ADVOCACY SPOTLIGHT: STATE REP. ANDRES AYALA ORGANIZES 'ADVOCACY DAY' AT THE CAPITOL

After a series of fact-finding meetings at the Legislative Office Building in 2008, Connecticut State Representative Andres Ayala, Jr., (128th District), and a number of Latino leaders from non-profit agencies across the state agree that in order to adequately serve the needs of the Latino community in 2009 and beyond Latinos need to build better relationships and collaboration between their organizations, the general assembly and state departments.

Representative Ayala acknowledged that “many Latino organizations, for years, have struggled to provide services to disadvantaged families in the Latino community while operating with meager budgets and, unfortunately, many agencies doing a good work have had to close their doors.” In a recent meeting at the Capitol, Representative Ayala said to the group that after a quick analysis of state department budgets he found “that less than one percent (. 01%) of State funds are dispersed to Latino agencies in the form of grants or contracts.” Considering the size of the Latino community, this is an unacceptable distribution of funds and, obviously, does not allow organizations to adequately provide services to needy members of the Latino community.

Representative Ayala’s aim is that Latino organizations can more effectively communicate their concerns and work hand-in-hand with the legislature to provide the needed services to the Latino community. With this mind, the Latino leaders have organized an Advocacy Day at the Capitol on March 14th. ASPIRA commends Representative Andres Ayala, Jr., for his pro-active stance on Latino issues, especially, in the area of seeking to substantially close the growing Latino education achievement gap.