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Try This is a
“how-to” series providing
state federations and local labor
councils with best practice
strategies and tools gained from
community-labor coalition organizers
as we work to build a broad,
inclusive labor movement.Visit
Expanding the Electorate
and Engaging Immigrant
Families in Your Community
Is your federation looking for ways to mobilize
immigrant workers and the growing Latino
electorate? Right now there are 9 million immigrants
in the United States who are eligible to become
citizens, and 1 million new immigrants become
eligible for citizenship every year. Several local unions,
labor councils and state federations have conducted
successful and ongoing citizenship drives in their union
halls. The labor movement can help expand access
to citizenship and shift the political landscape by
partnering with progressive community organizations
to offer education and services to assist people with
the naturalization process.
Nationally, the AFL-CIO has partnered with the
National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), a
network of immigrant rights groups, to support local
labor-community partnerships around naturalization.
Use this tool to explore potential joint initiatives with
an NPNA organization, which can advance immigrant
voter registration at minimal cost, unite unions and
community allies and advance a pro-worker agenda
through electoral activism.
aflciocommunity.org
for more “how-to’s.”
CONTEXT
The Labor Movement’s Role
With its vast infrastructure and commitment to justice,
the labor movement can play a critical role in helping
to educate our communities about the process of
applying for citizenship, as well as about workplace
rights. Accordingly, the AFL-CIO passed a resolution at
the 2013 convention endorsing community partnerships
“with allies to provide citizenship and workers’ rights
instruction...”
Why is naturalization important?
Naturalization allows people to VOTE, apply for federal
jobs, receive full legal protections, earn higher wages
and make investments that help make the economy
stronger for all of us. Obstacles to naturalization function
as voter suppression against communities of color,
much like voter identification and strict voter registration
laws.
How can we shift politics in our community?
By teaming with NPNA groups, local labor movements
can build stronger ties with trusted grassroots immigrant
rights organizations. NPNA’s 20 members have
collaborated with unions on various efforts, including
organizing and electoral campaigns. They also have
the potential to serve as liaisons between immigrant
communities, workplaces and union organizers. You
can offer expertise on organizing and workers’ rights, as
well as political power and infrastructure that can move
pro-worker legislation.
Declining union density makes it critical to energize
new constituencies to help win campaigns and grow a
broad and robust working-class movement. Immigrants
are a significant proportion of eligible but unregistered
voters nationwide. Educating, registering and mobilizing
turnout among new voters in partnership with immigrant
organizations expands capacity to win mutually
beneficial campaigns.
1
EVALUATE THE CONTEXT
Is a community-labor citizenship program right for your federation?
It may be if you answer “Yes” to the following questions:
•Is there a significant immigrant population in your community or state?
•Are there established NPNA organizations (check here: www.partnershipfornewamericans.org/)
or other Latino and immigrant worker centers or advocacy organizations in your state?
These are the organizations that make up NPNA:
•CASA de Maryland
•CAUSA Oregon
•Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
•Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC)
•El Centro de Derechos y Igualdad, New Mexico
•Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)
•Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA)
•Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)
•Latin American Coalition, North Carolina
•Make the Road, New York and New Jersey
•Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)
•Michigan United
•National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
•Nebraska Appleseed
•New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)
•One America, Washington
•Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC)
•Promise Arizona
•Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)
•Voces de la Frontera, Wisconsin
•Many local labor leaders already have relationships with NPNA organizations. Do you or do others in
your labor council or federation have such connections?
2
EXPLORE PARTNERSHIP and BUILD SUPPORT
How do we begin the conversation?
•Prepare an environment of openness and acceptance: Union members and leaders with
intolerant, prejudicial beliefs toward immigrants and Latinos block their inclusion in a broadened,
strengthened labor movement.
•Commit resources: Effective partnership requires leaders on both sides to commit staff time,
energy and resources to mutually relevant campaigns.
•Open up: Bring a perspective that effective community-labor partnerships begin with a willingness
to learn from each other and collaboratively work through the problems that arise when community
organizations and affiliates present conflicting goals.
•Invite an NPNA organization to the table: Begin the planning process and start thinking
strategically. This may be a part of your broader political mobilization program; if so, you should
share resources and vision with your new partners.
•Reach out: Begin networking and base-building with other community leaders, elected officials and
union activists to build broad support for the initiative.
3
PLAN AND PREPARE
What decisions, resources and research will you need to implement a
citizenship program?
•Target: In conjunction with NPNA, identify target geographic areas with large immigrant populations.
Within any given constituency there will be a diverse range of cultures, backgrounds and languages.
Be prepared to recruit bilingual organizers and canvassers and to develop literature in multiple
languages.
•Communicate: Begin to develop materials with information on the naturalization process,
incorporating AFL-CIO and NPNA resources. This will include writing and proliferating translated
press releases and media advisories for ethnic media outlets, designing fliers and mailings and
identifying media spokespersons. Develop contacts in the ethnic media.
•Locate: Identify strategic locations to run pilot programs. What works best in your community? This
may be, for example, a union hall, community center, place of worship or school.
•Mobilize: Incorporate citizenship work into your voter registration and mobilization programs and
educate staff and volunteers on the importance of citizenship. Add naturalization how-to’s into your
voter registration and mobilization drives.
4
WORK IN PARTNERSHIP
How do we develop a successful program?
•Start small: Civic engagement can simply include “Become a Citizen” messages in voter outreach
materials for diverse and immigrant communities.
•Get out in the community: A one-off naturalization ceremony in a union hall may be the best way
to start on-the-ground efforts. Invite local immigrant rights and elected leaders as well as press
to the ceremony in order to tell the community about the process and available resources. Then
you can plan a naturalization workshop or clinic, where union members get trained by immigrant
rights leaders on how to help people prepare citizenship applications and then volunteer to help
run the workshop or clinic. This way, union members work closely with immigrant rights advocates
to educate and engage community members. Through the clinics, union members also may offer
workers’ rights materials or education.
•Develop consistency: After building expertise, hold regular clinics and disseminate citizenship
materials widely through labor mobilization programs.
•Communicate: Be sure to include information about your clinics and other citizenship projects in
your newsletter and in your social media strategy.
•Training: Train members and volunteers to conduct public education on citizenship, and to assist
people with completing citizenship applications and preparing for the civic and English tests.
•Partner on mutually beneficial GOTV efforts: Mutually recruit volunteers and members to cover
more ground and educate immigrant communities on the issues that matter.
For more information, contact Kelly Fay Rodríguez, Assistant to the Executive Vice President, at
Krodriguez@aflcio.org or 202-508-6990.