. You have to have staff that are not just speaking Spanish but who are actually helping the Latino community thrive.”
“It’s not about asking for permission,” he maintains. “We live here, and we contribute [to this city and state]. We pay taxes, and we have been in this community for a long time. It is about time that we have the same opportunities that the Greeks and Italians and the Irish and everybody else in Baltimore has.” Solera remembers a time when City officials told him that Nuestras Raíces could not hold a parade on a certain street in Baltimore. He also remembers how they stood their ground. “It’s part of our brand name. When you [have] a reputation that you’re not taking no for an answer, people realize, okay, if they say they’re gonna do it, they’re gonna do it. So we better get on it because they’re gonna do it.’”.
“Some people think maybe we just don’t have the documentation, or we are illegal aliens,” Solera adds. “No, we are professionals. We are educated. We are people who know what we’re doing in representing a community.”
BCYF President Alysia Lee says the stories of each, and every one of its 101 grantees should be told often and widely because all of these organizations are diligently and systematically changing outcomes for children and youth throughout the City. “However, at BCYF where we value BIOPIC individuals and organizations, we know too well the value of creating opportunities for cultural connection, exploration, and celebration.”
“We applaud Nuestras Raíces not only for their tireless approach to creating a home for Hispanic and Latino cultural identity in Baltimore City, but also for creating opportunities for all of us to experience and celebrate that identity together. And we absolutely love their unapologetic approach to sharing their culture,” Lee maintains.
According to Lee, the impact of grantee organizations like Nuestras Raíces will only grow with time. Over the last three years, 101 grantee organizations have received 23 million dollars from BCYF, and 12 grantees will each receive $250,000 in Grassroots Funds to be paid over the next five years totaling 3 million dollars. BCYF will have awarded more than $60 million by the year 2028 in Grassroots Funds alone to those grantee organizations.
“I can’t wait to see how the impact of investing in Nuestras Raíces encourages other Hispanic and Latino youth to take their unapologetic approach to cultural identity to spaces all over the city, state, and world after being affirmed by a local camp session, cultural celebration, or a visit to Casa de la Cultura.”
To apply for the 2024 Grassroots Fund go to bcyfund.org.
About Nuestras Raíces
Nuestras Raíces, Inc, is a Hispanic/Latino 501 C-3 community-based cultural organization whose mission is to contribute to the education, preservation & promotion of the richness and diversity of the Latino culture and heritage throughout the Baltimore Metropolitan region. For more information visit nuestrasraicesinc.org.
About The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund
The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF) is a public charity stewarding public dollars to build partnerships that support the ecosystem focused on building opportunities for Baltimore youth. The organization amplifies Black and Brown-led youth-centered programs in Baltimore City while providing capacity building, resources, and funding.
BCYF envisions a more just, creative, and abundant Baltimore where all young people live, thrive, and lead. We imagine an ecosystem of sustainable youth programs with full agency, liberated from the harm of structural racism and inequity and able to thrive in abundance. Since 2020, the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund has awarded $23M dollars to primarily youth-serving organizations thanks to generous donations and the tax dollars of Baltimore City residents.
The effort to create a dedicated fund to support programs for Baltimore’s young people was launched in 2015 by then-City Council President Bernard “Jack” C. Young. The fund was a response to the unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, an event that sharply illuminated longstanding inequities in public funding in Black communities. BCYF is guided by one central value, Ubuntu (n.) I am because of who we all are. Ubuntu is the southern African philosophy that describes the interconnectedness of all people. It emphasizes the idea that an individual’s well-being is intricately tied to the well-being of the community. The philosophy promotes humanity, service, sharing, healing, and reconciliation.
