For Immediate Release
July 12, 2006

Los Angeles, CA – July 12, 2006 - The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) hosts its 32 nd Annual Banquet, Latino Vote 2006 at the Universal Sheraton in Universal City, CA. July 14 will be a very special evening that will gather members of SVREP, elected officials, concerned citizens, corporate and community leaders, and where the SVREP organization will acknowledge the effort of the people who work day to day to empower Latinos voters to make a difference.

“Our vote is our voice. And our voice is being heard loud and clear thanks to the continuing efforts of SVREP,” said California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez.  “There is no limit to what our votes can accomplish this November.”

In addition to Speaker Nuñez, this year’s event will include the attendance of important elected officials such as CruzBustamante, Lt Governor of California, Loretta Sanchez, Member of the United States Congress, Bruce McPherson, Secretary of State of California, John Chiang, Board of Equalization of California, among the events influential speakers. The mistress of ceremonies will be actress, writer and producer Yareli Arizmendi (A Day Without a Mexican, Like Water for Chocolate).

"For more than three decades, the Southwest Voter Registration Project has risen to the challenge by registering citizens and assisting the immigrants rights movement," said Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.  "By educating an unprecedented number of Latino voters, the organization has made an impact nationwide."

The Latino Vote 2006 Banquet will also honor the outstanding leaders who have worked to improve the lives of Latinos in the United States. In addition, this year SVREP will grant its first Special Community Champion Award to L.A. County Supervisor, Gloria Molina, for her achievements and her continuous work with the Latino community.

In response to the recent immigrant demonstrations and marches in the U.S., SVREP plans to conduct a “presidential-cycle level” mobilization, highlighting the influence of new Latino votes in the coming elections.  SVREP’s new initiatives are to raise an additional one million dollars to register and turnout 100,000 new voters who are sons and daughters of immigrants, to launch a multimedia campaign to capture young raza voters, in addition to its already-planned GOTV campaign to turnout 75,000 first-time gubernatorial votes (registered by SVREP in 2004 and 2005).

“This year will be our largest non-Presidential mobilization ever” , said Antonio Gonzalez, president of SVREP. “With our goal of turning out 150,000 new voters who have never voted in a gubernatorial election, as well as educating our young Latinos to make a difference with their votes”.

The Latino Vote 2006 event will take place this Friday, July 14, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Hollywood, California.

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SVREP is a national nonprofit nonpartisan organization committed solely to the political empowerment of Latino and other minority communities through voter registration, voter education and voter participation. SVREP was established in 1974 by the late Willie Velasquez to encourage civic and political participation in Latino and other underrepresented communities. Since its inception, SVREP has registered over 2.3 million Latino voters throughout the U.S. SVREP has offices in San Antonio, Texas; Los Angeles, California; and Miami, Florida. Visit www.svrep.org for more information.