history

history

Voto Latino is a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 2004 by actress Rosario Dawson and spearheaded by Executive Director Maria-Teresa Kumar. Voto Latino’s vision is to increase American Latino youth civic participation by both increasing voter turnout and political involvement among this group. Voto Latino’s work ranges from on the ground voter registration to engaging with youth through pop culture and multimedia awareness campaigns.

In 2006 Voto Latino launched the Text2Represent campaign – the first national campaign of its kind – using SMS cell phone texting technology that facilitated voter registration by cell phone text reminders. During the 2008 election, Voto Latino continued the text messaging campaign to increase Latino voter participation in key battleground states. We further strengthen the Get Out the Vote efforts by creating the “La Pasion de la Decision” PSA series (which was spotlighted on CNN and featured celebrities like Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderrama, Jane Fonda, Craig Newmark and Perez Hilton. It also generated more than 10 million online views and 100 million television impressions). In addition, we developed an award winning program with SíTV, “Crash The Parties,” that sent two young aspiring journalists to report at the Republican and Democratic conventions. Both of these programs were honored with Webby Official Honoree recognitions.

Voto Latino also enlisted an army of volunteers and formed an Artist Coalition, made up of over 35+ celebrities, to encourage civic engagement that included Wilmer Valderrama, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria, Pitbull, Fat Joe, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez and many more. Our coalition led voters to the polls in Nevada, held voter registration concerts in Virginia, Florida and Texas, and walked precincts in Colorado and Texas. Volunteers called thousands of voters and documented their experiences at the polls through our YouTube partnership Video Your Vote. We crisscrossed the country, sharing our findings at the Tides Momentum Conference, spoke on panels such as Harvard’s Race & Ethnicity with David Gergen and Alan Dershowitz, and helped decipher the Latino vote for MSNBC’s Decision ’08 Coverage, NPR, BBC and CNN’s AC360.

In the five battle ground states (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Texas) where Voto Latino enjoyed a strong presence, Latino voter participation was at least 5 points higher than the national average. Our programs, public service announcements and viral videos reached over 100 million individuals. During the 2008 presidential election campaign between the tickets Barack Obama-Joe Biden and John McCain-Sarah Palin, Voto Latino came closer to achieving its mission of engaging a new generation of Americans in civic participation through award winning programs, becoming the “go to” media expert on the Latino vote and implementing sophisticated on the ground initiatives. But our work does not stop at activating the fastest growing segment to the polls and we need you to flex your political muscle.

Thanks for your continued support,

Voto Latino Team