Hispanic Faith, Community, and Labor Leaders Launch  Ecumenical Campaign “Vote with Faith”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:  Ericka Gómez-Tejeda | 407.487.9225 | Ericka@hablamosespanolfl.org

Jackie Smith | 989-576-1996 | jsmith@poderlatinx.org

PRESS RELEASE

Hispanic Faith, Community, and Labor Leaders Launch 

Ecumenical Campaign “Vote with Faith” urge their community to vote and to guide their political engagement by shared values, address political misinformation, and bring dialogue to electoral campaigns    

(Kissimmee, Florida)  After a bruising 2020 statewide electoral campaign that cost Florida Hispanics political representation in both major parties and at the State and Federal levels, Hispanic leaders in the ecumenical-community-labor coalition, Hablamos Español Florida (HEF) rallied in front of the Office of the Osceola Supervisor of Elections on the first official week of the 2022 election cycle, and called on all political parties, candidates, faith, and community members to heal the community from the politics of division, and launched an ecumenical electoral campaign “Vota con Fe” (Vote with Faith) to bring unity and progress to the Latin American communities in Florida.

“We call on our Hispanic community to join together in these elections so that we can allow our votes to reflect the life of love to God and our neighbors that Jesus invited us to live. We want our votes to give Cesar what Cesar is due, but we also want our votes to serve as votes to give God what God is due: love to Him and our communities.  Let us not be divided by politics especially on this month when we honor and remember the 49 lives of mostly Latines, LGBTQ¡, and immigrants who were murdered at the Pulse nightclub in consequence of the politics of division that don’t serve any of our communities.” highlighted Pentecostal Bishop David M. Maldonado of Christ International Church in Apopka, and Secretary-Treasurer of HEF.

As part of the Vota con Fe campaign, coalition members will engage voters with a “Beatitudes Reflections Voting Guide” based on the values recognized across all Christian denominations in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. “Today’s Beatitudes are those without family, or mental health.  They are the essential workers, victims of violence, and those who are marginalized simply because they don’t speak English, or because of their sexual orientation, or who are immigrants, or women, or were encarcerated, or are disabled.  We are talking about today’s children separated from their families, victims of bullying or murders in schools, and those who are persecuted for the color of their skin,” said Seventh Day Adventist Sr. Pastor Abel Morrobel, co-President of Hablamos Español Florida.   

To highlight this point, individual members of the coalition shared their personal experiences that they say are widely shared challenges facing Florida Hispanics today.  “While there is division in these moments, my family and I are going through a difficult time paying the rent,” said Miriam Echevarria, a Puerto Rican survivor of hurricane Maria. “Between my income and my husband’s social security check, it’s not enough to pay the rent and utilities, now that my rent suddenly increased by $300/month.  We need help with either lower rents or higher pay to keep up.” 

   

Central Florida union leader Nancy Luna, who arrived from Mexico City 26 years ago, highlighted the need to provide economic opportunities at the community level for Spanish speakers.  “While I was overjoyed to have my elderly parents near me again when they arrived several years ago, it was very difficult for me to watch them have to start all over again in cleaning jobs or washing dishes after their lifelong careers as accountants in Mexico, and all because they don’t speak English.” 

The Vota con Fe campaign also includes a “Trust Network” designed to establish a community infrastructure for mutual aid needs and to respond to political disinformation disproportionately impacting the Hispanic communities, and mobilize voters to the polls.  “There was a time during COVID that the only thing some politicians cared about was keeping the economy afloat. They denied that COVID was real, they discouraged vaccinations, and Black and Brown communities disproportionately paid the price with our lives. While officials misinformed and politicized our communities, they did not prioritize the lives of Latino essential workers like my uncle,  who was a school custodian forced to return to work, and who ended up getting COVID and passing away after 72 days of fighting for his life. Poder Latinx works with churches and trusted religious leaders to inform, engage, and mobilize the Latinx community to the polls,” shared Nancy Batista, Field Director of Poder Latinx. 

Finally, the faith leaders in the coalition will organize community healing events “Conversations with Faith” in politically polarized Latine communities to encourage dialogue and civility.  

Central Florida is home to the largest group of monolingual Spanish speaking US citizens from Puerto Rico in the state.  Hablamos Español Florida (We Speak Spanish Florida) is a non-partisan, not for profit, ecumenical-community-labor coalition made up of Florida Hispanic organizations and individuals focused on social justice for all Spanish speakers, especially those who don’t speak English. The coalition was started last year in response to the disinformation that impacted Florida Hispanics and ended up costing a disproportionate loss of lives to Covid, as well as the loss of political representation in both major political parties throughout the state. Through the Vacúnate con Fe campaign, they organized 5,000 community vaccinations in churches of diverse Faiths in mostly Spanish speaking communities in 6 Central Florida counties, organized blood drives during the blood shortage crisis, and joined scores of Faith leaders from across the state who advocated (unsuccessfully) in Tallahassee to prevent funding cuts to the organizations caring for undocumented children.   

Organizational member partners include the Central Florida Labor Council for Latin American Affairs of Central Florida (CF-LCLAA), Delma Law, Fusion Pastoral Ministry, LLC, the Iglesia Adventista del Septimo Dia de Lake Buena Vista, Iglesia Internacional de Cristo, Mi Vecino, Prende el Quinque, and Poder Latinx. 

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