Empowering Latino Voices in Connecticut Education

GROWING GRASSROOTS SUPPORT

The Challenge: For years, parents, advocates and community leaders had been trying to open and fund a charter school in Danbury, Connecticut, a diverse town that wanted additional school options for its growing population. Political headwinds were making things difficult for the fledgling K-8 school, so its operators decided to more formally and strategically organize its grassroots support community. This is where Underdog came in.

Our Approach: Grassroots support for the Danbury school was alive and well in the community but it needed shape, direction, and a path to sustainability. We helped form Latinos for Educational Advocacy and Diversity (LEAD) to provide well-organized support for the school for many years to come, in addition to myriad issues of importance to the Latino community in Danbury. Over the course of several years we spent thousands of hours dedicated to Danbury, both in person and remotely. We trained, coached and supported LEAD’s organizers to create an effective and enduring advocacy organization; leveraged our deep community understanding to build LEAD’s supporter base and take collective action (press conferences, days of action, emails, calls and visits to legislators) in furtherance of key advocacy issues.

The Results: LEAD is now a statewide organization, CT LEAD, whose volunteers advocate and organize on behalf of Latino residents in at least six different Connecticut communities.