Under blue, sunny skies, hundreds of immigrant students along with their friends and families visited information booths to learn more about ward representatives, community volunteer opportunities, and to cast their votes in a mock election.
On Friday, May 20th the Carlos Rosario School had its first-ever Community Action Fair to promote civic engagement in the community.
Vocabulary student Selene Lara from Mexico said, “Events like this are important because we get informed and get information to pass on to others because we all want our voices to be heard.”
Partners from the Mayor’s Office on African Affairs, CARECEN and Catholic Charities also hosted tables and shared community resources about civic engagement during the fair. Claudia Barahona, a representative from Brianne Nadeau’s Office and Jackie Reyes Director of the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs stopped by to join in the festivities and celebrate with new voters.
During this nonpartisan event, thanks to a team from the DC Board of Election, attendees were able to test out a voting machine and learn more about DC voting. Three bilingual students from the school who were recently hired by the DC Board of Elections were on hand to answer student questions and walk them through the voting process.
“I am delighted with the turnout for our first-ever community action fair! As an organization that exists to welcome migrants to DC, this type of initiative is integral to our work. Today was an excellent start and our work will continue. This election season we are committed to providing education and resources for our community and to support those who are eligible to vote so their voices are heard,” said Allison R. Kokkoros, CEO.
For those interested in learning more about our citizenship program, please call 202-797-4700 or click here.
For photos of the event, visit our Flickr page.