Washington, DC – The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., will hold a telephonic news briefing to discuss “LEAP to Action,” its new voter mobilization initiative for the 2006 election and beyond. The briefing will be held Wednesday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. EST [see call-in information below].

A surge of interest in voting and citizenship among millions of Latinos has followed the recent community mobilization in support of comprehensive immigration reform. NCLR’s Latino Empowerment and Advocacy Project (LEAP) is launching “LEAP to Action,” a partnership with Latino community-based organizations (CBOs) throughout the country in support of local activities to promote citizenship and voting and connect voters to broader civic work and advocacy.

Also attending the news briefing will be representatives from several of these Latino-serving CBOs, including Elvira Diaz of the MAAC Project who is spearheading a Latino community-based initiative to conduct voter registration and education in San Diego, California, and David Lubell, State Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), who will be discussing how TIRRC is fostering youth leadership and registering young voters for the 2006 election.

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