LCLAA advocates for broadband in every home and business

The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) has just joined with 199 other companies and organizations as a member of the Broadband for America (BfA) coalition.  Like most organizations we are very careful with our brand, and don’t join organizations without doing a great deal of homework.  When the opportunity to join BfA was presented to us, we quickly realized that it fit perfectly with many of the aims and goals of LCLAA.
 
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement is a national advocacy organization representing the interests of over 1.7 million Latino and Latina trade unionists throughout the U.S. and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.   Why would a trade union organization join hands with many of the Internet service providers and content distributors in the private sector?  For the same reason that the Cuban American National Council, Dominican American National Roundtable and others joined, to advocate for providing broadband Internet access to every home and business in America.  
 
LCLAA stands arm-in-arm with the Latino Health Institute of Beth Israel Medical Center, League of United Latin American Citizens, and the dozens of other Latino-focused organizations which have joined Broadband for America.

The Internet has become vitally important to American society.  We use the Internet to stay connected to friends and families, to learn new things, to shop, to be entertained and to participate in the political process.  We need to ensure all Americans have access to broadband.
 
According to the latest Pew Research (April 2009), Latinos have experienced a 20% jump in home-based broadband adoption in the last three years. While we are also one of the fastest growing groups in the adoption of mobile broadband, we trail the national average in overall broadband adoption. There is still much more work for us to do to increase the rate of broadband adoption amongst Latino families.
 
While we continue working toward increased access and adoption in our communities, we have also seen the impact on job creation by the industry. The unprecedented growth and expansion in the telecommunications industry over the last decade has presented thousands of opportunities for living wage union jobs for Latinos.  LCLAA views broadband as a necessity for Latinos to compete in the 21st Century economy and we must continue to provide incentives for continued expansion of the infrastructure to ensure real jobs that affect economic change within our Latino communities.
 
Like all Americans, Latino working families are striving for a prosperous future for their families and the nation as a whole. Broadband access to the Internet is crucial to achieving that goal.  We want the potential of this important technology to be available to every household and every business in the United States.
 
Broadband is the future of the Internet and Latinos are key to the future of American economic success. Access to broadband is an important step forward to ensure that success. We have to do everything possible to make sure the two are – literally – connected.