We Are America Alliance

Texas – On Thursday, July 10, 2008, a nationwide alliance of organizations will launch an unprecedented, nation-wide civic engagement movement called the We Are America Alliance (WAAA).  This Alliance is made up of immigrant rights organizations, ethnically-based organizations, and community and leadership organizations all across the country who have joined together in an effort to increase civic participation within immigrant communities.

The combined effort of the WAAA partners will register 500,000 new Latino, Asian and immigrant voters nationwide.  WAAA partners will work in 13 different states to 1,000,000+ Latino, Asian, and immigrant voters during a comprehensive GOTV effort, with Texas as one of the priority target states.  With a Hispanic electorate of more than two million and growing, the coordinated Texas effort will seek to engage and mobilize thousands of new, young, and infrequent voters in the state.  As the political landscape of Texas takes shape in 2008, the nonpartisan activities of the WAAA partner organizations will be an influential factor in the Latino turnout in the state.  The targets of this effort are young people under 25, newly naturalized citizens, and those least likely to vote (infrequent voters).  These voters are traditionally more likely to be overlooked by campaigns and more susceptible to being disenfranchised.  The grassroots outreach and internet strategies of WAAA, along with the unprecedented collaboration with ethnic media, will ensure that voters are informed, invited, and motivated to get out to vote on Election Day.

WHO:             Claudia Hogue, Houston Director of Civic Education, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund

                        Ben Monterroso, Executive Director, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund (MFVEF)

                        Danny Arellano, Member, El Paso ACORN

Moderator: Erica Bernal, Senior Director of Civic Engagement, NALEO Educational Fund

WHAT:          Launch of unprecedented civic engagement movement, the We Are America Alliance

WHERE:       Call-In Number: 1-800-895-1549

                        Conference ID: ALLIANCE

Program Title: We Are America Alliance Launch

WHEN:          Thursday, July 10th at 10:30am CST