Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania became an imperative choice for expansion due to its rapidly growing and diverse Hispanic population. Because of Pennsylvania’s wealth of diversity, Democracia Ahora (D-Ahora) opened two strategically located offices in the Keystone State; the first to serve the Southeastern population of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the second centrally located in Reading. D-Ahora provides a distinctive opportunity in Pennsylvania to more than 394,000 Hispanics that live here, and the thousands that are moving into the state every year. In 2006, D-Ahora saw great civic engagement potential in the state and continues its successful operations in Philadelphia and Reading under the local expert leadership of Pennsylvania State Director Miguel Concepcion Thomas. Below is a brief report of Democracia Ahora and Democracia USA’s work in Pennsylvania.

2008-2009 Democracia USA Pennsylvania Statewide Report

• Registered over 34,000 new Latino voters in 2008 and mobilized over 90% of them to vote in the 2008 General Election
• Registered new Hispanic voters through volunteer voter registration drives in 2009
• Worked with nationally-recognized environmental groups and local organizations to organize an Action Day which educated the local Latino community about green jobs and environmental issues.
• The Action Day put Philadelphia in second place nationally with signed petitions for the Green Jobs Now Campaign
• Organized the Reading School Districts Parent Teacher Association to address the differences between the Latino students and African-American students
• Educated the Latino Community about the digital television transition and provided technical support to the elderly by connecting their digital boxes and setting them to the correct frequencies
• Trained and graduated 24 Latino leaders in the Pennsylvania premier of the Democracia USA Leadership Academy in partnership with I-Lead in 2009
• Organized the Latino community in support of the PA HCAN (Healthcare for America Now) coalition, mobilizing the Latino community around the Health care reform bill and taking members to Washington for a Day of action in DC and around PA.
• Worked with the RIFA (Reform Immigration For American) and PA partners to mobilize Latinos throughout the State of PA. One of the greatest accomplishments was mobilizing over 500 Latinos to the March of America in DC. This helped neutralize Congressman Patrick Murphy of the 8th Congressional district in PA in support of CIR.
• Securing support from Congressman Chaka Fattah of the 2nd Congressional District as one of the first congressmen in support of CIR in PA.
• Educated Latinos on the importance of being counted in the 2010 Census

Democracia Southeast Pennsylvania
2702 North 5th St
Philadelphia, PA 19133
Phone: 215-425-7540
Fax: 215-425-5715
Contact: info@democracia-ahora.org

Democracia Central Pennsylvania
502 Walnut Street
Reading, PA 19601
Phone: 610 373-7890
Fax: 610 373-7894
Contact: info@democracia-ahora.org