The latest Silicon Valley Latino Report Card shows how much the pandemic set everyone back.
Every few years the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley publishes a report measuring how the Latino community in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is doing in education, health care, housing, and other topics.
The low grades featured in this year's report are seen as a call to action for leaders in the Silicon Valley Latino community, with many already mobilizing to turn things around.
"If this were my report card coming home from school, I'd hide it from my parents," Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley CEO Ron Gonzales said. "Unfortunately, the data is not good."
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Here's a look at the grades outlined in the report:
- Education: D
- Health: C
- Financial stability: C
- Housing: D
- Environmental sustainability: B
Scroll down below to view the full report or download it here.
The research done for the report found that in housing, Latinos accounted for 47% of all individuals experiencing homelessness in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties - that's almost half the unhoused population.
In education, only 35% of Latino high school graduates in Silicon Valley completed the required coursework to attend a state college or university compared to 77% of non-Latinos. It's worth noting the most recent education data used in this report is from 2018.
San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said fixing the education stat means starting early like reading by age 8, makes a difference.
Researchers said Latinos were actually trending upward in most categories a few years ago.
In housing and education, the pandemic sparked huge setbacks as everyone was asked to figure out how to learn from home.
"That issue was not just surmountable by giving them a computer, because as the data shows, our Latino students were in overcrowded housing conditions where the study area was the kitchen table they share with cousins and other family," Gonzales said.
