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In 2000 we began our volunteer work with different social service agencies that served the Latinx community. From there we acquired skills in coordinating English classes for immigrant and refugee adults at direct service organizations. We taught English as a Second Language in the “traditional English” style and quickly found that what students needed the most was information about the U.S. immigration system. Therefore, our teaching group changed the English classes into “Know your rights” English classes. We developed a curriculum that intersected these areas, and were incredibly successful in educating the Latinx community about their rights as immigrants in the U.S. Although this was an important service, we quickly learned that in order to truly support our community we would have to promote a long-term and systematic change. We joined organizations working to create social change, and from there we acquired new organizing skills that we applied to our specific communities’ needs. Still, this made us understand that change must come from leadership in our own communities. Thus, Latino Advocacy was created in 2010 in order to help organizations and grassroots groups led by people of color to build movements that were not only led by directly people with experience, but that addressed larger issues that could lead to real change.
Celebrating a decade of operation, Latino Advocacy has been inspired and motivated by the grassroots movements and groups operating outside of the mainstream narrative fighting for racial, reproductive, gender, climate and immigrant justice. Many of these groups have asked for Latino Advocacy's support and solidarity, the following are a list of some of the grassroots, people of color led groups that Latino Advocacy is honored to be currently working with, for both pro-bono and paid work:
La Resistencia, MiJente, Detention Watch Network, Got Green, Comite de Derechos Humanos Forks, Georgia Latino Human Rights Alliance, Detained Immigrant Solidarity Committee, and Mujer al Volante.
La Resistencia
Got Green?
Detention Watch Network
Mijente
Our hope is to be part of a systematic change that ends white supremacy by supporting the grassroots led by people of color fighting for racial, reproductive, and immigrant justice.