Julián Castro Is Bolstering Latino Communities One Grant at a Time

Julián Castro has gotten a few things from his mother: a last name, a twin brother, a general sense of optimism, and a penchant for serving his community.Maria del Rosario Castro, a now 79-year-old Mexican American activist, was once a member of La Raza Unida, a prominent Chicano political party in Texas. Her two sons, who were born in San Antonio in 1974, often accompanied her to rallies and meetings when they were young. “[She] raised my brother and me with this sense that you should always do well for yourself, but also do good for others,” Castro says.For more than a decade, Castro used politics as an avenue to act on that sense. (The same goes for his brother, Joaquin, who has been a Texas congressman since 2013.) His resume includes a stint on the San Antonio city council, five years as mayor of the city, an appointment to President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and a 2020 presidential campaign.One in five Americans are Latino, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center report, and the Latino Donor Collaborative found that this group alone was responsible for 28.2% of all U.S. economic growth in 2024. But this national impact is not reflected in the amount of philanthropic dollars invested back into the Latino community, which often remains below one percent.Castro says that LCF is in the business of disrupting this status quo. “The country can only prosper if the community does well.”In March, LCF, which primarily funds nonprofits based in California, announced a plan to expand its grant-making efforts nationally and establish a $250 million endowment—a sizable increase from the organization's current, "modest" $35 million endowment. Castro says that this new plan would ensure an annual grant-making baseline of $10 million and the ability “to serve many more organizations consistently.”Castro says that as the Trump Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue their sweeping, sometimes fatal immigration crackdown across the U.S., the work of nonprofits has never been more important. In February, LCF launched the Community Protection Fund, issuing grants to grassroots organizations in California, Nevada, and Minnesota that are either offering assistance to families impacted by ICE’s actions or challenging detention abuses in court. This initiative was a no-brainer for Castro.“Immigrant families and mixed-status families are under attack by an Administration absolutely determined to target both legal and undocumented immigrants, and sometimes even citizens. And so we decided to double down on investing in immigrant-serving nonprofits,” he says.Though Castro feels deeply disappointed by how changes in immigration and deportation policies have affected Latino communities in the U.S., he hopes that Americans who feel the same will use this time to imagine a diverse, inclusive, and equitable future: “My hope is that the Latino Community Foundation, as it grows, can help accelerate that progress.”