The Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF) was founded in 1983 by Tony Salazar. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of Latino families in Greater Kansas City by engaging the Latino community in philanthropy to build stronger communities through grantmaking and scholarship support. HDF acts in four ways: 1) increasing philanthropy through the annual Cambio para Cambio (Change for Change) campaign; 2) removing financial barriers to college through the HDF Scholarship Program; 3) advising students and their families through the HDF Family College Prep Program; and 4) supporting non profits that serve the Latino community through the HDF Grantmaking Program. “We are thankful for our volunteers, college and university match partners, and donors who helped us eclipse the $1 million milestone in HDF Scholarship awards to support 550 Kansas City Latino students in pursuit of two- and four-year college degrees. Since 1983, HDF has been steadfast in our belief that higher education is the best catalyst in advancing our community, and we are incredibly proud of the community effort to make the HDF Scholarship Program one of the largest Latino-serving scholarship programs in the country, said John Kearney, executive director. He added, “Cambio para Cambio continues to prove what we have always known: the Latino community is as giving as any other, and the strength of our community stems from our families.”

During 2022-2023, HDF partnered with the Hispanic Federation (New York) to grant $200,000 to eight Kansas City Latin-serving non profits. The 2022 Cambio para Campio campaign featured nearly 50 fundraising teams and more than 800 individual donors, resulting in $430,000 raised for the HDF Scholarship Program. More than 750 students and their families received professional, bilingual, one-on-one college advising in the HDF Family College Prep Program, which also assisted more than 500 students in completing federal student aid forms and accessing financial aid and private scholarships. Volunteers are needed, notably to participate in the HDF Scholarship Workshops and serve as community graders of the HDF Scholarship applications. For more information, go to hdfkc.org.         

Featured in the September 30, 2023 issue of The Independent.