Statewide Campaign Aims to Mobilize the Immigrant Vote

What: Final-Five-Days push to get out the vote among new citizen voters in 2006 Elections, including
door-to-door precinct walking, phone-banking, voter forums, etc.

When: Friday, November 3rd, through Election Day, November 7th.

Where: Throughout California – see partial list below for local events.

Who: Mobilize the Immigrant Vote is made up of over 150 campaign partner organizations throughout
California and is coordinated by a collaborative of diverse organizations committed to supporting the full
inclusion of immigrant communities in the political process. These coordinating committee organizations are:

Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC); California Partnership (CAP); Coalition for Humane
Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA); Korean Resource Center (KRC); Partnership for Immigrant
Leadership and Action (PILA); Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN).

Why: Making good on the theme “Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote!” from this spring’s historic and massive immigration reform demonstrations across the country, immigrant groups throughout California have launched a statewide campaign to increase the civic and voting participation of immigrants in the 2006 elections and beyond. Dubbed Mobilize the Immigrant Vote 2006 (MIV 2006), the campaign seeks to make the most of the growing interest in electoral and civic participation among immigrants. MIV has had tremendous success, engaging immigrants in our nation’s civic process at much higher rates than the average native-born voter.

“We are informing immigrants who are eligible to vote to take their concerns about immigration reform and other issues to the polls. In this country, a community's political power is measured by its votes so it is imperative that we encourage the immigrant vote in next week’s Elections and beyond to 2008,” asserts Larisa Casillas, director of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC), one of the MIV 2006 lead- organizations.

The following local organizations are a few of the many that are holding a variety of get-out-the-vote events over the next few days, and we invite the media to contact them for more information:

In the San Francisco Bay Area Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) Contact: Alex Tom 510.449.1172 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Chinese Filipinos for Affirmative Action Contact: Chris Punongbayan 510-465-9876 ext. 304 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Tagalog People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (¡PODER!) Contact: Antonio Díaz 415.431.4210 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Spanish	In Los Angeles Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) Contact: Alvaro Huerta 213.353.1789 [email protected] Languages spoken: English & Spanish Korean Resource Center Contact: JuhYung Lee 213.434.4267 cell [email protected] Languages Spoken: Korean & English Khmer Girls in Action Contact: Suely Ngouy 562.986.9415 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Khmer
In the South Bay (San Jose) Comité Cesar Chavez Contact: Lucy Hernandez 408.605.6227 cell [email protected] Languages spoken: Spanish & English Catholic Charities of Santa Clara Country Contact: Robert Yabes 408.325.5279 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Spanish	In the Inland Empire Center for Community Action on Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) Contact: Esther Portillo 909.645.1061 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Spanish
In San Diego Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) Contact: Abraham Aldrete 619.235.9593 [email protected] Languages: English & Spanish	In the Central Coast: People United for Economic Justice Building Leadership through Organizing (PUEBLO) Contact: Ana Rizo 805.252.6622 [email protected] Languages Spoken: English & Spanish