Stories of Impact: Latino Civic Engagement Program
By Liana Humphrey, Spark Committee
In 2017, fewer than one percent of the 43,000 registered Latino voters in Mecklenburg County participated in local elections. By 2023, that number was five percent. Much of that increase is thanks to the Latino Civic Engagement Program and its dynamic leader, Wendy Pascual, who received a Women’s Impact Fund (WIF) Spark grant of $12,500 in July 2022.
When the Spark Committee caught up with Wendy recently, she shared the progress they had made over the past couple of years toward achieving three goals:
- Educating the Latino community about how the U.S. government works, especially at the local level which is different than in a lot of Latin American countries,
- Increasing voter participation by the Latino community, and
- Encouraging Latinos to run for elected positions.
One of the ways that the Latino Civic Engagement Program has increased Latino participation at the polls is by organizing outreach events in the community to build trust with elected officials. At one of these events, Wendy met Liz Monterrey, who at the time was contemplating running for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Although relatively new to Charlotte, she had quickly become involved in her neighborhood and Wendy immediately recognized a leader who could help them achieve the dream of having a Latino/a on every local body, including the governing board for Mecklenburg County’s public school district.
In November 2023, Liz became the first Latina woman elected to serve on that Board of Education and Wendy stood proudly by her side at the swearing-in ceremony.
In addition to funding community outreach, the WIF grant enabled members of the Latino Civic Engagement Program to go to Raleigh to meet with state elected officials, paid for stamps and postcards for mailing campaigns, and supported the process of submitting a petition to the Board of Elections to add ethnicity to reporting (in addition to race) so they can better track Latino voting.
Wendy embodies the type of leader WIF is seeking to recognize with the new Spark Awards: someone who is deeply embedded in the community, has a clear and compelling vision for change, and goes above and beyond to serve others. We received 41 nominations for the inaugural Spark Awards and the committee is diligently reviewing them to select finalists. We can’t wait to share our recommendations for members to vote on!
