In 2020, NAHREP advocacy has been hard at work

Celebrating NAHREP familia, cultura, politics, and grassroots action

December 17, 2020

Qué onda mi gente?!

As we slowly say goodbye to 2020, it’s important to spend some time reflecting. A lot has happened and I don’t think many of us have had any opportunity to process everything we’ve been through.

Personally, I’ve been go go go all year. I, like many of you, lost someone very special to me to COVID-19 this year. To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to process this loss, nor the seismic changes we’ve gone through this year. Over the break, I hope to spend some time just reflecting, making my peace with things and choosing what it is that I want to take with me into 2021. I hope all of you will join me in that. This year has definitely been one of growth and that is the greatest silver lining.

In 2020, NAHREP advocacy has been hard at work

One of the things I’m proudest of is our advocacy operation we created through 2020. We went from an almost nonexistent grassroots advocacy operation to a full fledged National Advocacy Committee that is making their voices heard throughout the country.

• NAHREP has instituted state delegations, where Government Affairs Directors from each chapter meet once a month to discuss local and statewide issues to coordinate our local and state specific advocacy.
• While growing our grassroots tool, we have launched a total of 7 policy campaigns and have sent a total of 1,327 messages to elected officials.
• Governors and U.S. Senators have participated in several chapter virtual events and there has been such beautiful excitement and passion throughout our membership.

I’m so proud of everyone and of all of the work that our amazing NAC Regionals have done to grow our advocacy operation. So much love for Rachel Briseño Bruno, Josie Anderson, Steven Pagan, Denisse Roldán-Newell, Edwin Acevedo, Lucy Guzman, Hugo Romero, Rebecca Soto, Camilo Escalante, Cristian Correa, Joe Nery, Neil Terc, Neily Soto, Rick Guerrero, Raquel Lavender, Joe Castillo and Rosario Lawrence our NAC regionals who laying the seeds for what will become the most influential Latino organization in the country.. And of course, none of this could have been done without the enormous passion and institution building that Jaimie Smerarski has done to build our efforts. All of you were my favorite thing of 2020. Oh, and my niece and nephew being born, of course.

So thank to each and every one of you who have responded to a call to action, who have participated in our efforts and who have spread the word to truly be “La Voz of Hispanic Homeownership.” I love you all.

But before we go. We still have a few campaigns going on in 2020. Please take a second to press send so that we leave this year with a bang and say, “In 2020, NAHREP spoke up.”

Urge your Senators to pass the National Museum of the American Latino Act

For the past 25 years, Latino members of Congress have been working on establishing a Latino Smithsonian museum at our nation’s capital that celebrates the enormous historical, economic, political, and cultural contributions of the Latino community. There is an African American museum, a Native American museum, but the nation’s second largest demographic does not have a claim at the national mall as of yet.

During my first year out of college, I had the privilege of working in Congressman Xavier Becerra’s office, now our future Secretary of Health and Human Services, where one of my assignments was to gain support for a bill he was championing related to this very museum. That was 15 years ago! But Rome wasn’t built in a day.

In July 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.2420 – the National Museum of the American Latino Act. This long awaited museum act passed in the House by unanimous consent, with more than 290 bipartisan cosponsors illuminating its strong support.

However, last week, the bill was blocked in the U.S. Senate before it ever made it to the Senate floor for a vote. Senator Mike Lee of Utah stated, “the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation within an array of separate but equal museums of hyphenated identity groups.”

Come on, that’s not ok. Let’s let our Senators know we need them to push this bill forward before the end of the year by participating in the following campaign today.

Urge your Senators to pass a new pandemic relief bill before the holiday break

And the stimulus saga continues. Once again, Congress seems to be at the brink of reaching an agreement on a stimulus package. The latest? It seems like it’s going to include another round of stimulus checks.

What’s at stake? Aside from the fact that once again infection rates are flaring and shutdowns are happening all over the country, communities across the nation cannot wait for political bickering any longer. A stimulus package must be passed before Members of Congress go home for the holiday break.

17 million households are at risk of losing their homes, many of whom are people of color. Not to mention the small landlords, including many of you in the NAHREP network, who are also struggling and we cannot let people forget that. If renters can’t make rent, landlords can’t make their mortgages — or pay utilities, or taxes, or all of the extra upkeep costs associated with COVID-19 health protections.

The Centers for Disease Control’s nationwide eviction ban is expiring on December 31. A new study found that evictions may accelerate COVID-19 transmission, linking the eviction moratoria expiration in 27 states to 433,700 additional cases and 10,700 additional deaths.

Rental relief, small landlord relief, extension of the eviction and foreclosure moratorium, and overall assistance for small businesses are critical. We can no longer wait. Act now and send one more email to your U.S. Senator today!

Happy holidays to all of you! We will be taking a break from our weekly blog over the holidays but we can’t wait to see you next year.

Un abrazo enorme!