Nuestro Trabajo
Our programs and priorities reflect our commitment to our gente by experimenting and innovating because they are worth us figuring out how to make their civic involvement worth their most precious resource — their time. bell hooks captures the spirit of how we will approach our work in the following statement:
“Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
2024 PRIORITIES
- Increase and expand Latinx voter turnout and co-governance.
- Facilitate civic education that is rooted in power-building and self-efficacy.
- Build a political home of authentic belonging for young Latinxs.
CORE STRATEGIES
- ELECTORAL ENGAGEMENT – Make impactful connections with Latinx voters
- CIVIC EDUCATION – Making civic education accessible, engaging, and fun!
- BUILDING COMMUNITY – Building community around shared values and by leveraging our cultural richness.
Approaches
Building Community • Collaboration • Voter Outreach
Our signature event curates a joyful civic education opportunity for newish Latinx voters who have voted less than twice. At Ballots y Belleza our voters get pampered with a free beauty service while a Poder Ambassador walks them through their sample ballot informing them of each office on their ballot. Our goal is to ensure that community members, voters and non-voters, are confident and informed on how to use one of their most powerful tools – their voice.
We are committed to creating opportunities for connection and celebration with our network of Poderoses! We invite our supporters to join these events to connect with one another, learn of civic engagement opportunities, meet elected and appointed leaders, and celebrate together.
Since 2020, Poder has been hosting culturally informed Parties at the Polls. In 2020 we built Day of the Dead altars across the state in Latinx dense precincts. These were places of honoring and sharing our traditions, foods, and culture while sparking conversations about civic participation. In 2022 we hosted our EmPóderate Tour where once again we brought the party to the polls with a tour-like approach highlighting our food and music to ensure voters stayed in line to cast their votes.
Doing work that gets us close to the full liberation of all people is something that cannot be done alone. We take great pride in coalescing with others who share our commitment to living into our values and highest version of ourselves.
2023 Statewide Youth Summit – We host an annual statewide youth summit with values-aligned c4 partners to host sessions to expand our supporters’ electoral and organizing skills. This serves as a launch pad for the electoral work and energy that we need in order to help our base gain self-efficacy.
2024 Southern Summit – “In turbulent eras of our country’s history, there emerge moments that stand as flashpoints of hope, rallying cries where the forces of justice and equality converge to challenge the prevailing darkness. The 2024 Southern Summit is such a moment—a critical juncture in the ongoing battle against fascism and white supremacy. Rooted in the South, where beacons of progressivism abound but often go unnoticed, this summit marks a significant stride toward a more just and inclusive society.”
Co-Executive Director, Irene Godínez, joins other southern organizers to provide The Landscape of the South at the inaugural Southern Summit in June, 2024.
We keep pushing the envelope with all of our voter outreach efforts, innovating and experimenting, in order to disrupt the political noise that comes with every election cycle. We are imagining bold, audacious Latinx voter participation and centering our voices while remaining grounded in our rich cultural heritage. Most importantly, we lead our voter outreach efforts with truth and transparency.
Mail – We kicked off our voter mail program in 2020 with loteria inspired mailers. These doubled up as artwork while also informing voters about the candidates and positions. In 2022 we produced graphic novel inspired mailers to inform and educate voters.
Digital – We are reimagining voter participation to be a right of passage that Latinx youth look forward to the same way they await their quinceñera, graduations, or other major life milestone. In 2024 we are launching a first of its kind mini novela series, inspired by Jane the Virgin and traditional Latinx novelas to provide civic education. Stay tuned!
