As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, MOCAN is highlighting a program doing great work with Hispanic and Latinx students in Missouri, the Hispanic Development Fund. The mission of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund is to improve the quality of life of Latino families in Greater Kansas City by engaging the Latino community in Philanthropy to build stronger communities through grantmaking and scholarship support.
In 1983, the Hall Family Foundation approached leaders in Kansas City’s Hispanic community with an innovative idea for them to control philanthropic resources for their own community. The concept had never been attempted before: to give leaders in the Kansas City Latino community resources for them to decide philanthropic priorities in their own community. Through the leadership of Tony Salazar and others in the community, the group rose to the challenge of investing the initial funds contributed by the Hall Family Foundation.
The Hispanic Development Fund, or HDF, soon proved the concept could become a reality. In 1986, the Hall Family Foundation made a pledge to further support the fund by helping create an endowment. Over the ensuing years the HDF leadership through hard work and perseverance continued to raise more endowment funds, many from within the Latino community. In 2006, HDF, as a result of its growth and success, became a regional affiliate of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.
In 2022, HDF awarded scholarships to 415 scholars, totaling $900,000 in awards. Their Family College Prep Program annually serves more than 1,000 students through college campus visits, family college night, FAFSA/scholarship workshops, and one-on-one college advising.
What started as an initial investment of $100 going towards 100 students in 1984, has grown to one of the country’s largest Latino focused scholarship funds. With nearly 5,000 alumni across the globe and over $7 million in direct scholarship support provided, the HDF Scholarship Program continues to impact the lives of our students and their families.
John Kearney, Executive Director of HDF, shared a few reasons why supporting Hispanic students with scholarships is important:
- Hispanics are the fast growing demographic in the United States and contribute to our economy and communities in so many valuable ways.
- Although Hispanic students have made significant increases in college-going rates over the past decade, there is still work to be done in supporting Hispanic students in college completion, especially bachelor degree attainment.
- 77% of our 2022 HDF Scholars are first-generation college students who need financial and college-going support.
- 15% of our 2022 HDF Scholars are undocumented and in a state like Missouri, need significant financial aid to overcome the barriers to post-secondary education put in place by our state’s legislature.
To learn more about the Hispanic Development Fund, you can visit their website and read their annual report.
