The Cultivating Inland Empire Latino Opportunity (CIELO) Fund

I recently came across a report that USC’s Center for Latinx and Latin American Studies did on the Cultivating Inland Empire Latino Opportunity (CIELO) fund, which is geared towards investing in our Latino community in the IE. One key point they made was that the average household income for Latinos was $67,885 vs $80,433 for white populations. The average income of someone making minimum wage in California is $31,200. Add an additional person and your household income for 2 people is $62,400. So then, Latino households in the IE are just above minimum wage. Slightly concerning. Another key point is that about 70% of Latinos in the IE are U.S. born. This is not surprising since the average age of Latinos is 29 (I would assume because more and more Latinos in the IE are second or third generations).

They offer tons of funding to several IE organizations with the intent to help Latinos in key areas like leadership development, financial sustainability, community organization, decision-making and coalition building. They also offer scholarships for students from the San Bernardino/Riverside counties that are applying to colleges and universities. In addition, their website has other external scholarships that students can apply to. Overall, very happy to see the IE is finally getting acknowledge and that Latinos are receiving additional resources to help diminish these disparities we often face.