Groups Tackle Immigration, Conservation for Latino Advocacy Week
Suzanne Potter, Producer
Thursday, March 17, 2022
It's Latino Advocacy Week - an initiative designed to empower local groups to go out and effect change in their communities.
The Hispanic Access Foundation is holding a series of webinars, open to the public, on ways to further goals on issues such as conservation and immigration reform.
Jessica Godinez, conservation program manager with the Hispanic Access Foundation, said there is enormous untapped potential and an appetite for change in the Latino community.
"Our hope is to really provide our community with the resources and the training to take leadership of their own advocacy," said Godinez.
Godinez noted that every 30 seconds a Latino American citizen turns 18. As of 2020, 32 million registered voters identified as Hispanic.
From 2016 to 2020, Latino voter turnout tripled. And while Latinos comprise 18% of the population, they make up only 1% of elected officials.
On Tuesday, as part of Latino Advocacy Week, advocates and policymakers toured the site of the proposed Western Riverside County Wildlife Refuge.
Frank Ruiz, Salton Sea Program director with Audubon California, said low-income communities need better access to nature to decompress.
"It will improve the quality of life of many of those communities that may not have the opportunity to live in areas where they have better parks," said Ruiz. "They don't have open green areas. They don't have the infrastructure that many other communities have."
House Resolution 927, the Wildlife Refuge Conservation and Recreation for the Community Act, would establish the urban refuge. It has been introduced but has not had a hearing or a vote.
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