In the early 1960s, this organization, NOMAS (National Organization for Mexican American Services), met with the Ford Foundation to present a funding proposal. The meeting contributed to a Ford Foundation decision to finance a major study of Mexican Americans, the first of its kind in the United States.

This research led to a series of organizational meetings among Chicano leaders, and it was from these meetings that the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC) emerged in San Antonio, TX, in November 1967 along with Chicanos Por La Cause (CPLC), Mexican American Community Programs Foundation (MACPF), The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU), Spanish-Speaking Unity Council (SSUC), Mission Development Council (MDC), and OBECA/Arriba Juntos Center.

These seven organizations in three states became the first affiliates of UnidosUS (formerly, National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a Mexican American-controlled nonprofit organization).