Voces de la Frontera

From Wiscopedia

1 Mission
2 Issues
3 In the News
4 Contact Info

[edit] Mission

Mission: Voces de la Frontera educates workers about their employment rights and organizes to protect and improve the quality of life for low-wage and immigrant workers. Voces de la Frontera promotes grass roots leadership and community and workplace organizing as a strategy to achieve our ends.

Voces de la Frontera was established in 2001. It is a Wisconsin-wide, membership-based organization that believes power comes from below and that people can overcome injustice to build a better world.

Voces has two offices - one in Milwaukee and one in Racine. It also has a student chapter called Students United for Immigrant Rights (SUFRIR).

Voces de la Frontera has been a regional and national leader in the campaign for comprehensive immigration reform. Voces organized three mass marches in 2006, totalling over 125,00 participants. The energy of these marches was later galvanized by a 'Voto Latino: Civic Participation Campaign' into a 32% increase in voter turnout in Milwaukee and a 20% increase in Racine in November 2006.

On May 1, 2007, Voces held the second annual "A Day Without Latinos" where over 120 businesses closed and over 80,000 from around the state marched in Milwaukee - the largest ever march in Wisconsin.

In July 2007, Voces staged an unprecedented state-wide 'Reality Tour', drawing audiences of hundreds across 10 cites. The series of forums brought powerful testimony from those caught up in the nation's broken immigration system, combined with an accessible look at where the problems come from and why federal action is urgently needed to fix it.

The workers' centers provide a focal point for a range of services and workshops, with more held in community venues. Saturday legal clinics bring in lawyers to offer free advice for workplace and immigration issues. Recent workshops have included 'Know Your Rights', 'Workplace Rights'. Voces also provides citizenship and English classes, plus referrals to community resources and agencies.