Preliminary Inventory of the Chicanos Por La Causa Records

Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) was founded in 1967 by a group of Latino men and women dedicated to improving quality life for Mexican Americans living in Arizona. The Southwest Council of La Raza (later the National Council of La Raza) made an initial investment in the group, which quickly developed bilingual housing referral services for low income communities in South and Central Phoenix. With the aid of grants from the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and local financial institutions, CPLC expanded its program to include economic and workforce development in addition to housing counseling. During the 1970s, CPLC secured a federal grant allowing it to implement its comprehensive economic development strategy designed to ameliorate poverty. In the 1980s, aggressive fundraising and fiscal responsibility enabled the group to survive substantial federal cutbacks. Today, CPLC is Arizona's largest Hispanic community based organization with offices in all of Arizona's counties. It focuses on four key areas of service (education, economic development, social services, and affordable housing) and has recently expanded its operations into New Mexico and Nevada.