United Way and Latinos

In response to Maurice T. Wald’s column, “As Los Angeles Transforms So Must the United Way,” California Commentary, Jan. 22:

The results of United Way’s strategic planning process should be of no great surprise to anyone who lives or works in the Greater Los Angeles area. It is encouraging, however, to see that United Way is finally willing to confront the reality that serving a community as complex, volatile and diverse as the Greater Los Angeles area requires a reassessment of the current methods of raising and allocating charitable dollars.

While DeWald’s commentary is predictably optimistic, for many of us in the Los Angeles Latino community, there appears to be little reason for optimism. As United Way positions itself for the 1990s, there remains one basic unanswered question: How can United Way fulfill its commitment to “the Latino or other ethnic communities” given its current obligations to constituent agencies? The answer is, it can’t. What we are left with is a promise for the future and an invitation to invest our volunteer spirit and charitable dollars in an organization that is not structured for change. Given United Way’s historical relationship with the Latino community, this investment is ill-advised.

DeWald is correct in describing the need for fostering new and more effective means of meeting the human service needs of Los Angeles, but in coming forward with its agenda for the 1990s, United Way officials must reach out to the “emerging and ethnic communities” in a manner that supports empowerment and not dependency. They must view alternative giving not as a threat, but as a legitimate partner in the charitable community.

PAUL S. CASTRO, Chair

The United Latino Fund

Los Angeles