LULAC Civic Engagement Campaign to Benefit from the Generous Support of the Comcast Foundation
January 27, 2012
Contact: Paloma Zuleta, pzuleta@lulac.org, (202) 812-4477
Washington, D.C. – The League of United Latin American Citizens will benefit from the generous support of the Comcast Foundation which will go to fund a civic engagement campaign that will employ a three-pronged approach to political empowerment that includes voter registration, digital literacy, and grassroots mobilization. LULAC will host electronic voter registration drives that use computers to register people to vote, while simultaneously teaching Internet use to participants.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 48.4 million Latinos reside in the U.S.—the voting booth should be a reflection of the population. Latinos that take advantage of the opportunities that LULAC presents can become politically empowered to enable the election of officials that support a platform that benefits the Latino community.
“Learning to use the Internet can be a difficult task,” stated LULAC Executive Director Brent Wilkes. “LULAC’s time and efforts to help the Latino community engage in the voting process can also facilitate the learning process. While participants register to vote online, they additionally learn how to work a computer, and most importantly, the Internet. With the Comcast Foundation’s support, LULAC’s campaign improves Latino voter turn-out and promotes digital literacy, which ultimately narrows the digital divide.”
This is not the first time that LULAC has strongly advocated for bringing low income people Internet access. In the past, LULAC’s collaboration with companies like Comcast have resulted in programs like Internet Essentials which make Internet service and computer equipment affordable to low income individuals. Under the program, families who have at least one child receiving free school lunch through the National School Lunch Program are eligible for discounted Internet services, training and computers at low cost.
“We are proud of Comcast for taking the initiative and establishing the ground with Internet Essentials,” said LULAC Executive Director Brent Wilkes. “Programs like Internet Essentials are critical in order for Latino families to bridge the digital divide and one that the FCC and other LULAC partners will look for as the footprint for creating similar programs. We hope to see more industry investment in the Latino community to help them adopt broadband.”
The generous Comcast grant will support LULAC’s goal of increasing civic engagement among Latinos since the campaign provides electronic voter registration drives. To take advantage of the voter registration drive, citizens would visit the registration station where several computers are made available for registration. The civic engagement campaign does not take note of voter’s political preference and is not tied with any political party.
Relying on a bottom-up approach to political and social change, the civic engagement campaign additionally sponsors grassroots mobilization which will benefit more than five states. This form of collective action ensures that social issues are viewed as concerns of the individual and therefore motivates citizens to seek out social justice to inequities that exist within the Latino population. Specific community issues are targeted as problems and are addressed in citizen-created solutions through this portion of LULAC’s civic engagement campaign.
About LULAC: The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating through 900 LULAC councils nationwide. For more information, visit www.lulac.org