Movers and Shakers at Presente

It is with tremendous excitement that we announce new leadership at Presente.org. Oscar Chacon and Favianna Rodriguez will be taking over Presente.org as interim co-directors, and they will be working closely with Matt Nelson, Presente.org's new Managing Director. This powerful team of groundbreaking leaders for Latin@ equality bring several decades of combined experience working to advance the rights of Latin@s. 

Our outgoing executive director, Arturo Carmona, has been tapped to join Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Presidential campaign in a senior role.

Six years ago, Presente.org was formed to advance Latin@ power and create winning campaigns that amplify our voices. At that time, an end to deportations and stopping inhumane immigrant detention seemed almost unattainable. But today, because of the work of our hundreds of thousands of members, partner organizations, and Latin@ communities nationwide who have refused to give up the fight for equality, our movement has grown. We find ourself now in a much better position to fundamentally change our political and day-to-day reality.

There is so much that needs our urgent attention — from pushing back on a culture of hate, to addressing continued mass incarceration and immigrant detention of our people, to ending the use of toxic fossil fuels and addressing climate change. We have a lot of work to do.

In just the last two years, we’ve successfully helped push President Obama to stop deportations of millions of young immigrants and their parents. We played a central role in the media justice space, holding major corporations like Comcast and other telecoms accountable to the interest of Latino families. And we’ve effectively given voice to Latinos on issues of criminal justice, who are disproportionately victimized by law enforcement around the nation.

Our communities are facing tremendous violence and hateful discrimination, despite these victories. We are arrested at higher rates for crimes we commit at far lower rates. Latinos are the fastest growing incarcerated population as a result of the highly punitive immigration law now in effect and the Obama Administration's’ brutal enforcement practices. 

Latinas make only 55% of what white men make for the same hour of work. Racial inequality is rampant. Latinos are disproportionately affected by climate change. We face sky-high cancer and asthma rates from toxic fossil fuel facilities in our communities, along with extreme flooding and droughts caused by the same fossil fuel corporations, and climate change.

We have the numbers and the power to win. With our new leadership, Presente.org will continue to fight for Latin@ equality. We will hold Democrats and Republicans accountable. We will continue to dismantle our nation’s vast and discriminatory mass incarceration system. We will push to end the use of toxic fossil fuels while addressing climate change.

We invite you to join us moving forward.

Thanks and ¡adelante!

— Favianna, Oscar, Matt, Erick, and the rest of the Presente.org Team