NYC: We Are America Alliance

The Open Society Institute, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation and the New World Foundation

invite you to a discussion with the

We Are America Alliance

Tuesday, July 10, 2007   
8:30 am -11:00 am
Open Society Institute
400 W. 59th Street, 3rd Floor, between 9th and 10th Avenue, NY

(Breakfast will be served from 8:30 am – 9:00 am)

Please RSVP to Ronnie Garwood at [email protected] or (212) 207-6330 by July 6

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
In 2006, more than four million immigrants and their allies marched and spoke out for the rights and dignity of their communities.  In the aftermath of these unprecedented mobilizations, a diverse alliance of immigrant rights organizations, community organizations, ethnically-based organizations, ethnic media outlets and unions have identified increased civic participation by immigrants and new voters as an essential strategy for furthering the goals of those who seek the full participation of immigrants in U.S. civic life.  The We Are America Alliance currently has fifteen organizational members, all of whom work in immigrant communities with the aim of increasing civic and voter engagement.

Using demographic and electoral data, the Alliance is developing a shared list of priority program areas and goals for citizenship, voter registration, voter education and voter turnout that extends through 2008 and beyond.  The Alliance intends to develop a map of the immigrant civic participation work that needs to be done, and to collaborate on a plan for action that involves coordinating and reducing overlap.  Representatives of Alliance members will be sharing some preliminary information from this process at the discussion on July 10.

The We Are America Alliance represents a new level of trust and collaboration among immigrant civic participation organizations.  At the discussion on July 10, they will share some of the experiences they have had to date in developing the Alliance, which they hope will be a model for other collaborations seeking to increase the civic participation of other low-propensity voters.

PRESENTERS
Introductions:  Nancy Youman, Open Society Institute

Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition
Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union
Jorge Mursuli, National Executive Director, Democracia U.S.A.
Steve Kest, Executive Director, ACORN
Geri Mannion, Carnegie Corporation of NY (moderator)

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