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| Maria Guerrero |
Mi Familia Vota is active in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas. About 21% of Colorado’s population identifies as Latino, and Mi Familia Vota has focused its voter engagement program to expand Latino voter participation through community organizing, citizenship, voter registration, voter education and Get-Out-the-Vote programs.
In this Q&A, Maria talk about her work in helping to leverage Mi Familia Vota’s strong networks locally to promote deeper civic engagement among the Latino community.
What is your primary charge at Mi Familia Vota?
I organize and coordinate outreach events at schools and the community. I meet and talk to people about issues that affect them, and establish relationships in the community. Through one-on-ones, I help link the mission of Mi Familia Vota with what the community needs.
I started in advocacy work in 2014. I was inspired by Salvador Hernandez spoke at New America High School, and talked about the different campaigns being led by Mi Familia Vota. His whole story was super-motivating to me. When he announced that they were hiring organizers, I was really interested in working for them.
I’m a bit shy, and I had no prior experience with activism and advocacy when I first joined Mi Familia Vota. But my role and my work have evolved, and I have changed. Now, I visit schools regularly and talk to students about why I do what I do. We’re at the frontlines of protests and direct action. Working for Mi Familia Vota has really changed me, and I also see that change in our volunteers that we’ve engaged in the work.
What are priorities of Mi Familia Vota in Colorado?
We help people become civically engaged. Our goal is to make sure that everybody who has the right to vote has the option to vote. Many people nowadays are discouraged from voting, but we are also seeing that many more are engaged and motivated to vote.
We work on voter registration. Some people think that once they turn 18, or if they become naturalized citizens, then they can automatically vote. But in our system, it doesn’t work that way. To be able to vote, people must be registered to vote. So at different events, we talk about the voting process. We explain that there are voter registration deadlines, so it’s not possible to vote last-minute.
We also host citizenship workshops to help residents become citizens, free of charge. We have lawyers who look through their applications. If everything goes well, then they get an appointment with an immigration officer. Once they pass their exam, they go on to become naturalized citizens in a ceremony. A lot of times, our staff gets to be right there to register them to vote, after they’ve completed their oath of citizenship.
We are a Latino-based organization, and we work to make sure that everyone has social and economic justice. We encourage community members with more rights or privileges than others to exercise them. We understand that even if you have a green card, you’re not eligible to vote. There are so many things you cannot do until you are a citizen.
In addition to immigration reform, we advocate for fair wages, education equity and environmental justice. There are many issues that are tied to the concerns of our community toward equity and fairness.
Given the termination of the DACA program, how is Mi Familia Vota providing support for “DACAmented” young people who are part of the process?
On the day of the announcement, we walked out with students who protested the decision. Many allies joined the rally. Our DACAmented youth are working or are in school, so it was really great to see allies turn out for the rally.
Since then, we’ve been hosting “Know Your Rights” meetings to provide information to the community. We are also using social media and our volunteer network to get information out to the community, because there’s still a lot of confusion about what the decision means.
For example, my situation is on the “best” side of the scenario right now. I just renewed my DACA even before the announcement was made. It doesn’t expire for another two years. For folks who need to renew, they have six months to get the process going. After that, there would be no more renewals. These are the kinds of details we share at the “Know Your Rights” meetings.
What are some of the concerns you’re hearing from community?
There are so many questions and concerns right now. When people applied for DACA, they provided a lot of information to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). People are concerned about whether they should change their address. They are concerned about what’s going to happen to them personally, and what will happen to their families.
There are many questions about employment, if they will continue to have their jobs. People are concerned about where they will live if they lose their jobs. Students in college are worried about whether their tuition rates will change from in-state to out-of-state. There’s a deep and definite fear of possibly getting deported, once DACA expires.
What do you find most challenging about the work?
Sometimes it gets upsetting and discouraging not to get the result you want, even after you’ve worked so hard to achieve a goal. You pour your heart and soul toward making something happen, and the results are not what you worked toward. Hope is always there, and it’s what keeps us going. It’s knowing that when something bad happens, something good is just around the corner. Once you’ve hit bottom, there’s no going down.
What can allies do to offer support?
It’s really important for anyone with the right to vote to exercise that right. Get involved and get informed on who’s running and what they believe in. Where do they stand? What’s their history? Allies can vote for representatives and elected officials who are going to protect justice and equality for all. For example, if supporting undocumented people is something they believe in, then I encourage them to be cautious of whom they’re choosing to represent our values.
At Mi Familia Vota, we always need volunteers to help with phone banking, community events, protests, and more. We need people to organize with us by reaching students in schools.
We need volunteers to help convince our young Latino voters to be engaged. In Latino culture, first- and second-generation tend to think that politics don’t matter, that politicians don’t work for us. This is America, and in our democracy, votes matter. We need help in showing young people the changes that have happened because people exercised their right to vote.
What do you consider as the most fulfilling part of your work?
We serve our community in so many ways, as we work with the undocumented, the DACAmented, residents who want to become citizens, and citizens who want to exercise their right to vote.
When people are joyful, that is really motivating. It’s inspiring to see when we’ve helped someone become a citizen, or after they’ve voted for the first time.
It’s inspiring to see people we work with grow and develop. We all start different levels of understanding the many issues we’re working on. I’ve seen so many of us in the work grow into leaders, and they are now developing other leaders. This makes our movement stronger, as we come together to work toward improving each other and serving the Latino community.
