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Chicanos Por La Causa has announced the launch of a separate advocacy arm to tackle social injustice and equity issues through political participation and community empowerment. “CPLC has its roots in advocacy,” CPLC President & CEO David Adame, who serves as chairman of CPLC Action Fund, which is overseen by an independent board separate from the 501(C)(3) nonprofit. CPLC Action Fund is expected to have an impact in the 2020 election through its Latino voter empowerment efforts. Afterward, the 501(C)(4) nonprofit will use community-based activism and advocacy to further the social mission of CPLC areas of impact in education, housing, health & human services and economic development. Adame said it is “unacceptable” that many of the same issues adversely affecting Latinos and other underserved communities in 1969 when CPLC was established, continue today in various ways and degrees. CPLC Action Fund also will advance the leadership role of Latinos to better reflect the available resources and demographics of today and tomorrow. “There has been incremental change, but we need systemic and generational change. It is time we take a greater hands-on role in advocacy than is permitted under the 501(C)(3). With CPLC Action Fund, we now will be able to actively address challenges at the front of the policy pipeline instead of being forced to deal only with whatever problems come out at the end of the pipeline as a nonprofit service provider,” he said. A nonpartisan organization, CPLC Action Fund had some limited activity during the 2020 primary but will have greater participation in the 2020 general election through voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote efforts, as well as endorsements and campaign support via its CPLC Action Fund PAC, said Joseph Garcia, executive director of CPLC Action Fund. “It is said there will come a time in the near future when a candidate cannot win an election without the Latino vote. Rather than passively await for such a day, CPLC Action Fund is accelerating the process so that today is that day when elections are directly decided because of the active engagement of the Latino vote,” Garcia said. The advocacy organization will leverage the CPLC brand for improved public policy and political advancement of Latino issues. “The CPLC Action Fund PAC endorsement will be the gold standard for political endorsement,” he said. In addition to election activity, CPLC Action Fund will utilize social media, email, text campaigns and events to support engaged community activism on vital issues ranging from affordable housing to immigration, education to COVID relief, health care to economic empowerment. CPLC Action Fund will be active in states where CPLC operates. “We want to give voice to the larger Latino community who feels more comfortable in advocacy with a respected community-based leader with a proven track record of 50-plus years in advancing the cause through pragmatic partnerships,” said Garcia. “CPLC is about building bridges, not burning them.” Support for the nonprofit will come from donors – both large and small – who have aligned values in viewing Latinos as an essential attribute to our nation’s collective future culturally, socially, economically and politically, Garcia said. “No longer can our state relegate Latino issues to secondary-issue status deigned for second-class citizens,” said Garcia, who joined CPLC last November as its director of public policy. “No longer can we have Latino issues on one hand and Arizona issues on the other hand. There is but one Arizona, and Latinos embody that fact through workforce, leadership, political power and across the board. CPLC Action Fund will ensure that fact is respected, activated and utilized.” For further information, visit the website at <a href="https://cplcactionfund.org/">CPLCActionFund.org</a>.

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