To overcome the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Latinos and ensure an equitable recovery, Congress and the Biden administration must step up support for the colleges that, by and large, serve this community: Hispanic-serving institutions, known as HSIs. Ideally, that would mean appropriating $1 billion a year for this group of more than 400 colleges and encouraging other funding measures that would equitably support Latinx students.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Latinx community has been disastrous. Not only are Latinx people more likely to contract, be hospitalized and die from COVID-19 than whites, but they are facing more economic inequality, especially among Latinas. Latinx workers made up larger shares of initial job loss than Black and white individuals, and their economic recovery has been slower. Latinas in particular are faring particularly poorly, accounting for a disproportionately high share of the overall job loss. Moreover, there are undocumented essential workers and many more domestic and migrant workers who are invisible in the U.S. economy.
The above excerpt was originally published in Inside Higher Ed.
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