Hispanic Heritage Month is not just a time for us to honor our cultura with music, food, faith, and festivals. It is also a reminder of the responsibility to carry the values of our culture, our faith, our community, and our resilience into the work of justice especially in times like these. To me, this time of the year is a celebración of who we are, where we come from, and the challenges we face to help positively shape where we are going in the future.

Growing up in the metro Atlanta area, I saw my Latino heritage recognized not only during celebrations but in the everyday actions of our determination. Our family gatherings were filled with stories, delicious authentic comida mexicana, laughter that makes our stomach hurt, and the occasional chisme, but through all this there were also unmistakable examples of our families’ hard work and sacrifice.

Those experiences continue to guide and shape me as a first-generation Mexican American college student. As a student studying finance at Marquette University, a Jesuit community that emphasizes service, community, and justice, I remind myself every day that my Mexican and Latino heritage is more than just a set of traditions passed down to each generation but it’s the light, the source that pushes and strengthens us to lead with purpose, to advocate for justice, and to build stronger communities and a more just nation.

As I sit and reflect on this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, I cannot ignore las injusticias that MY Latino community has and is currently facing in 2025. The federal government has intensified immigration enforcements to drastic measures. The recent Supreme Court ruling has opened the door to racial profiling and aggressive deportations.

As a result, the fear that Latino communities and neighborhoods that has existed for years has deepened even further. Since January, families have lived in constant anxiety and worry about raids, deportations, and having their families separated. These actions not only harm families and individuals but break trust in public institutions and weaken the connections that unite and make our community strong and resilient.

Despite this, the impact and strength of our economic contributions speak for themselves. The 2025 Latino GPD in the U.S. has recently surpassed $4 trillion, making our community one of the most powerful and largest economies in the world. Latinos have some of the highest labor participation rates, strong entrepreneurship, and growing levels of higher education. Still the inequalities continue through unfair wage gaps sometimes even with a college degree. Latina women, specifically, experience some of the most significant gaps, earning less than both white women and Latino men, while Latino men’s earnings fall short of his peers despite having equal qualifications.

Whether we are Latino, Black, Asian, or White, we all deserve to be paid fairly for our work. It matters just as much that many families, not just Latinos, rely on programs like SNAP and Head Start which are being threatened by recent federal legislature like the summer reconciliation bill, and political playbooks like Project 2025. In reality, Latinos contribute to face unfair barriers while significantly contributing to the U.S. economy. Now more than ever, there needs to be change.

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L). Read Part 2 of this reflection.