The Latino Empowerment and Advocacy Project (LEAP) seeks to foster Latino and immigrant civic participation by increasing the engagement of these communities in the political process, focusing on unregistered, newly-registered, and infrequent voters. LEAP’s activities include:

(1) Participation in a multi-state network of community-based organizations (CBOs) in 15 states to organize field campaigns and promote sustained civic education and participation.

(2) Testing and documenting campaign strategies to identify effective models that reduce participation barriers and increase interest in the process.

(3) Conducting research, policy analysis, and advocacy to promote policies, programs, and investments that support growth in immigrant and Latino civic participation.

(4) Linking this emerging electorate with nonpartisan, issue-based advocacy campaigns promoting full integration of immigrants in mainstream society.

In the short term, the project’s leading goal is to help produce measurable increases in Latino electoral participation. Over the long term, the goal is to build local capacity to strengthen the nonpartisan foundation for participation and mobilization so that those increases are sustained.