Editor’s Note: The following article is part of our “Debunking the Lies” campaign. We aim to publish articles refuting mainstream lies told about immigrants, migrants, and refugees.
Sylvia Puente is the president and CEO of the Latino Policy Forum. A nonprofit that works for equity, justice, and economic prosperity for Latinos in Chicago and Illinois. Their work ranges from launching a voter outreach campaign to increase Latino voter participation, educating immigrants on their housing rights by informing them of tenant protections, housing laws, and policies, and strengthening relationships and collaboration between Black and Latino communities by co-hosting “Reimaging Unity in Black and Brown Communities in Chicago”
Our campaign focuses on the anti-immigrant rhetoric to expose the lies that both the Republican and Democratic parties are telling. These lies have divided the Latino community against one another, with the wave of Venezuelan migrants arriving in Chicago and some of them getting work permits or financial help from the government, many long-time immigrants living in the city are spewing hate against Venezuelan families instead of speaking up against the broken immigration system the United States has created.
Sylvia Puente says she doesn’t like the word “fight for justice” as it eventually wears down the person fighting. Instead, she believes in the importance of “coming from a place of justice, equity, and love”. She has spent 40 years of her life trying to accomplish this and has successfully done many things for the Latino and Brown communities.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked tirelessly by partnering to secure a state investment of $490 million in ARPA funds to provide Emergency Rental Assistance and Emergency Mortgage Assistance to more than 7,000 Latino households, and nearly 65,000 total households. Resources were available to all regardless of citizenship.
- Partnered to secure a $2.3 million increase in the Minority Teacher Illinois scholarship program to address the shortage of black male teachers and bilingual teachers.
- Partnered in groundbreaking conversation on anti-blackness in the Latino community, reaching over 8 thousand households across the United States and Mexico, in collaboration with Univision Chicago on a Facebook Live event in Spanish.
Sylvia’s and her team’s work is invaluable, as they continue to be advocates for policy change for the immigration community by strengthening the ties with other organizations with the same mission. Some of these include the Resurrection Project, Illinois Unidos, and Illinois Latino Agenda.
With the presidential elections coming up in November, we brought you this interview to inspire everyone to go out and vote. To those who aren’t able to, the power doesn’t stop there, Sylvia wants us to unite and advocate for one another. To join these conversations on equity and to educate one another on the importance of community. We shouldn’t look down on our neighbors, but instead, uplift them and realize that the United States government is the one who benefits from dividing us.
El Tribuno del Pueblo brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: tribunodelpueblo.org. We’re all volunteers, no paid staff. Please donate at http://tribunodelpueblo.org to keep bringing you the voices of the movement because no human being is illegal.
