ABOUT ILI

OUR HISTORY

The Indiana Latino Institute (ILI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves Latino communities through health, education, and leadership programs, as well as statewide advocacy. ILI was originally established in 2001 as a statewide effort to aid Latino-serving organizations in their health programming; however, quickly recognized the need for additional, culturally responsive services. The Indiana Latino community continued to grow, and the service gap grew with it. The community was facing, and continues to face, racial disparities, socioeconomic barriers, and systemic injustice.

It is widely recognized that Latinos are certainly a rapidly growing minority population throughout the United States and also within the state of Indiana. In fact, Latinos represent the nation’s largest racial/ethnic group, and population surges have continued to occur statewide, and, according to the 2020 US Census, there are over 554,100 people living in Indiana who identify as Hispanic/Latino.

The Indiana Latino Institute strongly believes that local organizations best understand the specific needs of the communities they serve; therefore, ILI feels that Latinos can best be served by developing internal capacities at local levels throughout the state of Indiana, a strategy that ILI has developed and refined over the course of its existence. For over 20 years, ILI has been addressing issues of importance facing Indiana Latino communities statewide, improving Latino health, increasing higher education access, success, and workforce development, cultivating Latino leadership, and advocating for systemic change.