The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO), the nation’s premiere Latino leadership organization, announced today that it will brief participants at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions on the growing Latino electorate and its likely impact in Election 2008.

As new census data show, Latinos constitute the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States. The community’s growth is already being demonstrated in rising political clout. Unprecedented numbers of Latinos turned out for this year’s presidential primaries, supplying the margin of victory in several key contests.

NALEO will discuss key findings from its Voces del Pueblo (”Voices of America”) report, an innovative survey of registered Latino voters in town hall meetings across America, and release a pocket handbook (in collaboration with ImpreMedia) profiling the Latino electorate in key states. The national coordinators of the historic Ya es Hora (”It’s Time”) campaign, an unprecedented collaboration of national Latino organizations and Spanish-language media that has mobilized nearly 1.4 million legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens, will discuss how they will build on the success of the citizenship campaign to turn out Latino voters in 11 key states in November.

WHAT: Luncheon Briefing on the Latino Electorate

WHO:

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund

Adolfo Carrion, NALEO President, Bronx Borough President

Rafael Anchia, NALEO Educational Fund Chair and TX State Representative

Rep. Joe Baca, NALEO Board Member, Member of Congress, CHC Chair

Arturo Vargas, NALEO Educational Fund Executive Director

Ramona Martinez, DNC Hispanic Caucus Chair

Janet Murguia, NCLR President

Ulrico “Rico” Izaguirre, Mi Familia Vota Board Member

Where:

Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Marriott Denver City Center

1701 California Street

Denver, Colorado, 80202

Republican National Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Participants TBD

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Marriott West

9960 Wayzata Boulevard

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55426

Note that Adolfo Carrion, Rafael Anchia and Arturo Vargas will be available to media throughout both conventions. To book interviews, please contact Mark Glaze or, for Spanish-language media, Estuardo Rodriguez.

Contact: Mark Glaze, mglaze@rabengroup.com, (202) 271-0982

(Spanish) Estuardo Rodriguez, erodriguez@rabengroup.com, (202) 631-2892

SOURCE National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials