Alvaro Fernandez

In 2000, through his work with SVREP, the largest and oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization in the country, Fernandez initiated the Latino Vote Project in the state of Florida carrying out voter registration and get out the vote efforts in Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier and Palm Beach Counties; and the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas. He then expanded the SVREP mission to the states of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Through his SVREP work he introduced the Latino Academy to the southeast region of the U.S. Since then more than 200 leaders have been trained from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia with plans for more extensive Academy training in the near future. In 2004, Fernandez saw his Latino Vote Project finish its best year with almost 20,000 new voters registered. As a Voter Advocate in Florida, Fernandez also set up voter protection projects in 2006 for the Advancement Project as consultant for this non-partisan organization headquartered in Washington, DC. later becoming a plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against the state of Florida enabling more than 14,000 Latino and other minority voters to be allowed on the voter rolls. In 2006, working with the William C. Velasquez Institute, a research and policy organization, Fernandez led an effort to get better representation for Latinos in the 2007 Farm Bill, which has yet to be approved by Congress. Through WCVI he also works on issues of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Since 2002, Fernandez has published a weekly, bilingual Internet magazine (www.progresoweekly.com). As an alternative news source, the publication's aim is multifold and includes a progressive mission pointing out problems and issues too often ignored by mainstream media. The publication receives more than 50,000 visitors weekly with more than 300,000 hits. After the 2000 Census, Fernandez became involved in statewide redistricting efforts in Florida where he advocated for more and fairer opportunities for the burgeoning Latino population in the state, and in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. At this time he also worked with the Haitian-American community in local redistricting. Fernandez also serves as president of the Cuban-American Commission for Family Rights, an organization created in June 2004 to fight the cruel measures implemented that summer by the Bush administration against the Cuban family. A community activist, he served as volunteer director of Miami Beach Second Thursdays, a monthly celebration of the arts he founded as former vice chair of the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council. During that period he was instrumental in the successful fight to eliminate a non-constitutional law that prohibited Cuban musical groups and artists from appearing in Miami-Dade county-owned venues. In the late 1990s, he, along with two other partners, promoted numerous music concerts in South Florida: many of the musical groups originating from Cuba.

www.progresoweekly.com

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