Our membership is composed of new immigrants living in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Because of the transnational nature of many of our families, we also have strong ties to communities in the state of Puebla, Mexico.
A broken immigration system and the lack of political will to fix it impacts heavily on our families in all aspects of their lives. Our educational systems ignore the growing crisis that only a minority of English Language Learners and children of immigrants are succeeding academically. Mexican immigrant families and Chicano youth disproportionately suffer from illnesses that are a result of poor nutrition. Also, the Sunset Park community has few safe, open green spaces to stay physically active compounded with a limited availability of fresh, healthy, and affordable foods. These health and other social disparities project a grim reality for the community’s vitality.
Even so, we are organizing our community to build power and impact policy-making on issues that directly affect us.