Key Findings

• Latino communities are generating major economic value in Illinois, but that value is not yet turning into a proportional share of wealth. About 40 leaders who met in Chicago on June 3, 2026 described this as a gap between contribution and capture. They pointed to barriers in capital access, wage equity, college completion, asset ownership, business scale, and institutional representation.
• Illinois already has many of the ingredients needed to become a national model for Latino wealth building. The state has strong community organizations, research institutions, financial partners, pension fund allocation practices, and more Latino representation in state and local government than most states. Participants said these assets are fragmented and need a shared map of who does what, where the gaps are, and where collaboration would create scale.
• Homeownership is a proven wealth-building pathway for Latino families, but it cannot be the only strategy. Participants called for pairing home purchases with estate planning, wills, trusts, and diversified investment so that wealth is protected and passed on. They also urged helping Latino businesses move from survival to scale, including past the $1 million revenue mark and out of the informal economy.
• A lasting Latino prosperity agenda must connect policy, investment, research, and community. The convening closed with a call to move from isolated efforts to a coordinated framework. Ideas included a mapped wealth continuum, pension and private capital directed to Latino firms and asset managers, college completion as a prosperity metric, and leadership pipelines that bring others along. The goal is to build the infrastructure for Latino communities to lead, not only to help them catch up.

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