Mobilizing/Organizing Latino Civic Engagement with Language Proficiency

Marcos Vilar was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the United States at the age of 14. Vilar has worked in Washington, D.C. in government, labor and non-profit settings. In Chicago, Illinois he worked as a High School teacher and in Florida, as a consultant for several non-profit and political entities. Today, he runs Vilar Strategies a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL which serves clients in strategic planning, legislative and advocacy campaigns, issue campaigns, electoral campaigns, and non-for-profit organizational development and management. Vilar led mayor efforts to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level, creating a coalition of organizations working together to increase Latino civic participation in key states. In this episode of Language is Your Superpower, he shares with us how language and cultural proficiency are critical for civic engagement and community impact programs.