National Institute for Latino Policy



The National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) was established in 1982 as the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy (IPR) in New York City as a nonprofit and nonpartisan policy center focusing on critical Latino policy issues. Between 1999 and 2005, the Institute entered into a strategic alliance with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) during which it functioned as the Fund’s policy research arm. In November 2005, the Institute returned to its independent status and changed its name to the National Institute for Latino Policy. The name change more accurately reflected the national scope and pan-Latino nature of its work.

The National Institute for Latino Policy focuses on developing state and local strategies to advocate for Latino community needs, and in this way complements the work of existing national Latino organizations in Washington, DC. NiLP's strategies include the creative use of the Internet to disseminate critical information and to mobilize constituencies. It is currently developing programs in three areas: 1. the National Latino Data Center, 2. the Latino Voting Rights Network, and 3, the Latino Municipal Priorities Program. NiLP's current scope of operations is the East Coast and the U.S. Caribbean, with plans to expand nationally over the next two to three years.

Background
The Institute is a pioneer and innovator in the Latino community in conducting aggressive community-based policy analysis and advocacy, which its founder, political scientist Angelo Falcón, originally characterized as “guerrilla research.” Its work from its inception prompted one journalist to describe the Institute as “Young Lords with computers” and The Ford Foundation to designate it as a national model for its local focus on the policy process. Being one of the first research groups to systematically study Puerto Rican and Latino community politics in the Northeast, the Institute was the only non-university institution involved in the development of the ground-breaking Latino National Political Survey (LNPS), which was conducted in 1989-90 and was the largest privately-funded household survey of Latino political attitudes and behavior conducted. The Institute’s independence was highlighted by such campaigns as its opposition to NAFTA through building a Northeast community-labor coalition, a position that went against the grain of the majority of national Latino advocacy organizations at the time.

Today, the Institute is rebuilding. With a modest $400,000 budget in 2006-7, it is organizing a Latino Voting Rights Network that is working with Latino communities on the East Coast to support the federal Voting Rights Act and educate the community about how to use its provisions to protect their right to vote in terms of redistricting, election reform and other areas. The Institute is also developing a National Latino Data Center and a Latino Municipal Priorities Program, both aimed at providing Latino communities with the data, technical expertise and resources to conduct the basic coalition-building and agenda-setting needed to assure their full participation in the American democratic and policy process. In 2006, the Institute inaugurated its annual Orgullo Latino ("Latino Pride") Awards to honor those individuals who have made major contributions to the Latino community; in 2006 the honorees were Congresspersons José Serrrano and Nydia Velazquez, NYC Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman, civil rights attorney Juan Cartagena, media advocate Marta Garcia and outstanding volunteer Joseph Luppens.

The Institute is actively involved in a number of coalitions and collaborations in the Latino community nationally. It is a founding member of the Defend the Honor Campaign, which in early 2007 is putting pressure on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and filmmaker Ken Burns to include the Latino experience in the forthcoming documentary on WWII, The War (scheduled to be aired on PBS on September 23, 2007). It is a member of the Latino Policy Coalition, a collaboration of the leading progressive Latino thinks tanks and scholars in the country. The Institute also works closely with the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the National Latino Media Council on a wide range of media policy issues affecting Latinos. In 2006, the Institute's President and Founder, Angelo Falcón, was named one of the top 25 "New York Latino movers and shakers" by the New York Post (November 8, 2006).

The National Institute for Latino Policy is funded primarily by foundations, corporations and individual contributions. In 2006 it received grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Hispanic Federation, the Latino Policy Coalition/Metro Foundation, and the United Way of New York City. In 2005 and 2006, it also received the financial support of the United Way, SEIU Locals 32BJ and 1199, Nielsen Media Research, CBS-TV, City University of New York, NBC-Telemundo, Salsa Catering & Special Events, Latino Sports, and National Refrescos Import Company.

Reports
José A. García (ed.), East Coast Latino Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Manual (New York: National Institute for Latino Policy, 2006)

Angelo Falcón, Atlas of Stateside Puerto Ricans (Washington, DC: Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, 2004)

Annette Fuentes, Condition Critical: The Absence of Latinos Among Policymakers in New York City’s Voluntary Hospitals (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 2004)

_______________, Cracks in the Unity: The Impact of September 11th on New York Latinos – Redevelopment and Lessons for the Future (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Latino Policy, 2003)

Angelo Falcón, Opening the Courthouse Doors: The Need for More Hispanic Judges (New York: Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, 2002).

Shelley Rappaport, Beyond Bilingual Education: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners in the New York City Public Schools (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 2002)

Angelo Falcón, Still on the Outside Looking In: Latino Employment in New York Broadcast Television (prepared for the National Hispanic Media Coalition) (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 2001)

__________ (ed), The State of Puerto Rican Politics Aqui y Allá: Proceedings of a November 21, 2000 Forum (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, February 2001)

Angelo Falcón, De’tras Pa’lante: The Future of Puerto Rican History in New York City – An Essay (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, January 2001)

Joseph A. Pereira with Michelle Rhonda, The Latino Nonprofit Sector in the Eastern United States (Prepared for Hispanics in Philanthropy’s Funders' Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities) (New York: PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 2000).

Angelo Falcón and Christopher Hanson-Sanchez, Latino Immigrants and Electoral Participation: Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and South Americans in the New York City Political System (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1996)

"The Status of Puerto Rican Children in the U.S.", IPR Datanote on the Puerto Rican Community, No. 18 (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, July 1996)

Angelo Falcón, Orlando Rodriguez, Rosemary Santana Cooney, Greta Gilbertson, Christopher Hanson, Arun Lobo, Joseph Salvo, Vicki Virgin and Kenneth Waltzer, Nuestra America en Nueva York: The New Immigrant Hispanic Populations in New York City, 1980-1990 (New York: Fordham University Hispanic Research Center Report Series, 1995).

Christopher Hanson-Sanchez, New York City Latino Neighborhoods Databook (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1994)

"The Distribution of Puerto Ricans and Other Selected Latinos in the US: 1990", IPR Datanote on the Puerto Rican Community, No. 11 (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, June 1992)

John Santiago (ed.), Redistricting, Race and Ethnicity in New York City: The Gartner Report and Its Critics (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1991)

"The Health Status of Latinos in the United States: The 1984 Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHA-NES)", IPR Datanote on the Puerto Rican Community, No. 7 (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, February 1990)

Manuel del Valle and José Luis Morin, “Puerto Ricans and the Plebiscite on the Status of Puerto Rico – A Legal Brief (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1989)

Towards a Puerto Rican-Latino Agenda for New York City 1989 (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1989)

Ronald Calitri, Latino Voter Registration in NYC: Statistics for Action (New York: Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, 1982)

Books
Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Angelo Falcón and Felix Matos Rodríguez (eds.), Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004).

Angelo Falcón, F. Chris Garcia and Rodolfo O. de la Garza (eds.), “Ethnicity and Politics: Evidence from the Latino National Political Survey,” Special Issue of the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 18, No. 2 (May 1996)

Angelo Falcón, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, Louis DeSipio, F. Chris Garcia, and John Garcia, Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican & Cuban Perspectives on American Politics (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992)

Angelo Falcón, F. Chris Garcia, John A. Garcia, Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Cara J. Abeyta, Latinos and Politics: A Select Research Bibliography (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991)

Book chapters
Angelo Falcón, “’Pues, At Least We Had Hillary’: Latino New York City, the 2000 Election, and the Limits of Party Loyalty” in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Louis DeSipio (eds.), Muted Voices: Latinos and the 2000 Elections (New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2004)

Angelo Falcón, Marilyn Aguirre-Molina and Carlos W. Molina, “Latino Health Policy: Beyond Demographic Determinism” and “Latino Health Policy: A Look to the Future” in Marilyn Aguirre-Molina, Carlos W. Molina and Ruth Enid Zambrana (eds), Health Issues in the Latino Community (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001)

Angelo Falcón, “Beyond La Macarena: New York City Puerto Rican, Dominican, and South American Voters in the 1996 Election” in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Louis DeSipio (eds.), Awash in the Mainstream: Latino Politics in the 1996 Election (Boulder: Westview, 1999), pp. 239-248

Angelo Falcón, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, John Hernandez, F. Chris García, and John A. García, “Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban Foreign Policy Perspectives: A Test of Competing Explanations” in F. Chris Garcia (ed.). Pursuing Power: Latinos and the Political System (Notre Dame, IN: Univ. Notre Dame Press, 1997)

Angelo Falcón, “Puerto Ricans in Postliberal New York: The 1992 Presidential Election” in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Louis DeSipio (eds.), Ethnic Ironies: Latino Politics in the 1992 Elections (Boulder: Westview, 1996), pp. 185-210

__________, “Puerto Ricans and the Politics of Racial Identity” in Herbert W. Harris, Howard C. Blue and E.H. Griffith (eds.), Racial and Ethnic Identity: Psychological Development and Creative Expression (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 193-208

Angelo Falcón, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, F. Chris García and John A. García, “Mexican Immigrants, Mexican Americans, and American Political Culture” in Barry Edmondston and Jeffrey Passel (eds), Immigration and Ethnicity: The Integration of America’s Newest Arrivals (Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1994)

Angelo Falcón, “A Divided Nation: The Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States and the Proposed Referendum,” in Edwin Meléndez and Edgardo Meléndez (eds.), Colonial Dilemma: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Puerto Rico (Boston: South End, 1993), pp. 173-180.

__________, “Puerto Ricans and the 1988 Election in New York City” in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Louis DeSipio (eds.), From Rhetoric to Reality: Latino Politics in the 1988 Elections (Boulder: Westview, 1992), pp. 147-170

Journal articles
Angelo Falcón, "Book Review: One Nation, Polarized? Review of Herman Badillo's One Nation, One Standard," Centro Journal (New York: Centro de Estudios Puertorrqueños, Forthcoming 2007)

_____________, "Book Review: Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait", Centro Journal (New York: Centro de Estudios Puertorrqueños, Fall 2006)

_____________, Rodolfo O. de la Garza and F. Chris Garcia, “Will the Real Americans Please Stand Up: Anglo and Mexican American Support of Core American Values,” American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 40, No. 2 (May 1996), pp. 311-334

_____________, F. Chris Garcia, John A. Garcia and Rodolfo O. de la Garza, “Attitudes Towards U.S. Immigration Policies,” Migration World Magazine Vol. 21: Issues 2-3 (1993), p. 13

_____________, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, F. Chris Garcia, John Garcia, “Ethnicity and Attitudes Toward Immigration Policy: The Case of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans in the United States” (Austin: Texas Population Research Center Papers, 1992-1993)

_____________, “Time to Rethink the Voting Rights Act,” Social Policy, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Fall-Winter 1992), pp. 17-22

_____________, F. Chris Garcia, John A. Garcia and Rodolfo O. de la Garza, “Studying Latino Politics: The Development of the Latino National Political Survey, “ PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 20, No. 4 (December 1989), pp. 848-852.

_____________, “Puerto Ricans and the 1989 Mayoral Election in New York City,” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 2 (August 1989), pp. 245-258.

Opinion pieces
Angelo Falcón. "Opiníon: Selección judicial, diversidad y los latinos," El Diario-La Prensa (4 de abril 2007)

__________, "Opiníon: El falso voto territorial en el Congreso," El Diario-La Prensa (7 de febrero 2007)

__________, "One Nation, Polarized? Review of Herman Badillo's One Nation, One Standard" (New York: National Institute for Latino Policy, January 1, 2007).

__________, "Puerto Ricans: Thirty Years of Progress & Struggle", Puerto Rican Heritage Month 2006 Calendar Journal (New York: Comité Noviembre, 2006).

__________, “US Puerto Ricans Today,” Tempo Magazine (June 2005), a monthly supplement to the New York Post.

__________, “La educación bilingüe en una encrucijada.” El Diario-La Prensa (25 de septiembre de 2004).

__________, “Thirty Years After the Aspira Consent Decree, Bilingual Education Remains at Crossroads,” Hispanic Link Weekly Report (September 13, 2004), p. 1

__________ and José A. García, “Census Bureau Still Hasn’t Restored Its Credibility,” Hispanic Link Weekly Report (September 5, 2004).

Angelo Falcón, “Latino Voters Have Yet to Become a Strong Force,” Newsday (July 28, 2004).

__________, “The End of the Puerto Rican? A Cautionary Tale,” VIVA New York Magazine (June 1, 2003), pp. 34-38

__________, “El Fracaso de la clase politica latina,” El Diario-La Prensa (December 24, 2002), p. 11

__________, “The Problem with Mayor Bloomberg,” American Latino (March 25, 2002)

__________, “Liberating Vieques,” The Nation (July 19, 2001), p. 6

__________, “Beyond NAFTA: A Forum,” The Nation (May 28, 2001), p. 19

__________, “Vote for me, amigos,” The Nation (February 14, 2000), p. 20

__________, “Vieques and the U.S. Navy,” The Nation (December 13, 1999), p. 5

__________, “Clintons and Colonialism,” The Nation (October 4, 1999), p. 6

__________, “The End of Voting Rights?” Hispanic Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 11 (November 1997), p. 68

Periodicals
Latino Policy eNewsletter (February 2007-  ), bi-monthly edited by Angelo Falcón.

Critica: The Journal of Puerto Rican Policy & Politics (1994-1997), edited by Howard Jordan (1994-6) and Annette Fuentes (1996-7) - scheduled for republication by Markus Wiener Publishers in 2008 as Crítica Latin@: A Journal of History, Policy & Politics with historian [mailto:haslipviera@netzero.net Gabriel Haslip-Viera]as managing editor.

Board of Directors
Israel Colon (Board Treasurer), Director, Eastern North Philadelphia Youth Services Coalition, Philadelphia, PA Edgar de Jesus, Area Organizing Director, AFSCME New Jersey-New England

Angelo Falcón (President), National Institute for Latino Policy, New York, NY; and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), New York, NY

Héctor Figueroa, Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU Local 32BJ, New York, NY

Tanya Hernandez, Professor of Law and Social Justice and Frederick Hall Scholar, Rutgers University School of Law School, New Brunswick, NJ

Eugene Rivera (Board Secretary), Clinical Coordinator, Hill Health Center, Middletown, CT

Maria P. Salmeron-Rivera, Managing Partner, National Refrescos Import Company, Jersey City, NJ

José R. Sánchez, (Board Chair) Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair, Urban Studies Department, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY

Walter Stafford, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Wagner Graduate School for Public Affairs, New York University, New York, NY and Principal Investigator, Women of Color Policy Network, New York, NY

External link

 * NiLP official website