Wells Fargo Reaffirms Commitment to the Hispanic Community with a $2MM Gift for the National Museum of the American Latino
December 02 2021 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
The following is a contributed article by Patty Juarez and Ruben
Barrales.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211202005272/en/
(Photo: Wells Fargo)
Wells Fargo has reaffirmed its commitment to the Hispanic and
Latino community with a $2 million donation to the Smithsonian
Latino Center in support of the historic National Museum of the
American Latino and the development of the Molina Family Latino
Gallery. Wells Fargo is a corporate founder of the Latino Gallery
and a founding donor of the National Museum of the American Latino,
as well as the first financial institution to commit $2 million to
the project.
Ever since the first Wells Fargo opened its doors for business
in 1852, Hispanic and Latino employees have been a key part of our
company. From the start, we hired Spanish-speaking employees who
could serve the large population of people who had migrated from
Mexico and Central and South America and had been living in
California for decades before it became a U.S. state in 1850.
It is important for us to honor and capture the many
contributions U.S. Hispanics and Latinos have made through arts and
culture, science and technology, business, sports and activism. All
of these have made America a stronger, better, more equitable and
inclusive country. Moreover, it is incumbent on us to tell the
story correctly.
We see the museum as an opportunity to reinforce that we
celebrate the Latino community, and we look forward to being a part
of this historic new chapter. But as historic as this point in time
is, it is really about the future. We know that the Latino
community in our country is growing in its significance and
contributions.
Today, approximately one in five individuals in the United
States identifies as Hispanic or Latino. The median family wealth
of Hispanic households grew nearly three times faster than the
average U.S. household in the last decade. From 2010-2019,
two-thirds of U.S. labor force growth came from workers identifying
as Hispanic. This community loves the American dream. They want to
own a home, form a family, graduate from college, get a good-paying
job and start creating wealth for future generations.
With help from Wells Fargo, the National Museum of the American
Latino and the Molina Family Latino Gallery will honor the strides
and contributions that we Hispanics and Latinos have made and
continue to make in our country. Celebrating and understanding what
we have achieved in the past will help guide us to an even prouder
and more prosperous future. That is why it is important to support
the building of the museum.
In fact, Wells Fargo was an early supporter of the idea of a
Latino American museum, even before Congress authorized the project
in December 2020. The Hispanic and Latino employee resource group
led a conversation with senior leadership about the importance of
supporting the museum. We worked closely with Eduardo Díaz,
Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center, and Jennifer Pichardo,
Senior Advancement Officer at the Smithsonian, to see what role
Wells Fargo could play. The project is something we took personally
within the organization so we could see our support of the museum
become a reality.
Additional fundraising from individuals and corporations, as
well as site-selection on the National Mall and development of the
project, will take many years. In the meantime, the Molina Family
Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American
History will open in 2022 as a preview of the eventual National
Museum of the American Latino.
We are a proud partner of the Smithsonian Latino Center and we
honor our Hispanic and Latino employees and customers with this
commitment. Wells Fargo’s success is tied to the success of the
communities we serve. We want to meet the community’s diverse
financial needs so people can achieve and maintain financial
prosperity, which leads to the creation of generational wealth. We
continue to engage in initiatives that advance positive customer,
community and workplace outcomes.
Many of our customers are Hispanic and Latino, and many of our
branches are located in Latino neighborhoods where we serve them in
Spanish. Even in these modern, mobile times we can still provide
that in-person, in-language service that is so valuable and so
important to the Latino community. We want to be there in whichever
way they need us to be there for them. Our success as a bank is
tied to us serving the communities that we live and work in. That
includes the Hispanic and Latino community and many other diverse
communities.
The Hispanic and Latino communities lead first-home purchases in
the United States, and Wells Fargo is one of the leading banks
helping them purchase those homes. In fact, overall our commitment
to the Latino community has been growing faster than any other
segment of our business. Through the end of 2020, Wells Fargo
helped more than 188,000 Hispanic families become homeowners with
$48.7 billion in financing. Additionally, we see growth in small
business, middle market and corporate and investment banking
opportunities in our market among Latino-owned and led
businesses.
Our passion for our community comes from within. We both come
from immigrant families who came to this country to pursue the
American dream. Many of our colleagues have similar backgrounds, so
we honor and support them by sharing our combined stories. The
Hispanic and Latino community at Wells Fargo is the largest
minority group at our company. We have more than 41,000 Hispanics
and Latinos representing approximately 17% of Wells Fargo
employees. And this group is growing. Those coming behind us are
coming in with great force and great skills. Our job as leaders is
to help usher the future generations behind us. We have a huge
population in our company of Hispanic millennials and Gen Zers –
and younger. The fact that we have such fantastic and talented
youth makes us want to work that much harder to ensure their future
is that much brighter within our company.
Patty Juarez, is Wells Fargo’s Executive Vice President
& Head of Diverse Segments-Commercial Banking and has worked
for the company since 1995.
Ruben Barrales is Wells Fargo’s Senior Vice President,
External Engagement, Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion
and has worked for the company since 2019.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211202005272/en/
Carolina Guana Corporate Communications Hispanic Diverse
Marketing Segments Phone: 480-493-6272
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