Amount: $25,000 / Spring 2016
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director
Website: http://vdlf.org/
This renewal grant will enable Voces de la Frontera’s Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) to continue to organize as an inter-ethnic youth organizing effort to increase black-brown unity, advance racial justice, increase immigrant-rights and supports for undocumented students, to fight for implementation of the YES authored Student Bill of Rights at the school, district and community levels, and to train and educate YES leaders on social justice issues across the state. Over the last grant period, Voces has been organizing parents and students to win in-state tuition for undocumented students, to halt privatization and public school takeovers and closures, an increased investment in community schools and ending the use of police as school safety agents. In 2015, YES organized a Get Out the Vote Effort that resulted in 8 of 9 Voces endorsed school board candidates being elected and has established new Voces membership chapters in Green Bay, Madison and Walworth County. Over the next year, Voces youth and parents will organize to win in-state tuition for undocumented youth and driver’s licenses for all undocumented Wisconsin immigrants and stop the use of police in schools.