Latino Leaders Frustrated At Liberal Donor Plan To Fund 35 Groups, Zero Latino Groups

*It’s not just the right that’s clueless about Latinos, the left is as well. But there’s something more to this, there’s an unspoken condescension. They expect our votes, but don’t want our opinion. VL

By Adrian Carrasquillo, BuzzFeed

It was billed as a big announcement, the Democracy Alliance, which advises wealthy liberal donors, unveiled a plan Monday to fund 35 organizations to help Democrats take power power in the states by 2020 and fight back on issues like economic inequality, voting rights and climate change.

But to Latino leaders watching, it seemed like more of the same: public statements that Latino voters matter, but a lack of investment when push comes to shove.

“This is deeply troubling and we’re shocked,” said Arturo Carmona, the executive director of Presente, a 300,000 member strong organization. “There seems to be a pattern emerging in how the Democratic party is investing in Latinos across the board and how supporting organizations really say that the Latino vote matters but the actions don’t reflect those words.”

“Given the importance of the Latino vote, it’s disappointing and confusing as to why the community isn’t being given more attention,” said Joe Velazquez, executive director of the NCLR Action Fund, the partisan arm of NCLR. He said he is presenting a proposal to the Democracy Alliance soon to be one of the organizations to get funding after the initial groups.

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