News

By Marco Grimaldo

Hispanic Heritage Month is a wonderful way to celebrate and recall all of the opportunities and contributions that come from a wonderfully diverse landscape of Latinos in the United States: high rates of entrepreneurship, a powerful work ethic, and a strong commitment to family.

When I was young, my parents taught me to say, “Su voto es su voz” (Your vote is your voice). They wanted me to know that voting is at the core of what it means to participate in government. That is especially true today as Latino voters are on the rise as a community with growing political capacity.

In order for us as Latinos to be heard, we must show up at the polls. And legislation doesn’t get passed and signed without people engaging with lawmakers outside of elections.

The Pew Research Center reports that there were 55.3 million Hispanics in the United States in 2014, comprising 17.3 percent of the total U.S. population.  Latinos are also younger than other groups in the U.S. – nearly 6 in 10 are millennials (born 1989 – 1996). 

The U.S. Latino population is expected to grow to more than 100 million by 2050.

At Bread, we want everyone engaged, especially young Latinos, in this year’s presidential election. And, of course, we want them involved in Bread’s ongoing work to end hunger by 2030.

In fact, Bread recently launched Bread Latino on both Facebook and Twitter to provide a platform to share more of our Spanish-language resources and to engage with Latinos who may want to learn more about Bread’s work.

Finally, for several years, Bread has had comprehensive immigration reform on its policy agenda, and as we finish out 2016, we are telling candidates for office and other decision makers that in order to end hunger, we must have a fair and just immigration reform move through Congress and signed into law.

So, for Hispanic Heritage Month, I invite you to do two things: First, please register to vote and consider inviting a friend to do the same. Second, visit Bread’s elections page in English and in Spanish.

Remember that su voto es su voz.

Marco Grimaldo is senior associate for Latino engagement at Bread for the World.