BOSTON (January 25, 2023) – GBH WORLD, NAACP Boston and The Boston Globe will present community conversations examining race and inequality in Massachusetts with The State of Race: The Latino Housing Crisis, looking into homelessness, affordable housing and the challenges facing first-time home buyers within the Latino community. This first event will be produced in partnership with the Latino Equity Fund. Future events examine Black history and the civil rights movement in Boston, women of color rising to leadership in 2023, environmental justice and more. The series will culminate with an event at the NAACP national convention in Boston in July.
“The community response to The State of Race series has been phenomenal and it’s important to renew the series for 2023. We look forward to working with our partners at the NAACP Boston Branch and The Boston Globe to engage our multicultural communities on topics crucial to advancing racial equity and justice in Boston and beyond, said GBH President and CEO Susan Goldberg. “These are complex issues with complex solutions. By convening multidisciplinary experts, leaders and people experiencing inequities, we hope to create meaningful dialogue that resonates with audiences across the Commonwealth over the coming months.”
“We are pleased that our partnership with The Boston Globe and GBH will continue into its third year. The State of Race cultivates important dialogue that speaks directly to racial equity, said Tanisha M. Sullivan, President of the NAACP Boston, “giving viewers and attendees the opportunity to better understand the people and communities actively engaged in advancing racial justice across Massachusetts. Most importantly this series helps residents across Massachusetts better understand what they can do to help.”
The first event will tackle the Latino housing crisis in Massachusetts. Produced in collaboration with the Latino Equity Fund at the Boston Foundation, The State of Race: The Latino Housing Crisiswill explore the challenges and solutions to closing the racial and ethnic divide impacting affordable housing and home ownership – the best way to pass wealth and security to the next generation.
Former WCVB-TV Channel 5 Boston reporter Jorge Quiroga will moderate a discussion with Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), Lorna Rivera, Director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at UMass Boston, Dan Rivera, President and CEO of MassDevelopment and Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara, chair of the Housing and Community Development Committee. Luc Schuster at Boston Indicators provides statistics about the challenges Latinos face with wage gaps, finding affordable housing and becoming first-time home buyers.
“The Latino housing crisis is an ever-present issue that makes the dream of owning a home nearly impossible for many Latino individuals and families,” said Aixa Beauchamp, co-founder and co-chair of the Latino Equity Fund. “We at the Latino Equity Fund are excited to partner with GBH WORLD to shed new light into the barriers Latinxs face to achieve equal opportunities and living standards, and making homeownership a catalyst for change for closing the racial and ethnic wealth divide.
The first event will take place on Thursday, January 26, at 5:30pm at the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. The event will be free but reservations are required. Free registration to attend at the Boston Public Library or virtually is available at wgbh.org/events.
The State of Race 2023 Series Overview
January 26
The State of Race: The Latino Housing Crisis
In partnership with The Latino Equity Fund
February 9
The State of Race: Embrace Changemakers Then and Now
In partnership with Embrace Boston
March: 16
The State of Race: Women of Color Paving the Way
April: 13
The State of Race: Environmental Justice
July 2023
The State of Race: NAACP Boston Branch Hosts the National Convention
About GBH WORLD
WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries and programming. WORLD’s original series examine the issues and amplify the voices of those often ignored by mainstream media. The multicast 24/7 channel helps audiences understand conflicts, movements and cultures from around the globe. Its original work has won a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, an International Documentary Association Award, a National News and Documentary Emmy Award, two Webby Awards and many others honoring diversity of content and makers. WORLD is carried by 193 member stations in markets representing 75% of US TV households. Funding for WORLD Channel is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and Artworks. WORLD is produced by GBH in partnership with WNET and is distributed by American Public Television (APT). Find out more at WORLDChannel.org.
About NAACP Boston Branch
Chartered in 1911 the NAACP Boston Branch is the first local unit of the NAACP. Founded in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP is the oldest, largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. With over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists, the mission of the NAACP is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
About the Latino Equity Fund
The Latino Equity Fund is a unique partnership between local Latino leaders and The Boston Foundation that envisions an equitable future for all Bostonians. Formerly the Latino Legacy Fund, the Latino Equity Fund (LEF) is the first Latino-focused fund in the Greater Boston area. LEF uses its influence and platform to amplify diverse voices and perspectives within the Latino community and beyond, with a focus on achieving greater and more equitable access to economic prosperity and well-being. Created in 2013, the Fund is both a grant making entity and an emerging civic leadership engine, commissioning research and reports that address critical issues facing Latinos and other communities of color. LEF is raising an additional $10 million over the next three years for initiatives to expand economic prosperity and address the well-being/health disparities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more at https://www.tbf.org/nonprofits/grant-making-initiatives/latino-equity-fund.
