Non-Citizen Voting Rights Campaign Launch

Tuesday, August 3, 2004, 12 p.m. - San Francisco City Hall Elected officials, parents, teachers, students, and leaders representing labor, Asian, Latino, African-American, and LGBT communities will announce the formation of a powerful coalition that is bringing together San Francisco communities who have not often worked together in the past, in order to obtain the passage of a charter amendment that would allow immigrant parents to vote in San Francisco school board elections. An overwhelming majority of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in mid-July to place the charter amendment on the November 2004 ballot, which would allow such voting for two election cycles.

Representing some of the diversity of the coalition, Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, former School Board member Steve Phillips, Ana Maria Loya (Executive Director of La Raza Centro Legal) and parents from several communities will be among the speakers at the press conference. Other strong supporters of the initiative who have been invited to participate are Assembly member Leland Yee, City Treasurer Susan Leal, Assessor-Recorder Mabel Teng, Mike Casey (president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 2, which has endorsed the measure, along with other prominent labor supporters), and other leaders from San Francisco’s diverse communities.

This coalition has formed to ensure that the San Francisco public school system will leave no students behind. At least one out of three students in the San Francisco Unified School District is the child of an immigrant parent, and many of these children are themselves citizens without a political voice. By empowering all parents to have a say in their children’s education, the initiative will improve accountability and responsiveness by the San Francisco’s Board of Education, which makes the critical decisions that impact these children’s futures.

The press conference will announce some of the coalition’s plans over the coming months, and showcase the diversity of support from numerous communities for the initiative.

Press contacts: David Chiu, 415.793.5462, david.chiu@grassroots.com Amy Laitinen, 415.867.6201, amylaitinen@hotmail.com Stephanie Ong, 415.786.5568, steph_ongsf@hotmail.com Carlos Petroni, 415.452.9992, alternative@sbcglobal.net

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