Latinos in North Carolina left looking for answers due to greater challenges from inflation

As studies show the Latino community is among the most impacted by inflation in the U.S., some families in North Carolina are taking new action to boost household incomes in response to rising costs.

A 2021 analysis from Bank of America found that families of color tend to spend more on commodities that are susceptible to inflation.

The report found Black and Latino households spend 7.1% of their post-tax income on energy costs compared to 5.4% in other households; they also spend 12.5% of their income on food, compared to 11.1% among others.

With prices rising, some of those families in the North Carolina area have been taking new steps to try and stay afloat.

“My bills come in like $300, $400 each month,” Bertha Lopez said. “And I never saw that before, but now they go and increase more and more.”

A mother living with her partner in Garner, Lopez has taken to cooking traditional meals from Mexico in her front yard, a callback to the years before she moved to the U.S.

Lopez has been selling the plates to friends and in community events, trying to supplement her partner’s income.

“It’s not just me, I know so many people more doing the same thing,” Lopez said. “We sell the food to help my partner to pay the rent, pay the bills, even my treatment too.”

Lopez has been fighting cancer for the past two years, leaving her unable to work a day job.

On some days, she’s too tired to cook, worn down from long sessions of chemotherapy.

“It’s not easy,” Lopez said. “Last year, I lost a lot of weight, I lost my hair, I lost like everything.”

But she keeps going, pushed on by her family’s struggles today, and the future she still wants to be there for.

“For my child, because I want to see him grown up,” Lopez said. “He is my motivation, and I have two beautiful grandchildren too.

“So, they motivate me still fighting with the cancer."