Fast for Families Bus Stops in Lafayette/West Lafayette – Recap
LUM Coordinated Fast-for-Families – Rudy López & Dae Joong Yoon – Visit Lafayette/West Lafayette to discuss Immigration Reform and Citizenship
Lafayette, IN – Last Friday, Fast for Families national bus tour made a stop in Lafayette/West Lafayette to promote Immigration Reform and Citizenship. Rudy López & Dae Joong Yoon led the delegation during the daylong schedule of meetings with community leaders, students, educators, and religious leaders. LUM coordinated several gatherings for the Fast for Families team including a leadership breakfast meeting, meeting at Bishop Doherty’s home with religious leaders, lunch presentation, and student summit. Their message was to push Todd Rokita, US Representative for Indiana, to support comprehensive immigration reform now; and persuade House Speaker John Boehner to move the legislative process forward.
López and Yoon were two of several immigration reformers who engaged in a 22-day hunger strike on the National Mall in Washington DC last November/December. While fasting, they received visits in their tent from President Obama, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and several members of the US Congress.
To see the local news coverage of the Fast for Families visit, click on the media source: Journal & Courier | WBAA Public Radio from Purdue | WLFI TV-18.
To see more PHOTOS from the Fast for Families visit, click HERE.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Rudy López Bio
Rudy López is a Senior Organizer for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) that is based in Washington DC. López is from a small steel town called East Chicago, Indiana where he currently resides. Immigration Reform is something deeply important to him. He grew up seeing the effects of our broken immigration system and its impact on people he loves. His home served as a “port-of-entry” for many family members who came here undocumented. He saw the toll it takes on someone when they live in fear and treated as second class. Each day people die in the desert crossing the border in search for a better life for their families. In 2005 his cousin Martin Hernandez was one of them. Martin got sick during the crossing and was left behind by the Coyote (human smuggler). He died cold, hungry and alone.
Rudy has dedicated himself to Social Justice and has built a career developing leaders and building power in disenfranchised communities. As Political Director for the Center for Community Change (2007-2013) he worked with groups all over the country to register, educate and turn-out thousands of voters in low-income and communities of color. Rudy served as Wellstone Action’s National Field Director (2005-07) training grassroots leaders how to manage campaigns and run for political office. Rudy was also the National Field Director of the Chicago-based U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (2000-05) overseeing Latino leadership development programs and voter-registration drives across the nation.
Rudy developed his organizing skills in the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village working as a community organizer with Gamaliel affiliate the Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations in Chicago (1998-99) and is currently a Senior Organizer for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) that is based in Washington DC.
Dae Joong Yoon Bio
Dae Joong Yoon is the Executive Director with National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC). He has more than 19 years of community education and organizing experiences in the areas of immigration policy, health access, civic participation, voting rights, environmental justice and economic development. Yoon is no stranger to NAKASEC. He was part of the founding of the organization in 1994, and helped lead ambitious and successful campaigns in the early years including the 1995 “Justice for Immigrants” Washington Post ad campaign opposing anti-immigrant legislation, the 1996 multi-faceted campaign to promote civic participation and electoral organizing, Restoration of SSI and the national Fix 96’ campaign. Yoon is also the founding board member of KRCC in Chicago and served as the national president of Young Koreans United of USA.
Most recently, Dae Joong Yoon was the executive director of KRC since July 2003. He has also supervised many community-led research projects such as the Asian American Voter Exit Poll, Building Health Community Focus Group, and Los Angeles City Services Survey. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Strategic Concept in Organizing & Policy Education (SCOPE); a Community Advisory Board member for the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services; and as an Advisory Board Member for the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. He is a 1.5 generation Korean American and is bilingual in English and Korean.
Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) is a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level. FIRM is a project of the Center for Community Change. FIRM is led by its member organizations and brings leaders together across lines of race, issues and geography to multiply their power. FIRM is dedicated to organizing and building grassroots power and leadership.
Center for Community Change is a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of low-income people and people of color.
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) is a group of grassroots community based with the purpose of projecting a national progressive voice on major civil rights and immigrant rights issues and promoting the full participation of Korean Americans with the greater goal of building a national movement for social change. NAKASEC is based in Los Angeles, CA and Annandale, VA; and also has affiliates in Los Angeles (Korean Resource Center) and in Chicago (Korean American Resource & Cultural Center).
Fast for Families – Rudy López & Dae Joong Yoon – to Visit Lafayette/West Lafayette FRIDAY to discuss Immigration Reform and Citizenship
{invite your friends — go to the Facebook event, click HERE.}
March 19, 2014
Lafayette, IN – The Lafayette Urban Ministry invites the community to a lunch program and student summit featuring Rudy López (resident of East Chicago, Indiana) and Dae Joong Yoon who are on the Fast for Families Across America national bus tour.
The details for the two free public events are as follows:
- WHAT: Lunch Presentation — “The moral crisis caused by the broken immigration system and the urgency of common sense immigration reform”
- WHERE: Newman Hall at St. Thomas Aquinas – the Catholic Center at Purdue ( 535 W State Street, West Lafayette)
- WHEN: Friday, March 21, 2014; Noon – 1:30 p.m.
- WHO: Rudy López and Dae Joong Yoon with community and religious leaders
- Free to Public; There will be a freewill offering for the LUM immigration clinic
- Parking Available at No Cost in Purdue Parking Garage between Sheetz and Marstellar Streets
- WHAT: Student Summit — “A Call for Immigration Reform”
- WHERE: Riehle Plaza, Lafayette
- WHEN: Friday, March 21, 2014; 3:30-5:00 p.m.
- WHO: Rudy López and Dae Joong Yoon with Latino/Latina students
- Free to Public
During their visit Rudy López and Dae Joong Yoon will gather with Greater Lafayette faith and community leaders to make the case for immigration reform and why it is needed now. In the fourth week of a six-week bus tour across the country, the Fast for Families Campaign intends to show that there is broad based support for common sense immigration reform in the 4th District of Indiana and to urge US Congressman Todd Rokita to join other US House Republicans to “act fast” and take up the legislation this year.
López and Yoon were two of several immigration reformers who engaged in a 22-day hunger strike on the National Mall in Washington DC last November/December. While fasting, they received visits in their tent from President Obama, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and several members of the US Congress. Across the country, they were joined by faith, labor and immigrant rights leaders and thousands who fasted in solidarity. The Fast for Families movement drew national attention including many national civil rights leaders.
Building on the momentum created last year, the “Fast for Families Across America” bus tour – covering 18 states and more than 14,200 miles – kicked off in Los Angeles on February 24 and is targeting more than 75 key congressional representatives, including Todd Rokita, and mobilizing advocates from across the political spectrum. The bus has only two stops in Indiana – Lafayette/West Lafayette and South Bend.
{invite your friends — go to the Facebook event, click HERE.}
CONTACTS
Joe Micon
Executive Director
Lafayette Urban Ministry
jmicon@lumserve.org
765.423.2691
Susan Brouillette
Program Director for Healthy Families and Sustainable Communities
Lafayette Urban Ministry
sbrouillette@lumserve.org
765.423.2691
Rudy López
Senior Organizer
Fair Immigration Reform Movement
rlopez@communitychange.org
Dae Joong Yoon
Executive Director
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
djyoon@nakasec.org
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Rudy López Bio
Rudy López is a Senior Organizer for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) that is based in Washington DC. López is from a small steel town called East Chicago, Indiana where he currently resides. Immigration Reform is something deeply important to him. He grew up seeing the effects of our broken immigration system and its impact on people he loves. His home served as a “port-of-entry” for many family members who came here undocumented. He saw the toll it takes on someone when they live in fear and treated as second class. Each day people die in the desert crossing the border in search for a better life for their families. In 2005 his cousin Martin Hernandez was one of them. Martin got sick during the crossing and was left behind by the Coyote (human smuggler). He died cold, hungry and alone.
Rudy has dedicated himself to Social Justice and has built a career developing leaders and building power in disenfranchised communities. As Political Director for the Center for Community Change (2007-2013) he worked with groups all over the country to register, educate and turn-out thousands of voters in low-income and communities of color. Rudy served as Wellstone Action’s National Field Director (2005-07) training grassroots leaders how to manage campaigns and run for political office. Rudy was also the National Field Director of the Chicago-based U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (2000-05) overseeing Latino leadership development programs and voter-registration drives across the nation.
Rudy developed his organizing skills in the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village working as a community organizer with Gamaliel affiliate the Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations in Chicago (1998-99) and is currently a Senior Organizer for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) that is based in Washington DC.
Dae Joong Yoon Bio
Dae Joong Yoon is the Executive Director with National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC). He has more than 19 years of community education and organizing experiences in the areas of immigration policy, health access, civic participation, voting rights, environmental justice and economic development. Yoon is no stranger to NAKASEC. He was part of the founding of the organization in 1994, and helped lead ambitious and successful campaigns in the early years including the 1995 “Justice for Immigrants” Washington Post ad campaign opposing anti-immigrant legislation, the 1996 multi-faceted campaign to promote civic participation and electoral organizing, Restoration of SSI and the national Fix 96’ campaign. Yoon is also the founding board member of KRCC in Chicago and served as the national president of Young Koreans United of USA.
Most recently, Dae Joong Yoon was the executive director of KRC since July 2003. He has also supervised many community-led research projects such as the Asian American Voter Exit Poll, Building Health Community Focus Group, and Los Angeles City Services Survey. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Strategic Concept in Organizing & Policy Education (SCOPE); a Community Advisory Board member for the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services; and as an Advisory Board Member for the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. He is a 1.5 generation Korean American and is bilingual in English and Korean.
Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) is a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level. FIRM is a project of the Center for Community Change. FIRM is led by its member organizations and brings leaders together across lines of race, issues and geography to multiply their power. FIRM is dedicated to organizing and building grassroots power and leadership.
Center for Community Change is a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of low-income people and people of color.
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) is a group of grassroots community based with the purpose of projecting a national progressive voice on major civil rights and immigrant rights issues and promoting the full participation of Korean Americans with the greater goal of building a national movement for social change. NAKASEC is based in Los Angeles, CA and Annandale, VA; and also has affiliates in Los Angeles (Korean Resource Center) and in Chicago (Korean American Resource & Cultural Center).
{invite your friends — go to the Facebook event, click HERE.}
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La Reforma “Common Sense Immigration Reform” es lo adecuado para la seguridad nacional, es lo adecuado para nuestros niños y es lo correcto para la moralidad de esta nación. Es hora de que el Congreso actúe para ponerle fin al sufrimiento en nuestras comunidades y crear una solución permanente para los 11 millones de aspirantes estadounidenses de nuestra nación. Rudy López, activista de derechos civiles.
Almuerzo Educacional Presentando a Rudy López
Viernes, 21 de Marzo
Mediodía – 1:30pm
Newman Hall, St. Thomas Aquinas Church
Abierto Al Publico
Ofertas voluntarias para LUM Open Arms Immigration Clinc
Ven y participa, si usted tiene preguntas acerca de la necesidad por una reforma migratoria o si solo desea mandar un mensaje al congreso tocante a la creación de un sistema migratorio consistente con nuestro valores nacionales, nuestros credos y nuestra fe en la justicia.
Contacto: Susan Brouillete, Lafayette Urban Ministry, sbrouillete@lafayetteurbanministy, (765) 423-2691
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