Evelyn Barahona serves the mission of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) as the Senior Vice President of the Educational Fund.
Evelyn leads and oversees the 501(c)(3) arm of the USHCC mission with the Educational Fund focused on promoting economic prosperity with USHCC’s programs and initiatives, resource building, research, and leadership development in the areas of capacity building, access to capital and facilitating critical connections through our social capital platform for USHCC’s 260 + Hispanic Chamber affiliates and Hispanic Business Enterprises.
Previously, Evelyn was the Director of the Latino Equity Fund at The Boston Foundation (one of the largest community foundations in the country), and the only Latino philanthropic fund in Massachusetts focused on advancing and elevating the assets of the Latino community. Under her leadership, the fund used its platform and community funder role to further the work of economic mobility and health equity.
Evelyn also worked in the Philanthropy Group at The Boston Foundation providing strategic guidance to committed philanthropists stewarding and allocating their respective Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) toward community-aligned opportunities. She also oversaw and managed the Massachusetts United Puerto Rico Fund (MUPR) created shortly after Hurricane Maria and oversaw the deployment of over 4 million dollars on the island to key recovery projects and supporting relocation efforts for displaced Puerto Ricans.
Evelyn is an active community leader serving on various boards including Conexion (Latino leadership program), Eastern Bank, Women’s Edge (formerly the Commonwealth Institute), and Amplify Latinx as its Governance Chair. She was a Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) Lideres Fellow. Before philanthropy, Evelyn held leadership roles at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Quality Interactions, and Baring Asset Management and worked at Putnam Investments. (Source: LinkedIn Bio of Evelyn Barahona).
“The purpose of the educational fund is to augment the mission of USHCC through its programs, research, and access to capital, capacity building, and nurturing and cultivating connections for both our 260 Hispanic chambers as well as Hispanic business enterprises and in my role, I’m the senior vice president, and so I oversee both the framework, the strategy, and also our programs”.
Evelyn Barahona shared with us her points of view on small businesses and how to get started. She is easy to approach and is always willing to help you out or answer any questions you might have.
As we interviewed her, there was a very important question to be asked:
What do you think is next for a Latina in the United States?
“They’re it, and I will say from an entrepreneurship perspective, Latina businesses are growing six times the rate of any entrepreneur group in the United States. With that said, I think if you’re a corporation or if you’re an association invested in entrepreneurship, you must pay attention to our Latinas because they’re going to be the future of the US economy.”
La Revista Binacional agreed with this statement from Evelyn.
