Boots on the Ground View of Latinos In '25 | Cora Cervantes, Independent Journalist
Welcome back, Moneda Moves community. Following an eventful start to this week in news, we have another amazing journalist on the podcast, Cora Cervantes, who spoke with Latinos all last year leading up to the election which landed Trump in office. She’s here to share what she heard on the ground from Latinos, many of who are business owners, and their biggest concerns they want to see addressed – inclusive of economic issues.
And before we dive in, we would be remiss to not acknowledge the way our Latino communities (plural) will be disproportionately targeted ahead of mass deportations set to start this week. As a platform that stands behind first builders, rewriting our narratives that exemplify our collective force, and tools for empowerment – we acknowledge how damaging the combination of rhetoric and actions on behalf of the new administration can and will be. During this time, we will be leaning into our personal community on the ground. We’ve also found Eliza Orlins, New York City public defender, and her explainers particularly helpful as of late.
As you know, this season we’re focusing on 2025 economic trends, how they affect our entrepreneurial community, and how our community will move the American economy. We have a memorable lineup for you and can’t wait to share the information and resources we’re producing this season.
As many of us know, 2024 was a tough year for small businesses. Average revenue was up, but so were expenses, according to Biz2Credit. Breaking down the numbers and net-net, profits were down: average monthly earnings for small businesses in the first 11 months of 2024 was about $86,000 - more than $60,000 lower than in 2023. Some entrepreneurs found themselves in the red in some cases, as this week’s guest independent journalist Cora reported. When interviewing working-class Latinos about their businesses in 2024, she found that people were struggling to keep up with the current economic climate, let alone improve their economic standing. It can also explain why Latinos voted with the economy among their top concerns.
This week’s guest, Cora, is an independent journalist based in Los Angeles. She covers politics, immigration, climate change, and race and culture with an equity lens. She has a network television and cable news production background at NBC News and MSNBC. She has produced digital stories for multimedia outlets, including NBC News, Al-Jazeera, Latino USA, palabra, High Country News, and Narratively. Cora is a graduate of Columbia University and holds a Master’s degree from New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. She currently serves as a board member of NAHJ’s Los Angeles Chapter.
Cora spent much of 2024 speaking with working-class Latinos about their businesses and how they perceive the economic environment in the United States. Small business owners are holding out hope that the economy will improve. But with the rising cost of goods eating away at their profits, they’re eager for change. As a result, in the 2024 election, several sources she spoke with voted with the hope that the new president would improve the economy and protect their businesses.
In this week’s episode, we sit down with Cora to talk about what she learned while covering Latino business owners and their votes, as well as the coverage we can expect to see more of within the Latino community in 2025. We're discussing everything from why some Latinos voted the way they did to how stricter immigration policies could affect our day-to-day lives. The Latino community is incredibly diverse, and our reasons for what we do and who we vote for are layered. By having boots on the ground via journalists who speak with working-class business owners, we gain a better understanding of what they’re experiencing and why.
No te lo quieres perder.
Follow Cora on Instagram: @cora_cervantes
Follow Moneda Moves on Instagram: @MonedaMoves
Follow your host Lyanne Alfaro on Instagram: @LyanneAlfaro
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