Below is further information describing the many ways ¿Oíste? is involved with the Latino community.
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¿Oíste? has contracted Charles Group Consulting, a lobbying firm in the Boston area to conduct lobbying on behalf of the organization through the following activities: creation of the policy agenda - composed of all bills and budget items ¿Oíste? seeks to have enacted into law by the end of the legislative session; conduct all research on each item on the agenda; prepare comprehensive packets of material (talking points, myths and facts, case studies, etc.) that can be shared with policy makers; organize all aspects of the "Advocacy Day," including scheduling and all logistics necessary to carry out a successful day; setting up follow-up meetings with legislators and other policy makers for leadership of the community and working to advance the policy goals by the end of the legislative session; leveraging relatinoships to personally lobby for the successful outcome of each item on the agenda; conducting advocacy trainings for board and staff; research and define the scope of present as well as future policy initiatives that have direct and indirect bearing on the Latino community; serving as ¿Oíste?'s "eyes and ears" at the State House and in the community; and monitoring progress of all bills and budget items that have a bearing on the Latino community using the InstTrac legislative tracking and State House News. Funding for this activity is provided by the Funding Exchange.
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¿Oíste? a C4 organization is the first and only statewide Latino Political organization in Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance the social, political and economic standing of Latinos and Latinas in the state. We will endorse candidates who have demonstrated commitment to our mission. We will prioritize races in which Latinos are running for office and/or the Latino constituency of the district is more than 15%. As our endorsement process is issue-based, we will not attempt to endorse a candidate in every contested race nor will we automatically endorse a candidate because he/she is Latino/a. We seek to ensure that our endorsement process is as fair, transparent and inclusive as possible. Process Our endorsement process is as follows: Research will be done to identify contested races in the state. The board decides which races to evaluate for possible endorsements. - A questionnaire will be sent out to each candidate for the selected race (see Selected Races section below). Copies of the questionnaire will be sent to Committee members (see Committee composition below).
- The c4 board will convene an advisory committee to review the questionnaires and will give the c4 board its evaluation, recommendation and/or reservations (See Advisory Committee composition section below)
- At the discretion of the c4 Board, selected candidates or races may be selected for an interview process with the c4 board.
- The c4 board will take into consideration the evaluation, recommendations and/or reservations of the advisory committee. Endorsements will be made based on answers given to a questionnaire, past record of service to the Latino community, and support for key issues that affect the Latino community in Massachusetts.
Incumbent Endorsements ¿Oíste? may, from time to time, make a “friendly endorsement” of an incumbent in an uncontested race. In keeping with our mission, the endorsement will be based on an exemplary record of leadership on Latino issues. A friendly endorsement will also depend on the resources of ¿Oíste? and will take into consideration other races in which it has endorsed candidates. The lack of a “friendly endorsement” does not necessarily imply any dissatisfaction with that particular candidate. Advisory Committee Composition We are in the process of fine tuning the committee selection process. For the special election of the 3rd Suffolk District, the c4 board will act as the selection committee. In general, we seek the maximum participation of Latinos in the district, especially our members, volunteers and/or program participants. In an effort to create an environment where committee members can express opinions openly, specific information about individual members of the endorsement committee will be maintained in strict confidence if requested by a committee member. Each member must comply with the following requirements: - A minimum of three members
- Must live within the district where the endorsement in taking place
- Must have been active with the local Latino community and ¿Oíste? in one or all of the following areas in the past year:
- participated in an ¿Oíste? program
- volunteered at an ¿Oíste? event
- participated in voter registration/mobilization
- At least 90% of the committee must be Latino/a.
- A minimum of one c4 board member must be a part of each endorsement consideration.
Selection of Races ¿Oíste? reseves the right to select the races in which the organization will or will not participate. However ¿Oíste? will always strongly consider races where Latino candidates are running or in districts where there are high percentages of Latino residents. ¿Oíste? endorsements are not based on the ethnicity of the candidate and are not limited to Latinos candidates. ¿Oiste?’s endorsement process is based on the candidate’s involvement and support to the Latino community and his/her position on the issues that affect the Latino community. |
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Voter Registration and Mobilization |
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Until 2004, ¿Oíste? was engaged in creating and providing resoures for civic participation efforts, such as database development of newly registered voters, voter targeting lists, GOTV jingles, Bilingual Ed jingle, Clean Elections jingle, media strategy development, voting rights cards in Spanish, conducting caravans, and help coordinate voter registration drives at Festivals. In 2004, in partnership with the Puerto Rican Office for Administration and Federal Affairs registered 10,000 Latinos and mobilized 12,000 to vote statewide. Today, we have focused our participation in this area in offering limited non-partisan customized assistance, volunteers for phone banking and canvassing, interpreters for Election Day, and assistance with voter mobilization strategy and electoral activities.
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The civic education and issue trainings are two-hour preliminary trainings that help introduce ¿Oíste? to other organizations, often creating partnerships in several ventures. The civic education trainings promote civic engagement by providing participants with information about governing entities, the electoral system and the legislative process. The issue trainings typically take place during election season to help educate Latino voters about important upcoming issues that might impact them.
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¿Oíste? has been actively engaged in protecting the voting rights for people of color across the state. The organization has helped garner major victories in legal battles relative to redistricting in Boston (2003), against the requirement of voter ID's in Lawrence (2002), for the requirement of Spanish language poll workers in Boston (2006), against voters being placed on inactive lists in Lawrence (2007), and against the at-large system in Springfield (2007). These efforts helped establish community and government oversight committees such as the Boston Voting Rights Task Force and Lawrence Voting Rights Task Force. ¿Oíste? was also instrumental in educating Latinos and advocating against ballot measures to eliminate Bilingual Education in Massachusetts and in support of implementing Clean Elections in 2003. Through their advocacy efforts, ¿Oíste? has been able to garner the attention of mainstream media, including The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Phoenix, Boston Magazine and regional papers such as The Eagle Tribune in Lawrence, The Worcester Telegram and Gazette in Worcester, and The Republican in Springfield.
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