A national group is announcing a ten-year plan to boost Latino household wealth.
Gary Acosta, CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) said the organization is building a "brain trust" of Latino groups and leaders such as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, Adelante movement's Nelly Galan, financial managers and policy analysts.
The group plans to have a specific outline by the fall on initiatives to increase homeownership, small businesses, literacy and other areas crucial to building wealth among the nation's over 50 million Hispanics. The aim is to have yearly assessments on the initiatives' progress.
"The reality is we live in a country that is driven by economics. Latinos lost two-thirds of their median household wealth between 2007 and 2012, compared to the rest of the country which lost twenty percent," Acosta said in a phone interview. "No segment was as negatively affected by the housing and economic crisis as Latinos."
The NAHRP Hispanic Wealth Project was announced during the organization's two-day policy conference in Washington.