Advocacy and Civic Engagement
MLOV is a leading player in the immigrant rights and justice movement in DC and regularly builds partnerships and coalitions with wide-ranging stakeholders. MLOV works with government officials, agencies, businesses, and worker groups to advance power-building of immigrant communities in DC.
-
Since 2010, MLOV has supported a variety of member-led advocacy campaigns focusing on street vendor protections, small businesses development, language access, and education. We see advocacy as an opportunity to empower our members to be at the forefront of changing the existing inequities they face on a day to day basis. We support our members’ leadership and amplify the voice of our most vulnerable members to find solutions to the systemic inequities that impact their lives.
Promoting Immigrant Youth Voices
For over a decade, we have supported youth-led campaigns focused on accessibility for English Language Learners (ELL), food justice, and other issues impacted immigrant youth. From 2013 to 2014, the youth team (then known as the Student Multiethnic Action Research Team - S.M.A.R.T.) successfully campaigned for the introduction of summer classes for ELL students in order to facilitate on-time graduation. In 2019, our youth launched a food justice campaign to promote culturally appropriate and healthy meals in DC Public Schools, conducting participatory research and collecting over 200 surveys from their peers. The team then began to organize a campaign to raise awareness about these issues in their schools.
Language Access
Since our inception in 2010, MLOV has been the of the DC Language Access Coalition, providing facilitation and logistical support during the meetings. In coalition with more than forty organizations that are part of DCLAC, MLOV works to accomplish its advocacy goals to eradicate language access barriers in DC. Our current efforts are focused on an amendment in the Language Access Act which would create a fine structure for government agencies in violation with the law.
Read more in our 2013 Prescription for Inequity report
Worker Justice
In the summer of 2019, an MLOV street vendors coalition known as Vendedores Unidos/Vendors United formed in response to an assault on a vendor. Through their advocacy work, they were successful in decriminalizing street vending in DC and amending DC’s restrictive licensing regime. Ultimately, the group advocated for the “Sidewalk Vending Zones” which prevented street vendors from harassment by the local police.
Vendor Advocacy in the News:
Current MLOV Advocacy Priorities
Through our leadership of the DC Language Access Coalition, promote Language Justice in DC, specifically by advocating for a new amendment to the DC Language Access Act of 2004
Highlight and share community stories from those directly impacted by inequities
Update and include MLOV members, supporters, and stakeholders in any new advocacy efforts
Provide leadership opportunities for directly impacted members to be at the forefront of advocacy campaigns
Empower MLOV members to speak with their local representatives to educate them about the issues they face and the solutions to build a better community
Want to learn more and join in our advocacy efforts? Email us! Nancy Leon, Director of Advocacy: nancy@mlovdc.org
-
Through our Civic Engagement initiatives, MLOV helps immigrant DMV residents build the skills and tools needed to effectively articulate challenges, be constructively critical, devise strategic and sustainable solutions, mobilize their peers, develop a membership base, and hold those in power accountable for implementing equitable systems.
These efforts include our Communities in Action program, Get Out The Vote efforts, listening circles, open mics, open house events, and more. From these events, we create entry points to member development and leadership training in order to build the power of immigrant community organizers and immigrant civic engagement.
Communities in Action Program
Through our Communities in Action program, which is a series of training sessions led by immigrant community leaders, we bridge knowledge gaps in civic engagement. The program teaches participants about the US government, their rights, voting, and how to use this new knowledge within their communities. Graduates of the program have gone on to conduct Get Out The Vote outreach with MLOV.
Program participants also have the opportunity to meet with local elected official and policy makers. As part of these meetings, participants discuss that impact our communities.
We conduct Get Out The Vote outreach with community members who include graduates of our Civics for All program. During the 2024 election cycle we engaged with over 300 DC voters.
-
MLOV Book Coming April 2026. The Stories We Carry: Journeys, Hopes, and Dreams of 13 Migrants in Washington, DC.
