A coalition of Latino and social justice organizations met in Richmond Tuesday morning.
Their goal? Increase the quality of life for the state’s minority and undocumented populations.
Among the priorities for the House Latino Caucus is returning $10 million reserved for undocumented students to pay for their in-state college tuition.
“Every single student in America deserves a good education," said Arlington-area Delegate and caucus chair Alphonso Lopez. "It's not only the right thing to do for students and their families, it’s the smart thing to do for our commonwealth.”
Lopez said Democrats created the fund in 2022, but Governor Glenn Youngkin reallocated the money to HBCUs in the last budget negotiation. The delegate said he’s worked with the Asian and Black caucuses, and they’ve agreed to have those funds returned to undocumented students via a budget amendment.
Another priority is the expansion of healthcare to undocumented children. Federal law doesn’t allow Medicaid funds to go to the undocumented, but states like California and New York have developed state funds to make up the difference. Beatriz Amberman, chair of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations, said it would benefit about 13-thousand kids and help avoid costly emergency room visits.
“It ensures every child has access to quality healthcare regardless of their income or background," Amberman said.
Other priorities from the coalition include increasing funding for English language learners in public schools, pushing back the expiration date for driver privilege cards and empowering localities to limit price gouging on rent.
“Whether you're Latino, African American, Asian, it doesn’t matter, everyone has been hit with rent increases,” said John Cano with Justice4All.
Cano said some Virginians saw rent increase by as much as 20 percent during the pandemic and he wants localities to be able to set rent increases to the local consumer price index.
How Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin will respond to these issues remains to be seen.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
