This dinner conversation with the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life’s spring 2026 fellow Nicholas Hayes-Mota will explore the shift in the dominant focus of U.S. Latino political activity away from working class labor rights and other issues and towards middle class entrepreneurship and other economic issues. It will evaluate the shift in light of the principles of Catholic social teaching and explore how, in this new landscape, Latino electoral and other political efforts can maintain a sense of solidarity and a focus on the vulnerable members of society that were central to the era of Latino labor organizing and continue to be central to Catholic grassroots organizing efforts in the U.S.
What are the major forces shaping Latino participation in U.S. politics, both in state and national elections and in local communities? What patterns have emerged over the last decade, and what might they mean for the next election cycle? How can the Catholic Church’s strong history and tradition of community organizing in the U.S. inform Latino political activity amid these important shifts? We’ll discuss these questions and others over dinner with a group of young Latino leaders.
