Honoring Latine Heritage Month: Building Power, Defending Justice

Latine Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) is a time to celebrate the resilience and power of Latine histories, cultures, and movements. From the labor struggles of farmworkers in California to grassroots fights for immigrant rights across the nation, to much more, Latine communities have been on the frontlines demanding justice, dignity, and liberation.

Groundswell Fund is proud to stand alongside our grantee partners who are building durable political power, holding lawmakers accountable, and ensuring that Latine voices shape the future. This month and every month, we uplift Latine-led organizations that embody the spirit of reproductive justice: the right to live safe, healthy, and self-determined lives without barriers. Here are some of those groups we encourage you to learn more about and support.

 Siembra NC | North Carolina

Since 2017, Siembra NC has supported immigrant families affected by ICE, discrimination, wage theft and other urgent community needs in North Carolina. Some of their essential projects include organizing a court accompaniment program to train volunteers to travel with immigrants to immigration court hearings, an ICE Watch program to reduce fear and anxiety in immigrant neighborhoods and an Immigrant Solidarity Fund to provide emergency cash assistance to immigrants who lost their sole breadwinner to an ICE arrest. Being the first to establish those programs in the state, Siembra continues to fill an urgent need in many immigrant neighborhoods to this day, particularly in light of increased attacks on and scrutiny of immigrants nationwide.

“Earlier this year, our members conceived of a North Carolina where municipal governments take responsibility for ensuring our safety, and last week the Durham City Council voted to make the Bull City the second Fourth Amendment Workplace City in the state. City staff will take responsibility for training local businesses in protecting the rights of all staff and patrons from unconstitutional entry by federal agents,” shares Kelly Morales, co-director of Siembra NC.

This is a critical victory for immigrant communities in Durham thanks to Siembra NC’s Make NC Work Campaign, which employs a defend and recruit strategy powered by organizers and member leaders knocking on doors, doing trainings, confirming 400+ courageous small businesses as 4th Amendment workplaces. Siembra NC’s grassroots strategy models what it is to show up for immigrant communities at different levels of power, at the street corner or in your home, at the local business, within government institutions and places responsibility and opportunity in the hand of the person, the business owner, and the local governments of any political affiliation to use the tools at their disposal to stand in strategic solidarity with the immigrant community.

Siembra NC’s vision is to make North Carolina the best state to work or raise a family in the country, which means North Carolinians who are women, queer and trans, and BIPOC have access to the resources they need not just to survive or get by paycheck to paycheck, so that each family has enough to fulfill their dreams.

In reflecting on what Latine Heritage Month means to her and Siembra’s NC’s work, Morales said that, “It’s an opportunity to remember and get rooted in the work, traditions and histories of our ancestors. We’re only here because of all they made possible for us today.”

The organization is “fighting for el buen vivir and that includes full reproductive and bodily autonomy for all people, the ability of every family to have trabajo digno, cuidado de niñes digno and access to reproductive care.”

Learn more at siembranc.org.

Centro-SWU | San Antonio

Centro, also known as Southwest Workers United (SWU) is a 36 year old inter-generational, multi issue community center focused on healing for the people & the planet. SWU organizes its grassroots members in San Antonio, Texas to address collective needs in their workplace and in their community through de-colonization, emancipatory education, leadership development and direct action for worker rights, environmental justice, and systemic change.

“At Centro-SWU, we are led by women, non-binary, and queer folks, and we uphold values that center dignity and justice for all workers. Empowerment and challenging gender norms, standards shaped by colonization, are vital to our mission and the well-being of our members,” said Diana Lopez, the organization’s Executive Director.

Their intersectional organizing work includes projects like creating a Climate Justice Lotería and Tia Power Bilingual Story Hour to educate their communities about pressing issues that affect marginalized community members while celebrating diverse cultures.

Over the past six years, Centro-SWU has engaged more than 80,000 households in taking action on critical issues. This year, they launched Get Out The Vote efforts that have engaged youth interns in the fundamentals of grassroots organizing and senior volunteers in zine-making to share crucial information about how to safely cast a ballot. A recent victory in May 2025 was the successful passage of a Council Consideration Request to regulate metal and car recycling facilities in their neighborhoods. This came in response to community outcry after an industrial fire happened in a legacy-polluted area with a history of disinvestment. 

“We championed the nomination of community leaders to a public inter-agency committee comprising residents and industrial stakeholders, ensuring our neighborhood’s demands are heard. San Antonio is over 63% Hispanic or Latine, and this victory demonstrates the power of organized community advocacy to influence policy and protect our health,” Lopez said.

Centro-SWU envisions a resilient, grassroots-led movement that harnesses local solutions to strengthen community, economy, and environmental sustainability. Low-income frontline communities will lead a just transition away from unsustainable politics toward local, living economies that address root causes of inequality. Their goal is to complete the renovation of a regional healing and resilience hub—an accessible space for safety, protection, and community-building, especially for women, queer, and trans folks. This center aims to counteract the rising tide of fear-based, racist policies.

“Our vision centers on the power of gathering, bringing people together, to foster unity and resilience. We must exist together through struggle, through discord, and through fear to create the future our community needs to flourish.”

Learn more and support Centro-SWU’s work at: www.swunion.org.

Empowerment Congress | Las Cruces

For Empowerment Congress, Latine Heritage Month is a time to honor the deep history and resilience of the communities they serve along the U.S.–Mexico border. They celebrate Mexican independence and cultural pride through their annual 16 de Septiembre event in Sunland Park, New Mexico, where families and neighbors gather to uplift their heritage, traditions, and the collective strength that guides the organization’s work year-round.

Empowerment Congress organizes and empowers community members in Doña Ana County in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Their vision is a future where every Latine person — especially women, queer, and trans community members — can live with dignity, safety, and opportunity. For the past two years, the Empowerment Congress has talked to community members, and water quality has been a top issue to solve. Through grassroots organizing, residents successfully secured free arsenic test strips for customers of CRRUA, ensuring families could monitor the safety of their drinking water. After strong community advocacy, they pushed decision-makers to change meeting times to be more accessible, and advanced a solar streetlight project that brings safety and dignity to our neighborhoods. 

“Today, as we confront new threats — such as a proposed data center and microgrid that could compromise our water supply — we continue to demonstrate that when Latine communities organize, we win both immediate protections and long-term infrastructure improvements,” said Daisy Ann Maldonado, EC Director of Empowerment Congress.

Maldonado said their vision of a thriving, healthy community means equitable infrastructure, affordable healthcare, clean water, and reproductive freedom. It means protecting immigrant families, building collective political power through voting and civic engagement, and ensuring that no one is left behind in public decision-making.

“At Empowerment Congress, we believe that thriving Latine communities are built through health equity, immigrant protections, reproductive justice, and the leadership of those most impacted — and we are committed to organizing until that vision becomes reality.”

Learn more about how Empowerment Congress is building thriving Latine communities at empowernm.org.