The Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (DLOV) is a political committee that fosters participation of Latinos with the Democratic Party and supports candidates who embrace policies that benefit the Latino community in Virginia.
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Acting Chair: Monique Alcala (Alexandria)
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Vice-President: Ariel Garayar (Falls Church)
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Communications Director: Ricardo Alfaro (Alexandria)
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Treasurer:
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Outreach Director: Barbara Mitchell (Loudoun)
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Outreach co-Director: Viviana Sanchez (Roanoke)
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Political Director: Keisy Chavez (Fairfax) and Fernando Mercado (Richmond)
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Finance Director: Dr. Sergio Rimola (Fairfax)
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Northern VA Vice Chairs: George Becerra (Fairfax), Carla Bustillos (Alexandria)
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Central Region Vice Chair: Eugene Chigna (Richmond)
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Hampton Roads Vice Chair:
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Immediate Past President: Marvin Figueroa (Richmond)
Education attainment is connected to the employment and economic wellbeing of Hispanics in Virginia. While Hispanics contribute greatly to the labor force in Virginia, they are employed in more lower-wage occupations than non-Hispanics in the same age range. The quickest way to ascend from a low paying job to a higher paying job is more education. In fact, a key component of achieving the American dream is access to an affordable education.
DLOV supports:
Expanding access to high quality early childhood education
This is among the smartest investments that we can make to ensure our Latino children are successful. All children should have access to programs assists a child’s full potential and shape key academic, social, and cognitive skills that determine a their success in school and in life. Early childhood education is one of the most important factors in diminishing the achievement gap. As such, we support Governor McAuliffe’s efforts to improve educational success in struggling schools in high poverty communities and expand access to quality early education for all children.
Strengthening pathways in K-12 education
We support accountability reform, and reorienting the school curriculum to emphasize creativity and critical thinking skills throughout a student’s pre-collegiate education. This necessitates support for teachers and educational leaders. We also believe a thoughtfully planned and well-implemented bilingual education program clearly contributes to students' developing the college and career-ready capacities.
Post-secondary education
Students should have viable pathways to industry credentials or college degrees. A way to do this is to bolster Virginia’s system of community colleges and four-year institutions. Also, by expanding scholarship and tutelage programs that make college more affordable and promote great access we strengthen our communities and the Virginia’s higher education institutions.
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A 21st Century Workforce
A smart coordination between the commonwealth, the private sector, and institutions of higher will ensure that we are preparing our community to be competitive in an ever-changing world. By ensuring that students have exposure to industry as well as an idea of the skills they need to enter a 21st century workforce, underemployment can be mitigated.
According to the Virginia Health Care Foundation, nearly 15% of Virginians under the age of 65 are uninsured. Of those people, 19% are Hispanic, meaning that a little over 25% of the Hispanic population of Virginia is uninsured. While Hispanics make up almost 9% of the residents in Virginia, they make up a disproportionately higher percentage of the uninsured or underinsured in Virginia. DLOV recognizes that our community faces both health care and health equity disparities.
DLOV supports:
Expanding Medicaid
Access to comprehensive health care benefits for the most vulnerable Americans is paramount. The Medicaid program provides a broad package of benefits, including preventive, acute and long-term care. Many of these services are critical to meeting a family’s health care needs but not readily accessible without health insurance.
Affordable health insurance
Every dollar a mother or father doesn’t need to spend on out-of-pocket costs when their child comes down with the flu can go toward food, housing, and other necessities. Affordable health coverage translates into financial flexibility for families and individuals, allowing limited dollars to be spent on basic needs. A competitive health insurance marketplace ensures that Virginians have comprehensive plans at competitive prices.
Addressing the nutritional divide
DLOV promotes strategies that address the concerns of families in food deserts. The implementation of strategies aimed at improving nutritious options for Hispanics in at-risk circumstances is key to helping them succeed in both school and the workforce.
The commonwealth of Virginia ranks at 9th in the nation when it comes to highest percentage of Hispanic-owned businesses, and these companies are growing 20% faster than the national average. From Harrisonburg to Roanoke, Hispanic-owned businesses grew at more than double the national rate between 2002 and 2007 according to the U.S. Census. More recently, just last year in Fairfax County, Hispanic businesses secured over $1.8 billion in federal procurement awards, and $451 million in total sales and receipts. Hispanics are also growing as consumers, with the average income of Latino families in the state rising.
DLOV supports:
Support programs for minority owned businesses
Small businesses are the leading engine of U.S. innovation and job growth. The minority workforce will comprise the largest share of the US labor market by the year 2050 and the number of minority-owned businesses is following a similar trend. As such, progress training Hispanics on how to start, manage, and grow a small business isn’t just good for Hispanics; it’s also good for Virginia.
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Promoting growth
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Provide a state program geared toward business mentorship by offering larger businesses tax incentives to take smaller businesses under their wing.
Immigrants in Virginia are entrepreneurs, innovators, educators, law enforcement officers, valedictorians, agricultural workers, caretakers, builders, community leaders, and most importantly, our neighbors. We should welcome them into the national fold, not tear families apart.
DLOV supports:
Comprehensive immigration reform
Reform that provides a better visa system to encourage growth of a talented workforce, enhances our border security, and creates a fair pathway to citizenship is crucial to retaining talent, and maintaining community cohesion.
Expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) programs
Since DACA was announced in 2012, the program has offered temporary relief from deportation to over 660,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as young children, including nearly 10,000 who call Virginia home.
The quality, availability and affordability of housing is integral to the formation and maintenance of communities. Since one’s zip code is the greatest determinant of achievement, ensuring that there are no barriers or any discrimination found in housing practices is important in minority communities.
DLOV supports
Advancing progress in special needs housing
Special needs housing is imperative to ensure that individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to live in appropriate, fully integrated settings within communities rather than institutional facilities.
Expending affordable housing grants
Under Governor Terry McAuliffe, the commonwealth has greatly increased the issuance of grants to build affordable housing units. However, more can be in ensuring the proper maintenance and administration of these facilities.
Mobility largely plays into the types of jobs and opportunities available to our communities. By addressing issues in our transportation system we can guarantee that Hispanic communities can access a wider pool when considering jobs as well as promoting a more fluid in-state economy.
DLOV supports:
Improving mobility
Providing ease of travel from suburbs to urban areas as well as increasing travel options for those in urban areas, mobility allows people to be more selective in the jobs they pick, promoting a more diverse that can tailor itself to the skillset employers require. Projects such as widening stretches of I-64, improving Route 220, and widening Route 7 all serve this purpose.
Expanding public transportation
From extending the light rail system, to providing passenger trains from Richmond to Norfolk, to promoting improvements in the Metro 2025 program, we are in support of expanding Virginia’s infrastructure to allow residents more mobility and alternative options for residents who cannot afford to utilize private transport.
Veterans returning home from duty are in danger of becoming homeless and underemployed. The commonwealth of Virginia has a responsibility to take care Virginians who have served honorably in our nation’s armed forces.
DLOV supports:
Expending veterans support programs
From state run job training programs, seminars, and integration roundtables for new veterans, helping our men and women in arms helps grow the Virginian economy by ensuring that we are integrating our veterans back into society. This will ensure that Virginia remains the preeminent state for military personnel, their families and veterans.
BRAC
We support efforts to retain and reinforce Virginia’s military installations and defense activities.
Homelessness and family support
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We Virginians are very proud to be, under the leadership of Governor McAuliffe, the first state to meet the federal definition of effectively ending veterans’ homelessness. However, we must continue to grow transition and full housing programs to eradicate veterans homelessness altogether. By ensuring that Virginia remains the preeminent state for military personnel, their families and veterans, Virginia promotes itself as a state to live in.
DEMOCRATIC LATINO ORGANIZATION OF VIRGINIA
Our Mission
The mission of the DLOV is to increase the number of active Latino/Hispanic members in the Democratic Party and to foster member participation at all levels of the Democratic Party. As the Latino Caucus arm of the Democratic Party of Virginia, we host meetings and events around the Commonwealth.
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To accomplish this we will:
1) Unify and empower Latino/Hispanic communities;
2) Ensure fair representation of the Latino/Hispanic interests;
3) Educate others on policy issues of importance to our community; and
4) Promote political participation across generations.
Meet Our Cabinet
Education
Policy Position
Latinos are transforming the definition of what it means to be a mainstream American. One American in six is now Hispanic, up from a small minority two generations ago. By mid-century it will be more than one in four. In Virginia, Latinos are changing the face of the Commonwealth. Of the nation’s top 25 metropolitan counties with rapidly growing Latino communities in the new century, seven are in Virginia, more than any other state.
The growth in Latinos in Virginia accounts for a substantial share (38%) of the overall growth in Virginia’s population since 2007. These individuals call Virginia home and significantly contribute to the Commonwealths civic, economic, and political life.
Workforce Development
Legislative Agenda 2018
English Language Learners
DLOV supports legislation that assists English language learners in completing their high school education by adding additional ESL teachers, allowing the use of alternative assessments and providing credit flexibility for English language learners that fail a Standards of Learning assessment by a narrow margin. (HB 936 Tuscano, HB 2345 Kory)
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Instate Tuition for Dreamers and Residents of Territories Effected by Natural Disasters
DLOV supports legislation that will allow our Virginia Dreamers and students from other US territories to reach for higher education opportunities by going to one of Virginia's universities. No student should be deterred from learning professional skills and trades because of their legal status or residency. (HB 11 Kory, HB 19 Lopez, HB 46 Kreizk)
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Worker Protections
DLOV supports legislation that would require the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to provide notice—in English and Spanish—containing a summary of basic worker safety procedures regarding the handling of asbestos and information on how to file a complaint with the Virginia Board for Asbestos, Lead, and Home Inspectors.
Voter Identification
DLOV supports legislation that would remove burdensome obstacles to voting. Studies show that onerous state laws requiring specific forms of government-issued photo identification disproportionately affect Latinos. DLOV supports efforts to expand the allowable forms of identification to allow more Virginians to exercise their constitutional right to vote while still protecting the sanctity of the ballot box. (HB 1079 McQuinn, SB 452 Dance)
Driving Authorization
DLOV supports legislation that would allow immigrants living in Virginia to receive temporary driver’s licenses, allowing them to go about their daily lives without fear of prosecution, while also ensuring that they meet proper safety regulations and insurance requirements. (HB 1419 Kory)
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In addition to these bills that are still pending before the General Assembly, there are several that failed to garner sufficient support or have been continued to the next session that DLOV will continue to advocate for and track closely in 2019.