Updates

From Mobilize the Immigrant Vote!

Patricia Diaz, Executive Director of Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)

The child of immigrant parents from Durango and Guanajuato, Mexico, Patricia Diaz grew up in the small rural town of Soledad, California. She was raised in an environment full of rules and structures because they lived on an agricultural company ranch. In college, Ms. Diaz became engaged in the fight against Proposition 187, which sought to deny undocumented immigrants access to health care, education, and social services. This was a formative time for her and became a vehicle to leverage the experiences of her childhood into a trajectory of activism and leadership.

“After Proposition 187, we saw Proposition 227 and Proposition 209, which sought to eliminate bilingual education and affirmative action,” says Ms. Diaz, “I saw our state moving backwards rather than forwards. I had attended a K-8 school in a poor rural community with just 50 students, which taught me about the need for bilingual and quality education. Our school was always last in its scores, not because the students weren’t smart, but because of the lack of resources. Affirmative action helped open doors for me, and I felt a strong pull to take on these attacks on our communities and be a part of positive social change. I studied social work which was how I began to learn more about oppression. It was so powerful to understand the commonalities that women, people of color, and immigrants faced. In a social policy class, I saw the key role of public policy in affecting the options which poor and marginalized communities have access to. That was a turning point for me where I became clear on my life purpose – to improve the lives of poor communities and to ensure that poor and immigrant communities themselves take the lead in these changes.”

Today, Ms. Diaz is the Executive Director of Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN) in San Jose. SIREN began as an ad-hoc coalition of immigrant rights activists and advocates in 1987 and has evolved to become one of the premiere immigrant rights organizations of Northern California with a leadership role in the California Immigrant Policy Center, the California Table of Reform Immigration for America, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote, and California Partnership. SIREN participates actively in regional and local networks affecting immigrants and refugees and is an emerging national leader promoting immigrant rights and services for immigrants. SIREN is unique among immigrant rights organizations in that it combines policy work, community organizing, and direct services.

Nunu Kidane, Director of the Priority Africa Network (PAN)

At the age of 20, Nunu Kidane fled war and became a refugee. Her path took her from Ethiopia to Eritrea to Sudan to West Africa to Europe and finally to the United States. “Like a lot of refugees and immigrants,” says Ms. Kidane, “I always planned to return home. It was traumatic enough to leave my country, let alone to consider the idea of never returning. “

“When I came to the United States,” she continues, “I realized that there were many assumptions that were made about me, as an African, and about my race as a Black woman that I didn’t understand. There was very little knowledge of the issues in Africa. I felt I needed to play a role in changing the conversation about African immigrant and refugees and about Africa. In 2003, we founded the Priority Africa Network (PAN) to make ‘Africa a priority agenda’ – we sought to connect immigrant communities from different African countries with the urgent needs in Africa and to promote broader education about Africa within the United States.”

“Since our founding, we have sought to connect the African immigrant and refugee communities more directly with other immigrant communities, with the African American community, and with the broader efforts for civic engagement and social change. Four years ago, we started the African Diaspora Dialogues in which African immigrants engage with African American on issues of race, identity, culture and more. While these conversations are quite complex and long-term, they have been transformative for many of the participants.”

From the Census to Redistricting

Last year, MIV provided an update on the importance of community outreach for the 2010 Census, particularly in immigrant communities where multilingual outreach is especially important. Since then, the U.S. Census Bureau has released the 2010 Census data that show California’s growing diverse population.

Data for California show that among the five most populous incorporated cities are Los Angeles, 3,792,621; San Jose, 945,942; and San Francisco, 805,235. Los Angeles grew by 2.6% since the 2000 Census, San Jose grew by 5.7%, and San Francisco grew by 3.7%.

Since 2000, some of the largest counties include Los Angeles with a population growth of 3.1%, San Diego (increase of 10.0%), Orange (increase of 5.8%), Riverside (increase of 41.7%), and San Bernardino (increase of 19.1%).

Among these counties, immigrant populations are among the state’s fastest growing communities. The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population grew significantly, representing 33.6% growth in the last decade. The Hispanic or Latino population has grown from 10,966,556 to 14,013,719, representing 27.8% growth. In comparison, the state’s overall population grew to approximately 37 million in 2010, representing 10.0% growth.

Taking into account population shifts since the 2000 Census, this information is being used in the redistricting process. A powerful new Commission, established by the passage of Proposition 11 in 2008, will determine California’s new Congressional, Assembly, State Senate, and Board of Equalization districts. California’s new 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission is tasked with redrawing these boundaries.

A Pathway to Prosperity for California

In March, the Governor signed a budget that made $12 billion dollars in cuts with $6 billion directly cut from vital health and human service programs like CalWORKs, Medi-Cal, and Healthy Families. With nearly $15 billion dollars left to address, the Governor engaged in negotiations with legislators to include much-needed revenue. In response, they asked for a pet-project list of 53 demands. At that point negotiations stalled as two Republicans from both the Assembly and the Senate were needed to put the Governor’s revenue package on a June ballot.

On May 16, Governor Brown released his May Revise Proposal for the state budget. The Governor has maintained his call for additional revenues to pay off some of the state’s structural debt and bridge the state’s remaining $9.6 billion dollar deficit. In this proposal, he eliminates 43 boards and commissions, realigns management of some programs, and modified some of his original revenue proposals. The major health service shift proposed by the Governor involves moving children enrolled in Healthy Families into Medi-Cal (under the Department of Health Care Services). This would result in the elimination of MRMIB (the Major Risk Medical Insurance Board), which currently administers Healthy Families.

Governor Brown continues to propose the extension of existing revenue streams that would help stabilize and secure programs serving California’s hard-working families to the Legislature. California needs these revenues to close the budget gap. Without a 2/3 vote to support extending existing revenue streams, the other option – an all-cuts budget that eliminates vital services – would harm all Californians. Legislators must face the reality of our budget crisis and demonstrate conscientious efforts to build a pathway to prosperity for California.

Job Announcement: Capacity Building Program Manager

This position is now filled.
Job Announcement – Open May 10, 2011
Start date June 2011 (open until Filled)
Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) is a non-partisan California coalition of organizations based in immigrant communities that work to advance the broader movement for social change by building immigrant voting power. [...]