Subject: National Council of La Raza

Dear RWS 1301 peers,

Immigration from Mexico has been one of the most important issues in the United States
for a number of years now and has become a topic of discussion for politicians in the
U.S. According to the Migration Policy Institute, In 2013 nearly 11.3 million
immigrants that reside in the United States are from Mexico. Steven A. Camarota, the
Director of Research for the Center of Immigration Studies (CIS) says that, 1.5 to 1.7
million illegal immigrants arrived to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013. Many of these
immigrants come to the U.S. for employment, better lives, and/or greater opportunities.
The City of El Paso has been significantly affected by immigration for many years
because it lies on the U.S./Mexico border, because not only is El Paso a potential place to
stay, but is a passage to enter the U.S. from Mexico. There are a number of groups and
agencies that are involved in this issue.
One of these groups is the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). The NCLR supports
immigration reform that makes it easier for people to enter the country legally to work
and reunite with families, provides a path to citizenship for long-term residents of U.S.,
and achieves successful integration of immigrants to our society. The NCLR is one of the
largest groups that strive for Hispanic civil rights. They want to improve immigration and
give opportunities for Hispanics not only in the United States, but also for Puerto Rico.
They do this by creating various programs such as the NCLR Homeownership Network
(provides counseling for buying houses), the Escalera program (a program dedicated to
increase employment opportunities for youths), etc. They have many different jobs that
help achieve these goals and lead these programs. Such as, Education Program Associate,
Early Childhood Education Program Manager, etc.
The NCLR strives for making the process of integration of immigrants to American life
smoother by providing services to immigrants who are struggling to adapt to life in the
U.S. They create programs that help children, teens, and young adults with school by
teaching them how to read and write in English so they are able to understand the courses
they are taking. This requires good communication with the person who is helping the
student, because the student may not understand what is going on in a certain class due to
the fact that they are not very fluent in English. Another reason why communication is
key in this situation is because the student could be confused with the material like many
others could be. Another way the NCLR helps immigrants is by providing counseling on
purchasing a home and how to manage the investment after its purchase. They send
professionals in this field to help the immigrants with the purchase of a home. The person
who is advising the buyer needs to be able to communicate with him/her through both
English and Spanish to make sure they know how to properly buy and invest in a house.
They are able to announce these programs and certain job opportunities through their
website at www.nclr.org. The website also allows visitors to translate the website to
Spanish for those who do not speak English. They also announce these types of programs
through their Facebook page (facebook.com/Nationalcounciloflaraza) and their Twitter
account (@NCLR).

The NCLR can be contacted through anyone of its regional offices and/or its main
headquarters in Washington DC. The headquarters may be reached through e-mail at
comments@nclr.org, by phone at (202) 785-1670, or by mailing address at 1126 16th
Street, NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC. If you wish to make a donation you could do so
by making a secure online donation by joining the NCLRs Amigos de NCLR, Founders
Circle or Presidents Council levels.
Sincerely,
Daniel E. Garcia