Raise your voice

More than one out of five Coloradans are Latino, including some whose families were here before Colorado became a state. Other Latinos are—like most Americans—either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Latinos have always played a vital and constructive role in the Colorado economy. Nevertheless, Latinos’ median annual household income is $23,550 less than that of non-Hispanic whites. Twenty-eight percent of Latino children live in poverty. While Colorado’s high school four-year graduation rate in Colorado has increased to 79%, Latinos’ high school four-year graduation rate—at 71%–lags behind the rest of the state. The percentage of Latinos lacking health insurance is over two-and-a-half times that of whites. Colorado’s Latino elderly population is growing nearly twice as fast as other Coloradans over 65, and will more than triple between 2010 and 2030, placing increasing burdens on their families who care for their disabled elders.