|
thru Action
Middle and low--income families are not sharing in our state's remarkable prosperity. Yet, too many Californians do not believe we can make life better by working together. The obstacles facing these Californians are not being addressed from city hall to our state capitol and beyond. And those who are falling the most behind, have been the least active. We need to change that.
The problems that matter to working families are familiar:
- the rapidly rising cost of our healthcare, is making a doctors visit unaffordable for millions in the Golden State;
- too many of our schools are falling apart, too many of our teachers lack the training they need to teach our children; the result is half of Latino and African-American kids do not graduate from high school;
- after decades of little new construction, our rent and our mortgages are breaking our family's budgets; as a result, many of us have no choice but to live in overcrowded and substandard conditions;
- because our paychecks are failing to keep up, too many of us are working second and third jobs; and now both parents are forced to work;
- and when we are not working, we take our families to our local parks which are understaffed and in disrepair.
But year after year, these problems go virtually unaddressed. Why? One cause is clear. The well-to-do vote more often; those struggling to make ends meet vote less often. Why should politicians stir the pot about the Have Nots when it is the Haves that get them elected!
Latinos Are Progressive; But Have Low Participation Levels
We need to ensure elected officials to speak to our issues. Latino voters more are more progressive. Overwhelmingly, they are low-to-moderate income, renters not home owners, with children in public education, live in high crime rate communities, and do not have family health care coverage. In addition, they tend to support preservation of the environment, investment in public works projects and hopeful that government can help remove barriers and create opportunities.
However, as a community we have low civic participation. There are 2.7 million legal permanents residents eligible to become citizens who have not done so. And in the next few years, another 2.7 million are expected to become eligible. Imagine 5.4 million immigrant voters.
While the political growth of the Latino community are there for the taking, few are taking the long and hard steps to build political power in our communities. That is where SOL comes in.
SOL Strengthens our Lives through Action
|
|
|
