Voces Unidas hosted a delegation of 18 participants and staff during our second annual National Latino Advocacy Day (LAD) on Capitol Hill on the heels of our second annual Capitol Briefing to present data from the 2024 Colorado Latino Policy Agenda (CLPA) report, both in partnership with Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity & Reproductive Rights (COLOR).
Co-hosted by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, the Capitol Briefing is an opportunity for us to share with federal leaders insights into the demographic makeup and views of Latino voters in Colorado on pressing policy, political, and social issues. The 2024 CLPA report was just released last week in Denver.
By combining it with National Latino Advocacy Day this year, we were able to emphasize the results of our research by using it in our face-to-face meetings with federal policymakers. Following issue briefings and how to effectively advocate for issues critical to our community, leaders met with either members of Congress or their key legislative staff to discuss policies focused on economic justice, health care and reproductive justice, immigration justice, and climate justice, all of which emerged as top priority issues for Latino voters in 2024.
Economic issues dominated the list of concerns for Latino voters in the 2024 CLPA, who ranked addressing inflation and the rising cost of living as their top policy priorities. People of color have long faced economic injustice rooted in historical, systemic, and institutionalized discrimination. As a starting point, we need Congress and the federal government to implement a more progressive tax system where the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay their fair share; raise the minimum wage to a livable wage; implement universal health care regardless of economic status; invest in attainable housing for all; introduce rent controls to protect renters; fund homeownership programs; strengthen anti-discrimination laws and practices in employment, housing and other areas of economic life; increase funding for unemployment insurance, food assistance and child care programs; and provide grants and access to capital for small businesses owned by people of color.
We believe access to health care is a human right, regardless of immigration status. We need Congress and the federal government to protect reproductive health rights and access; ensure health insurance plans are accessible to Latinos regardless of immigration status; expand Medicaid and Medicare to increase health care coverage for all; implement policies to improve social determinants of health; conduct targeted public health campaigns to raise awareness of preventive care, mental health and chronic disease; reduce health care costs; require culturally competent care across the healthcare system; fund language services to improve communication; invest in rural health care programs; and increase investment in community-led models to connect people to care.
On immigration, we need Congress and the federal government to fix our broken immigration system; create pathways to legal status and citizenship; prioritize policies that keep families together; fully staff the immigration system to process cases in a timely matter; approve humane border policies that respects human rights; fund efforts to address root causes of forced migration; expand legal protections and resources for immigrants like access to legal representation; guarantee labor protections for all immigrant workers; increase access to healthcare regardless of immigration status; strengthen and enforce anti-discrimination laws to combat racism and xenophobia; and invest in community programs that support immigrant integration.
Environmental and climate issues disproportionately impact Latinos in Colorado. We need Congress and the federal government to approve stricter environmental regulations; adopt climate resilience policies prioritizing at-risk communities; enact laws to combat environmental racism; improve healthcare access in at-risk communities; fund health monitoring programs; ensure equitable access to renewable energy; fund community-led environmental justice work and community research; ensure that no single group of people bears an undue share of negative environmental consequences; and mandate fair community involvement in all environmental decisions.
It's not a short list of requests. But the list of challenges facing the Latino community is even longer. These are merely building blocks we are adding to the cornerstones of our annual CLPA reports and LAD efforts.
We appreciate all the local leaders who sacrificed time with their families to be with us in DC.
