According to the Pew Research Center, In 2015, 20% of American adults were in the lowest- income tier, up from 16% in 1971, with more American’s moving into the lower income tiers there is a concern of the affect it will have on American politics.
Low Income Earners tend to be less- involved in politics than the middle class, but a group in Las Cruces works to keep them involved. New Mexico CAFé helps to train and keep people involved in politics.
People in Las Cruces came to know New Mexico CAFé when they were petitioning for a minimum wage increase in Las Cruces, and Executive Director Sarah Silva says they are continuing to organize people in Southern New Mexico.
“We’re going to keep doing voter registration and getting out the vote in the 2016 elections,” Silva said. “The local ones, statewide ones, but also national elections. But we’re also looking at how we’re engaging our county commission, especially this year, around infrastructure in our Colonias and unincorporated parts of the county, and then second really having a representative voice for the juveniles and juvenile detention.”
Silva says it’s important to keep people involved in the political process, not just during elections.
“What where demonstrating is that people need to get involved year-round,” Silva said. “Not just seen as voters, or consumers to a political process, that we’re citizens, once people realize or have an experience of being a citizen then the push to vote, the push to get more involved politically, regardless of income increases.”
Silva says it’s not lack of knowledge that keeps low-income earners out of the political system.
“Any person who is low-income can tell you how the system works or doesn’t work for them or for their family,” Silva said. “What is hard for people to believe is that they have the power to then change it. That’s the biggest barrier, is people believe they either don’t deserve better or they don’t have the power to change it.”
Silva says the one of the best ways to change that is having conversations with people.
‘Talking to people really intently about how do you build a team,” Silva said. “Relying on relationships, people think it’s all money, or really shiny commercials and we want to say no, it’s actually relationships, can you really understand the issues and the needs of your neighbor and do they know yours, and can you then move together on an issue that you care about.”
At a training session for community organizers, Silva discussed some strategies they’ve found successful.
“We know that first building teams in communities that already have relationships work,” Silva said. “We want to make sure that people know each other, people are getting trained, a lot of people get sent to Santa Fe or get put in front of a city council, and don’t know the first thing of what to say, or how to say it, we want to make sure that people are prepared to act fully into their purpose and use their voice politically. Instead of throwing them out sink or swim, we know that doesn’t work.”
Silva says it’s also important to keep up with causes after training people.
“We know walking with people and journeying with them on their political or public journey is really important,” Silva said. “Knowing that we’re not going to put you out in front of a TV Camera alone, we’re not going to put you out in front of your church, or congregation alone, that we’re going to be really supportive of you and your vision of what you have for your community.”
Silva says they try to center their activities around the needs of the people.
“We don’t give people an issue and say you’re going to work on x, y, and z,” Silva said. “But we go into communities and we ask what problems do you see, ad what solutions do you think are out there that we could solve. And we allow people to lead with their own pain, with their own vision, and we help train them to get to that vision. So that works, a lot of political operations come in with a very set agenda, and we come in and say we don’t have an agenda what’s yours we’ll train you on how to get there.”
