The Latino Pulse in Georgia
Welcome to the definitive evidence-base for the Latino community’s impact on the Empire State of the South. As Georgia’s premier philanthropic intermediary, LCF Georgia monitors the heartbeat of our state’s most dynamic demographic. Our Impact & Data Hub merges real-time community narratives with rigorous research to provide a comprehensive look at the Latino community in Georgia and how our team is responding to the moment and at the same time building infrastructure and capacity across the state.
Latinos: An Economic Powerhouse Hidden in Plain Sight
The Big Numbers
Georgia’s Latino GDP reached $52.2 billion in 2021 — comparable to Wyoming or Vermont (or if you are in Georgia, equivalent to the economies of Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Gainesville combined. Latino buying power hit $31.5 billion, a 98.5% increase since 2010, outpacing the state’s overall growth rate. There are an estimated 91,000 Latino-owned businesses in Georgia, turning a spirit of self-sufficiency into a statewide economic driver.
The Future is Already Here
With a 1.2+ million population, an average age of 26 and with 3 out of 5 Latinos in Georgia being native-born US citizens, Georgia’s future is inextricably linked to the vitality of its Latino community. By 2050, Latinos will be 1 in 5 in the 21-county Metro region.
Economic Opportunity
Building wealth, not just filling jobs
- $52.2 billion — that’s how much Georgia’s Latino community contributes to the state GDP. An engine.
- 91,000 Latino-owned businesses operate across Georgia, making Latinos one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial forces in the Southeast
- $31.5 billion in Latino buying power — up 98.5% since 2010. When this community thrives, Georgia’s entire economy accelerates
- 78% male labor force participation — the highest of any demographic group in the state, far exceeding the statewide average
- 54.9% of Latino households are owner-occupied — this is a community investing in Georgia’s future, block by block
What LCF Georgia Is Doing About It?
- 300+ scholarships and micro-entrepreneurship grants awarded — creating pathways from ambition to income
- $6 million re-granted to 30+ community organizations that are closest to the people who need support most
- Published Georgia’s first Needs Assessment Report for Latino-owned businesses — converting invisible contributions into visible policy levers
- Workforce development and career pathways through Fellowships and Community Health Worker certifications — not charity, but professional infrastructure
- Developing Georgia’s first Needs Assessment for Immigrant-owned businesses — because 124,000 business owners deserve to be counted
Democracy & Civic Power
From being counted, to being heard
58% growth in the Georgia Latino electorate between 2016 and 2020 — the fastest-expanding voter bloc in the state
- 1.2 million Latinos represent 11% of Georgia’s total population — and a rising share of every electoral map
- Despite explosive growth, institutional barriers — from language access to voter intimidation — continue to suppress participation in the democratic process
- The Latino community is simultaneously carrying Georgia’s economy and receding from the public square due to fear. That gap is unsustainable
What LCF Georgia Is Doing About It
- 300,000+ voter engagements every year through the only Latino-led, nonpartisan civic coalition in the state of Georgia
- Year-round voter registration, education, and protection — not just election-season outreach, but consistent democratic infrastructure
- Consistent, visible presence at the Georgia State Capitol advocating for coalition priorities:
- Voting rights and language access
- Affordable healthcare and housing
- Anti-hunger and safety net protections
- Free, safe, quality K-12 and higher ed for all
- Protection against anti-immigrant legislation
- Expanding entrepreneurship access and tools
- Training the next generation of Latino civic leaders through programs that combine history, storytelling, and strategic advocacy
Health & Wellbeing
Closing the gap between who we serve and who we are
- Latinos have the highest uninsured rates in Georgia — a reality that turns routine illness into financial catastrophe
- Latinas are uninsured at rates exceeding 50% — the mothers, caregivers, and workforce backbone of their households, invisible to the healthcare system
- Latino children are 2.5x more likely to be uninsured than other children in Georgia — a disparity that shapes life outcomes before they begin
- Georgia’s refusal to expand Medicaid has left hundreds of thousands of Latino families in a coverage gap with no path forward
- Mental health services remain critically inaccessible — compounded by language barriers, cultural stigma, and immigration-related fear
What LCF Georgia Is Doing About It?
- 15,000+ vaccines administered since 2021 — meeting families where they are, not where the system expects them
- 12,000+ free health screenings per year — glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol — delivered in communities with no other access point
- 8 consistent locations statewide across metro Atlanta and South Georgia, providing ongoing services — not pop-up clinics, but trusted permanent presence
- 30,000+ people per year receive bilingual public health education — from diabetes prevention to reproductive health to nutrition
- Crisis prevention, mental health navigation, and Know Your Rights sessions — because health includes safety, dignity, and information
- 48+ certified bilingual Community Health Workers serving as the frontline connectors between families and a system that wasn’t built for them
- Improving Safety Net Access for Latinos in Georgia (Recommendations)
- Status of Latino Health in Georgia
- When You Give the Community Resources It Needs (a study of farmworkers in GA)
- Recommendations for the success of ESOL students in K-12 in Georgia
Community Infrastructure
Building the organizations that build the community
Georgia’s Latino community is the youngest and one of the fastest-growing demographics in the state — but the organizational infrastructure serving it remains chronically underfunded
- National philanthropy directs less than 2% of total giving to Latino-serving organizations, In GA, it is less than 1% — meaning Georgia’s 1.2 million Latinos are building their future with a fraction of the investment other communities receive
- The organizations closest to the community — the ones that speak the language, understand the culture, and hold the trust — need capacity, not just grants
- When a community grows faster than the institutions designed to serve it, the gap doesn’t close on its own. Someone has to build the bridge.
What LCF Georgia Is Doing About It
- Over $6 million already invested in grants, emergency assistance & relief
- 23 coalition member organizations receiving sustained capacity building and convening opportunities, strengthening the network
- 60 civic participation fellows trained in strategic advocacy, storytelling, and the history of Latinos in Georgia, the next generation of community leaders
- Technical assistance, templates, grant writing support, and coaching — the invisible scaffolding that turns a small organization into a lasting institution
- 7 counties with active LCF Georgia presence across Metro and Rural Georgia because Atlanta IS NOT where most Latinos are.
- 100% bilingual and bicultural staff — not as a marketing checkbox, but as a non-negotiable operating principle
Annual Impact Reports / Cards
Download the annual impact report from each year to learn about the impact the Latino Community Community Funds has had every year in Georgia.
