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Climate advocates celebrated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month as it announced a closely watched $20 billion in grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The money will go toward nonprofits, state and local agencies, and community-based financial institutions so they can help finance infrastructure projects that reduce emissions, with a focus on communities that are historically underserved.

Advocates described the infusion of climate financing as "momentous," "groundbreaking" and "transformational" in interviews with TriplePundit last month. But some onlookers are still fuzzy about what exactly the grants will be used for, what they'll mean for communities and what happens next.

With grant financing set to be delivered this summer, we're taking a closer look at how the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will translate into a domino effect of green infrastructure in communities facing outsized impact from climate change and pollution.

"A chance to rewrite history"

Low-income communities and communities of color face some of the worst air pollution in the United States, contributing to higher rates of preventable illnesses.

The financial practice of redlining is among the factors that contributed to this deadly legacy. As federal housing loans became available under the New Deal in the 1930s, government lenders and banks deemed certain neighborhoods — with predominantly Black and immigrant populations — too "high risk" to serve. That translated into red lines drawn around entire communities that could not access home or business loans because of where they lived, even if they personally qualified for credit, until the practice was outlawed in 1968.

Along with economic depression that's still visible today, many previously redlined neighborhoods tend to have higher levels of air pollution and greater proximity to oil and gas wells. 

In many ways, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund aims to flip this discriminatory financial model on its head to solve the problem. The recipients of the April grants are coalitions of lenders, so they won't build new solar energy installations, energy transmission lines or zero-emissions trucks themselves. They'll finance them within the regions they serve, and a mapping program specifically incentivizes them to focus on historically underserved communities that are overburdened by pollution. 

"An inclusive green economy can create the economic opportunity that might be able to help us rewrite history from a financial institution perspective," said Jessie Buendia, vice president of sustainability for Dream.Org and national director of the Green For All program, which consulted with the EPA on developing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund framework. "We're going to be able to target specific communities, many of whom were communities that were redlined historically, with an infusion of capital to build [green] infrastructure projects so they'll have the benefits associated with them — not just for jobs, but also for health."

With this financing, the Joe Biden administration aims to kickstart new green lending networks that can get projects built faster and attract private investment to multiply impact. It's not about the next big moonshot climate technology. It's about increasing access to systems that are already proven to reduce pollution, cut emissions and lower energy costs. Those include everything from community solar programs that allow renters and low-income households to share in solar power, to energy-efficiency upgrades for homes and businesses, to zero-emissions transportation and clean energy infrastructure. 

"The technologies have already been proven in the market," Buendia said. "So, the innovation here is really going to be focused on deployment: How do you actually get these proven technologies into communities that have never had them before?"

 

 

 

 

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A financial backbone for the Inflation Reduction Act 

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is only a small part of the broader Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes billions in tax incentives and grant awards for green infrastructure. Other grant competitions in the Inflation Reduction Act focus on stimulating a range of projects, such as expanding access to clean energy in rural communities, replacing diesel trucks with zero-emission vehicles, and reducing air pollution at ports. 

The financing mechanisms established through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund serve as a backbone for bringing the projects coming out of other Inflation Reduction Act climate programs to fruition. 

"Because the Inflation Reduction Act has started making awards in all of the other programs, we actually have a huge need for financing and loans," Buendia said. "In government, you often work on a reimbursement basis, so you have to have money to get money." 

In other words: As nonprofits, communities and businesses are awarded grants to implement their proposed projects, they'll need seed money to get started before various rounds of federal funding come through. The financial institutions within the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund are now ready and able to provide it, which can speed up the notoriously sluggish process of getting projects built. 

"In the world of infrastructure, which I've worked in my whole life,  you lose momentum and visibility — an opportunity to engage the public, an opportunity to celebrate these wins — because projects take so long to get online," Buendia said. "Being able to get a line of financing infused at this moment means that projects will be able to start earlier and hopefully get done earlier, and I think that's going to help build credibility for this type of investment in this country. It's really about how all of these different pieces of the Inflation Reduction Act begin to work together in a community." 

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund at work in Fresno, California

To understand what all this means in practice, look no further than Fresno County, California, which faces some of the highest air pollution levels in the United States. The majority of Fresno residents are people of color, with over half identifying as Hispanic or Latino, and median household income is more than $20,000 less than the California average, according to U.S. Census data.

The city received EPA funding under the Inflation Reduction Act to develop a plan to build more green infrastructure. "Once they receive these federal grants, they're not going to have the money to begin the work, and that's where the [Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund] can come in," Buendia explained. "The municipality has identified their high-priority needs for an energy transition. They've identified perhaps developers who actually want to come in and provide those services. They've identified grant funding and capital that will finance it, and now they're going to need this infusion of funding to be able to get the actual work started." 

Since $20 billion is nowhere near enough to finance the infrastructure needed for the low-carbon energy transition, a key objective of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is to multiply federal investments by attracting private capital. In cases like Fresno's, the upfront work done by the community makes it less risky and more appealing for businesses to invest in the green infrastructure the community identified. 

"We are really dealing with a trillion-dollar problem with climate change and climate mitigation. But the $20 billion downpayment the federal government is making will hopefully unlock other private-sector investments to the communities who need it the most," Buendia said. "What is game-changing is that communities like Fresno have not been targeted in the way that San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles or these large markets have. They haven't been areas that are considered investible. Now, there's actually infrastructure for people to be able to get these projects online."

Grants are just the beginning

Beyond federal involvement serving to de-risk projects for private investors, the fact that Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund recipients represent networks of community-based lenders from across the country opens up doors for financing models that didn't exist before. That includes interstate projects for things like energy transmission infrastructure, or funds that allow private investors to put large sums into multiple projects and communities. 

"The private sector often has a challenge with investing small amounts of money," Buendia explained. "They really want to figure out how to invest in the aggregate. The [Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund] program, working with the national applicants, that's going to be their job to figure out how to make it easy for the private sector to invest in these communities." 

The program is meant to last long after the grants stop going out, with lenders re-investing the funds into new projects as they get loan payments back and new infrastructure activity attracting more interest from businesses and investors, Buendia said. 

This jolt of activity also leaves ample room for people in historically disadvantaged communities to have their voices heard on how funds are spent, and also to forge their own careers in the budding green economy. Dream.org is among the organizations offering resources like scholarships and business development programs for people in underserved communities to transition their careers toward sustainability. 

"This is a really big moment for people to see themselves as part of this future we're trying to build," Buendia concluded. "I would love to see a very, very strong economic message come out of this, where people really see this as a path of choice for them and for their careers. We need a full market transformation."

Pushback against the use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in business gathered momentum in 2021 when legislators in approximately two dozen Republican-led states passed anti-ESG laws.

Some of these laws restrict state agencies or public pension funds from using ESG factors in their investments. Others ban state and local entities from doing business with specific financial companies that legislators deemed to be unfairly disinvesting from the oil and gas sector because of ESG screens.

In the following years, state attorneys general issued legal warnings and filed lawsuits, including a challenge to the new Securities and Exchange Commission rule supporting ESG investing principles.

Financial firms have used various approaches to navigate the anti-ESG trend. With signs the news cycle — and the general public — appear to be moving on from the narrative, can business leaders and financial professionals finally put the anti-ESG movement in the rear-view mirror?

Is public support for ESG really on the downturn?

Within the financial sector, some firms have responded to anti-ESG actions by lowering their media profile. Instead of substantially altering their ESG investing strategies, they are simply deploying alternative terms in corporate reports and client communications. Some high-profile targets of the anti-ESG movement, like the investment firm BlackRock, have also withdrawn from climate organizations while continuing to maintain ESG commitments through other entities.

In an article posted on Monday, the right-wing think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has established a long association with climate change misinformation, warned the anti-ESG movement not to be fooled by corporate soft-pedaling on ESG principles.

“ESG is still alive and well, even at many of the firms that are publicly backing away from it,” wrote Stone Washington of the Institute. “Left-wing shareholder activism has shifted underground, as institutions adopt guerrilla tactics,” he added, noting that the aim of guerrilla warfare is to “wear the more powerful enemy down by depleting their time, manpower, and resources with constant asymmetrical skirmishes.” He went on to warn shareholders to “be wary of deceptive wording and ulterior methods used to advance ESG within corporations."

Somewhat ironically, Washington’s report reads more like a how-to manual for alternative ESG strategies rather than a criticism of ESG principles. The tell, though, is in the last paragraph where he observes that “public support for ESG has largely been on the downturn.”

But that's not what the data says. On Monday, for example, Forbes contributor Jamie Hailstone noted that the news cycle, and the ESG “debate” itself, have both moved on. He cited a poll by the research firm Verdantix, indicating that 62 percent of business leaders globally “agree that investment in ESG leads to increased revenue.”

“Fifty-two percent agree it would lead to lower costs, and 69 percent say it would lead to lower risks,” Hailstone added. Those findings are consistent with another survey released by the professional services firm EY last month.

“Right now, CEOs are focused on technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, as a means to boost productivity and growth,” EY researchers led by Andrea Guerzoni advised. “But when they look into the not-too-distant future, their focus shifts to achieving net zero by decarbonizing their business and creating new revenue streams.”

As for support from the general public, one particularly useful bellwether is Texas, which passed a particularly harsh anti-ESG law in 2021. The financial fallout in terms of higher municipal borrowing costs has been growing. One recent study estimates the damage at $700 million from lack of competition as the state barred certain investment practices and financial firms. 

Against that backdrop, the progressive public opinion research firm Z to A polled Texas residents on behalf of the new ESG advocacy organization Unlocking America’s Future, which presented the results on May 16.

“Texans overwhelmingly (91 percent) trust banks and professional investors over politicians when deciding whether a company is a worthwhile investment,” the study found. “In fact, 83 percent of Texans believe it is not the role of the state government to tell private financial institutions how to invest their customer’s money."

Further, “a majority of Texas voters don’t support or see the need for these anti-ESG laws, with 56 percent of voters opposing ESG bans,” the study concluded. 

Winds shift on the anti-ESG movement, but uncertainty looms ahead of Election Day

Though the legislative successes of the anti-ESG movement have garnered substantial media attention, the movement has also faced considerable setbacks.

Many anti-ESG bills introduced over the past three years were watered down after pension managers and other stakeholders alerted lawmakers to the risk of financial harm, and others never became law at all.

The legal challenges are also beginning to mount. Earlier this month, an Oklahoma district court judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the state’s 2022 anti-ESG law, ruling it unconstitutional. The ruling could also impact similar anti-ESG laws in Texas and elsewhere.

Among other actions, on April 29 the 8th Circuit also allowed a group of 19 attorneys general from Democratic-led state and the District of Columbia to defend the new SEC rule against the Republican lawsuit.

Even if the legislative and legal pendulum is swinging over to the ESG side, advocates should take note that the Competitive Enterprise Institute and many other well-funded organizations are still determined to thwart ESG investing. They will all but certainly get another chance after Election Day, one way or another.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies are already laying the groundwork to contest the legitimacy of the 2024 presidential election months ahead of Election Day, just as they did in 2020, stoking fears of hacked machines and voter fraud.

Misinformation surrounding the 2020 election culminated in the insurrection of January 6, 2021. The attempt to install a permanent authoritarian ruler narrowly failed that time. Now Trump and his allies have another opportunity to establish a “unified Reich,” as mapped out by a Heritage Foundation book titled "Project 2025."

That sounds preposterous, but the implications for ESG investing are all too real. Business leaders who advocate for ESG should not depend on another Joe Biden administration to support them after Election Day. One way or another, it may not exist.

This story was original published by GreenMoney Journal and is reprinted with permission. 

Two years ago this month, I was informed by senior leaders from The Coca-Cola Company that Honest Tea, the brand I launched out of my house in 1998, would be discontinued.

Despite the brand’s success as the world’s first organic and Fair Trade certified bottled tea brand, supply chain disruptions during the pandemic made Honest Tea a victim of Coke’s “Fewer, Bigger Bets” strategy.

But what felt like a huge setback turned out to be a gift, and an interesting lesson in the challenges big corporations have in scaling mission-driven brands.

Within ten days of hearing the news about Honest Tea’s demise, our sense of loss morphed into a determination that Honest Tea’s organic and Fair Trade values were too important — to our farmers (most of whom found out about Honest Tea’s termination from my LinkedIn post) and our customers — to be allowed to disappear. But the biggest piece of inspiration came via an email I received from one of our longtime tea suppliers:

"I am just hearing the news and reading your note on LinkedIn," the supplier wrote. "The story of Honest Tea is very connected to our own, our company, and the gardens and people with whom we work at origin, so the news is definitely a 'gut punch,' for us as well. For my father and myself, while the financial consequences are material, the loss of confidence in Organic and Fair Trade agriculture that this decision is likely to engender in the wider community is very saddening and probably more consequential over the long term — especially in terms of lost motivation at origins. We have been so inspired to be part of the journey that you led, and want to try to continue the effort (and fight the suggestion that this was all a failed experiment)."

After receiving that email, I didn’t need any more convincing! Of course, we also looked at the market and were convinced that there was an immediate opportunity to capture much of Honest Tea’s volume, which had grown to $75 million before I left, as well as expand beyond that size because the receptivity to Organic and Fair Trade had grown since 2019. It was also clear that since the pandemic there had been no innovation in bottled iced tea. The shelves were filled with the usual suspects — Arizona, Snapple, Pure Leaf and Gold Peak — and no one was bringing anything fresh or exciting to the category.

We couldn’t buy back the Honest name because Coke was still building Honest Kids, so my Honest Tea co-founder Barry Nalebuff and I brainstormed over a weekend and came up with a new name that would help communicate what our new brand would stand for. We came up with Just Ice Tea. My Eat The Change co-founder, Chef Spike Mendelsohn, started brewing recipes that were enhancements of Honest Tea’s greatest hits.

By September 6, 2022, less than 100 days after we heard the news about Honest Tea, we had sold our first bottle at a PLNT Burger restaurant in New York City. Today Just Ice Tea is the top-selling bottled tea brand in the natural channel, as tracked by SPINS. Our sales hit $16 million in the past 12 months, and we are just starting to sell into national foodservice, drug, mass and convenience chains.

Shakespeare wrote in All’s Well that Ends Well, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” So, before I focus on the impact of Just Ice Tea, it feels appropriate to reflect on Honest Tea’s legacy:

• Honest Kids, our lower-sugar organic juice drink, is still flourishing as the top-selling organic kids juice drink. It is distributed nationally in more than 100,000 outlets, including McDonalds, Wendy’s, Subway, Chik-Fil-A and Arby’s — none of which come to mind when you think of an organic drink. Our aspiration to democratize organic foods is being realized.
• The caloric impact of Honest Kids is profound. The placement of the 35-calorie drink boxes at McDonald’s, where they replaced an 80-calorie juice box at the same price point, has contributed to removing more than 1 billion empty calories from the American diet.
• Dozens of amazing entrepreneurs who got their start with Honest are now building the next wave of mission-driven brands. The branches of the Honest employee tree extend into many of today’s most cherished brands including Good Culture, Calicraft, Aldi, Super Coffee, Rishi, Timberland, Beyond Meat, Jeni’s and Partake Foods.
• Ripples in the mission-driven space continue. The success of Honest inspired thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and larger food companies to embrace the healthier, organic and Fair Trade approach to food. Our book, "Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently," which was a New York Times bestseller, helped provide the playbook for tens of thousands of rising leaders.

Shortly after we launched Just Ice Tea, I took my co-founder Chef Spike Mendelsohn to a tea garden in Zambezia Province in Mozambique (pictured above). The landscape was breathtaking – green rolling hills, surrounded by fragrant eucalyptus trees, laced with waterfalls and streams flowing throughout. Roughly 10,000 people live throughout the tea fields. In addition to picking tea leaves, they grow their own crops for food and income.

Even with the higher-than-normal Fair Trade USA wages that Cha de Magoma pays the tea pickers, Zambezia Province is one of the poorest provinces in one of the poorest countries (186 out of 192) in the world. The average life expectancy is 54.6 years. Not only are cholera, malaria, and AIDS major threats, but residents also lack access to medical services to diagnose these illnesses.

When we met with the Worker’s Council that decides how our Fair Trade premiums are spent, they requested we focus our donations on building a pathology clinic that can test, diagnose and provide basic treatment for illnesses. Without access to this kind of resource, villagers need to travel 90 minutes, which is especially challenging since they lack access to cars. This year we will be contributing and raising funds for the medical equipment needed to launch this facility.

When we launched Just Ice Tea, we wanted to honor and celebrate what Honest Tea stood for, but promised ourselves we wouldn’t be operating with an old playbook. The launch of our new canned line is the latest example of our commitment to think more broadly and boldly about where Just Ice Tea can go. The cans should help support our efforts to democratize organics by making more sustainable and healthier foods and drinks available to more people because of their lower price point. 

The whole Honest-to-Just Ice Tea experience has confirmed for me that Karma is real — and positive intentions and actions count. Because we tried to do the right things at Honest Tea, every part of the supply chain was eager to work with us again — farmers, retailers, distributors, suppliers and co-packers, not to mention investors and consumers.

Honest Tea’s termination created a big hole in the marketplace, and we have been fortunate to be able to fill a lot of it. Now it’s up to us to see if we can take Just Ice Tea beyond where Honest went and realize the full promise of the brand and the values it represents.

This story was original published by GreenMoney Journal and is reprinted with permission. 

Listen to Cliff’s GreenMoney interview with Seth Goldman at the 30th SRI Conference in 2019 – reflecting on what it takes to keep a social mission at the center of a brand.

Finding common ground is inherent to human nature. It’s how we establish rapport, make meaningful connections, and relate to one another each and every day. Encouraging individuals’ diverse perspectives and embracing their unique experiences should be at the center of any successful business. People are increasingly looking for a genuine community built on a foundation of respect, shared ideals, values, genuine connection and, ultimately, a sense of belonging.

The challenge, especially as companies work to reach pre-pandemic levels of productivity, is that many employees feel excluded at work. This can be especially true for those from marginalized communities. In the 2023 Belonging Barometer from EY, 41 percent of workers said the workplace is where they feel the greatest sense of belonging, but 75 percent said they’ve felt excluded there. In addition, more than half reported feeling reluctant to share dimensions of their identity while at work for fear it could hold them back professionally. While this can sound disheartening, it points to an incredible opportunity for businesses to build workplace communities that ensure all belong.

Fostering that sense of community is a core element of the Subaru Love Promise – the Subaru commitment to show love and respect to all people at every interaction, including our workplaces. While we often talk about the impact we make on the communities around us, the Love Promise begins at home within our own walls and with our own employees. For us, that means fostering an inclusive workplace where people feel they can bring their authentic selves to work. It is important that we create an environment that values diversity and inclusion, where our employees feel celebrated and valued for their diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives. Toward this goal, we support employees to voluntarily organize and participate in groups to recognize, embrace, and leverage the richness of their backgrounds, experiences, and outlooks.   

This commitment to our employees has come to life in several ways, most notably through our employee resource groups (ERGs). While we have our eye on growing ERGs further, we currently have five: Black and Latino Employee Network for Diversity at Subaru (BLENDS); Evolve, which focuses on access to physical and social wellness for all; Out + Ally, a network of LGBTQ+ employees and allies; Subaru Armed Forces Resource Group for Employees (SARGE); and Subaru Women’s Network. 

We established ERGs as an opportunity for employees from historically marginalized groups to organize and create safe spaces to connect, educate, and become champions for the unique needs of underrepresented groups within the company. In the spirit of inclusivity, the ERGs are open to all. Employees can receive peer support, explore leadership and volunteer opportunities, and actively help us work toward the bigger goal of cultivating a more inclusive workplace. We believe there is something in it for everyone, whether you personally identify with one of the groups or not.

At Subaru, we see ERGs as an integral part of our culture, and we treat them that way. We invest time and resources to ensure they are set up for success. That means providing a framework for each group with structure, clearly defined operating processes, strategic goals, and financial support. 

Each group has two employee chairs, a steering committee, and a budget that allows them to host events and invest back in the community through nonprofits aligned with their unique mission. Each group also has two executive sponsors who also sit on our corporate diversity council. This ensures that senior leaders are directly involved in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts at a grassroots level and better positions them to identify and champion new ideas or initiatives that support our inclusive and equitable workplace goals.

We leverage our ERGs to help us cultivate a more inclusive culture, but their support extends beyond hosting events and volunteer activities. We also see them as trusted advisors on company policies and benefit packages. It is important to us that our ERGs have an opportunity to make an impact on how we support people, and asking for their input is our way of including their unique perspectives and diverse ideas in shaping a more inclusive employee experience and support system.  

But what is particularly special about ERGs at Subaru is that they reach outside of the walls of our headquarters to make a difference for the causes that matter to them. The Subaru of America Foundation, which supports organizations that benefit our hometown of Camden, New Jersey, allocates funding to each ERG to donate to a charity of their choice in the city of Camden. ERGs work together to select the charity, present their proposals to Subaru executives, and coordinate the donation and volunteer opportunities for members to make a real difference in the causes they care about. At its heart, it’s our Subaru Love Promise extending to the communities where we live and work and having a meaningful impact. 

Working with intention on our ERG programming over the past five years has strengthened our culture in immeasurable ways. We have seen an increase in employee engagement scores, and group membership has increased year over year. We’ve also heard from new hires that our thriving ERG community was a key driver in their decision to work at Subaru. It’s one of the reasons why we have incorporated ERGs in the recruitment and onboarding process. 

Most importantly, the key ingredient to our ERGs is aligning them to our guiding principle: the Subaru Love Promise. We unabashedly talk about how love is what makes Subaru "More Than a Car Company,” and it’s also what makes an office into a true community. When businesses allow the people in that community to pursue their passions in the workplace – and put true support behind it – incredible things can happen.

This article series is sponsored by Subaru of America and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team. 

The United States accounts for about 4 percent of the global population but houses around 20 percent of the world’s prison population. Forty-eight states have laws banning people with felony convictions from voting. As a consequence, more than 4 million Americans, roughly 2 percent of the voting-age population, remain ineligible to vote even after completing their prison terms. The nonprofit Free Our Vote is among the organizations working to change that.

“Our goal is to use [technology] and data to expand the franchise, to incorporate millions of returning citizens,” Alexander Billy, co-founder of Free Our Vote, told TriplePundit. “These folks that paid their debt to society, they don’t have a lot of faith in democratic institutions, and it’s our goal to create a voting system that is more inclusive and works for people.”

Free Our Vote was established in Florida during the aftermath of Amendment Four. Passed in 2018, it was intended to restore voting rights to Floridians with felony records, potentially giving nearly 1.7 million people the right to vote.

However, the phrase “terms of sentence” in the amendment, which attracted support from across the political spectrum, led to ambiguity regarding the inclusion of criminal assessments or legal financial obligations, such as outstanding debts and payments imposed by the court. The Republican-dominated Florida legislature passed a law requiring the payment of all fines, fees and restitution to qualify for reinstatement of voting rights. The move reduced the number of re-enfranchised individuals by approximately 1 million voters.

“We really thought that everyone with a past conviction would be able to vote once they completed the terms of their sentence,” Billy said.

In 2020, Free Our Vote implemented a debt relief program to cover the financial obligations that prevented people from reclaiming their voting rights. It led to a significant increase in voter turnout among previously disenfranchised voters in Florida. 

Afterward, Free Our Vote compared electoral participation between registered voters whose financial obligations were eliminated by the nonprofit to debtors who did not benefit from the program. The debt relief program increased voter turnout by 26 percent among the people it served during the 2020 election.

States that tie re-enfranchisement to legal financial obligation often lack or don’t commit the resources to help people determine their voting rights, Billy said. After Amendment Four passed, election administrators in Florida were handling roughly 57 cases per day to determine who was eligible. 

“Going through 57 cases per day when there are 1.7 million potential voters would've taken literally decades,” he said. “And as we learned later, even people who have decades of experience in the criminal legal system in Florida really could not make heads or tails of who was eligible.”

The arguments in favor of this system are misguided and the alleged benefits from revenue are overstated, according to research conducted by Billy and other members of the nonprofit. Failure to pay criminal court debt is often the result of bureaucratic complications and indigency, Billy said. Given the impact on indigent and Black defendants and the uncertainty it creates about voter eligibility, felony financial disenfranchisement is “a socially harmful policy that should be eliminated,” according to the research.

“Ordinary Americans are not in a position to comb through the data to determine eligibility. That is a huge challenge for them, just in terms of the administrative resources they would need to collect and understand the data,” Billy said. “But in the case of Florida, as in many other states throughout the country, it’s not just the difficulty in understanding complex law and data sources. It’s also having the financial wherewithal to be able to pay off fines and fees.” 

The nonprofit recently received a boost as a part of the 2024 Fast Forward Startup Accelerator. Free Our Vote and 11 other nonprofits receive seed funding, training, mentorship and technical support through the program. Fast Forward is also leveraging its network of partners to offer skills-based mentoring from its employees, ensuring the nonprofits have access to the necessary resources and knowledge to scale effectively.

Participating in the Startup Accelerator has been “transformational” for Free Our Vote, Billy said. “Fast Forward has an incredible network of people in the development space,” he said. “We’re in contact on a regular basis with world-renowned funders who have missions that align with our own. I think there’s going to be a real opportunity to tap into some of that funding and really scale up.” 

Since its founding, Free Our Vote expanded its efforts to pay off debts and restore voting rights in Georgia, Virginia, Kansas, Arizona and Washington. Plans are in motion to move into nine other states. 

“We don’t want to see a voting system that plays this game of ‘gotcha,’” Billy said. “And we want ordinary Americans to really believe that the system works for them.”

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here.

In the depths of the Great Depression in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned Congress that millions of Americans were idly “walking the streets,” presenting a threat to the country’s stability, even though they “would infinitely prefer to work.” It’s part of the reason he proposed the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program that would hire men to preserve forests, prevent soil erosion, and control floods. “More important, however, than the material gains will be the moral and spiritual value of such work,” Roosevelt said.

President Joe Biden referenced that line last month when he announced the launch of the American Climate Corps, a government jobs program inspired by Roosevelt’s that tackles the environmental problems of the 21st century. Besides the obvious benefits of restoring wetlands and installing solar panels, the climate corps is intended to pave a path to green careers for those who sign up. Another advantage of joining, though less-discussed, is that it could help alleviate widespread climate anxiety, channeling young people’s concern into concrete, hands-on work. More than half of Americans are anxious, to some degree, about how climate change is affecting their mental health. There are only about 250 job listings on the climate corps site right now, though some of those openings have multiple positions. The White House expects to employ 20,000 people over the program’s first year.

While the vast majority of 18- to 28-year-olds in the United States say they’re worried about climate change, two-thirds of them are unsure what they can do to make a difference, according to polling from the think tank Data for Progress in 2022. The combination is ripe for “climate anxiety,” a catch-all term for the feelings of grief, fear, and distress that’s not so much a clinical diagnosis as a logical response to living through the hottest period on Earth in 125,000 years. 

According to common wisdom, the best way to treat existential dread about global warming is to “take action.” But not all types of climate action are equal. Proponents of the American Climate Corps suggest that the program offers something more substantial than ditching meat or taking a bike ride — it’s a chance to work on climate change or environmental justice issues all day as part of a larger cause. “There’s something about, ‘Here is a clear job with a clear timeline and a clear local goal. I can, like, put my hands in the dirt,’” said Kidus Girma, campaign director of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate organization that fought to make the climate corps happen. 

In small doses, anxiety can prompt people to do something, but in large doses, it can be incapacitating. The structure of the American Climate Corps could be useful for young people who are overwhelmed by the enormity of a global problem and aren’t sure where to start, said McKenna Parnes, a clinical psychology researcher at the University of Washington. 

Taking action as part of a group, as opposed to going it alone, can significantly alleviate the distress associated with climate change, according to a study Parnes co-authored in 2022. Climate corps members wouldn’t necessarily need to be working with people all day to get those benefits. “Even if it’s folks that are doing individual jobs but part of the greater collective, just by nature of being part of the climate corps, there’s already that collective piece,” she said.

Jennifer Rasmussen, a registered nurse and an education fellow with the Planetary Health Alliance, a global network of organizations addressing the health effects of environmental changes, said that social support networks are key for improving mental health, especially with the rise of loneliness among young people. Being a member of the corps could also provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment, as well as help people build self-confidence by learning new skills — all of which tend to increase people’s psychological resilience and well-being, she said.

Roosevelt might have been ahead of his time when he wished the initial Civilian Conservation Corps members a “pleasant, wholesome, and constructively helpful stay in the woods.” Recent research suggests that feeling a connection to nature is associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety, another promising sign for American Climate Corps members who end up tending to forests, streams, or community gardens.

Climate anxiety comes in different forms: It can spring from a disaster, such as living through a flood, hurricane, or smoke-filled wildfire season. It can also take the shape of some existential dread about the future, even if you haven’t experienced a disaster yourself. A survey in 2021 found that climate anxiety was common in 10 countries across four continents, with 45 percent of young people saying that worrying about the environment was affecting their daily lives and ability to function. 

That report suggested that this emotional distress stemmed from governments’ failure to respond to the problem. That rings true for Matt Ellis-Ramirez, a coordinator at Sunrise Movement Miami who recently graduated from the University of Miami and is thinking about joining the American Climate Corps. In Florida, for instance, a bill that removes most mentions of climate change from the state’s laws was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, and last month, DeSantis signed legislation that bans local rules to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat.

“I think that’s where my anxiety comes from — that if we’re not actually able to shift our political system, that we might actually just be watching Miami become unlivable,” Ellis-Ramirez said. 

Ellis-Ramirez is most excited about applying for hands-on positions in the American Climate Corps, like restoration efforts in the Everglades or planting trees in neighborhoods that lack them. Girma said that if he was looking for a job in the corps, he’d like to work on coastal restoration. “But I don’t think I would confidently say coastal restoration is the thing for people who have anxiety,” he said. “I think it’s broadly like, ‘Can I see a clear, measurable impact from my work day to day?’”

Saul Levin, the legislative and political director at the Green New Deal Network, says that there’s something empowering about knowing that people are working around you to address climate change and make communities safer. “It’s really not just the thousands and thousands of people who will be employed through the [American Climate Corps] who I think could have had their mental health improved, but also their acquaintances, families, neighbors, who similarly will benefit from knowing that folks are actually being hired to work on this.”

This story has been updated to reflect Governor DeSantis’ signing of a bill and the number of job openings available.

This article originally appeared in Grist. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

“If we want change, we're going to have to change it,” Felix Rodriguez, a community organizer at Somos Un Pueblo Unido, told TriplePundit. It’s a statement that applies to many issues, but it’s especially true for immigrant rights in the workplace, where political power is negligible. “We basically have zero,” he said.

Rodriguez is the newest community organizer with Somos, an immigrant rights organization that’s strengthening its members’ resolve to demand better treatment and employment options during the transition to low-carbon energy. As a former oil and gas worker and a member of the local community, he’s well-versed in the barriers workers face in New Mexico’s Permian Basin, one of the top oil regions in the United States. He’s volunteered with Somos since he was in fifth grade.

Making immigrant voices heard starts with networking

There weren’t any Somos members in Artesia and Carlsbad, New Mexico, when Rodriguez began organizing in the area, so he had to network from scratch. His connection to the community no doubt made a difference in his ability to relate to people and connect to them through local institutions, such as churches. 

“I give them homework: Bring one person so they can learn about their rights,” he said. “And they'll bring them, and that's how we started growing.”

But organizing mixed-status workers comes with challenges. Undocumented immigrants are often, understandably, reluctant to make their voices heard. While he hasn’t personally witnessed retaliation or had it reported to him, Rodriguez said it is a risk that members are aware of.

“People are scared to share,” he said. “Sometimes they don't want to speak about what's going on at work with fear of getting fired, for example, or retaliation. And that's our biggest barrier with a lot of our members, just that fear of sharing their experiences.”

Ensuring workers know their rights is a first step to a just transition

While Somos is heavily invested in fighting for improved working conditions and a just transition to net zero, the organization is also working hard to ensure that workers are aware of the rights they do have — regardless of their immigration status. Rodriguez holds regular workshops for Somos members in his area, where he educates them on the laws meant to protect them from exploitative employment practices and workplace discrimination.

 “A lot of them are scared to even ask for a day off, even if they're sick,” he said. “Another thing is, they have to be paid for their hours … Sometimes they will not say anything if they're not paid for overtime. Or even for working on a weekend, and it's still within the 40 hours, but they're not being paid.”

Undocumented immigrants are particularly vulnerable to wage theft, but even documented workers are prone to retaliation when they report exploitative employers. Such reprisals can be especially harsh for those without permission to work in the U.S., going beyond unfair disciplinary action and termination. When faced with paying back wages, employers across multiple industries are known to call immigration on their workers, weaponizing deportation to avoid financial repercussions.

Fortunately, the federal government implemented a deferred action process that prevents undocumented workers who report labor violations from being deported for up to two years. In the meantime, they can also apply for a temporary work visa. In addition to educating workers on their general employment rights, Somos makes sure they’re aware of deferred action should it become necessary.

Increasing voter turnout is a major goal

While many residents in Rodriguez’s region are not eligible to vote due to their citizenship status, those who are eligible are often unaware of the difference they can make. “That's where we come in,” he said. “We're educating our community, basically, and having them go out and vote and making their voice heard.”

The organization had a good turnout in the last election and helped Gabe Vasquez be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving New Mexico's second congressional district in the southern half of the state, Rodriguez said. 

“We did see that change,” he said. “We saw that people went out and voted, and we're very happy with it. This year, we're going to be doing the same thing, and going out and getting people to vote.That's really important because if we want change, our members are going to be that change.”

Increasing voter participation is also integral to attracting candidates who represent the people instead of the oil and gas industry. There haven’t been many such candidates on the ballot, leaving oil and gas families with limited electoral options and, consequently, limited power, Rodriguez said. He’s hopeful this will turn around as more of the workforce gets out to vote.

Although oil and gas families make up the majority of the population in southeastern New Mexico, their mixed status means they are less represented in the local electorate. While Somos is increasing voter turnout among citizens, the fact that many residents in the Permian Basin are ineligible to vote is a major limitation.

The organization works to change this by assisting immigrants in attaining citizenship through its Citizenship Now program, which is currently assisting 51 participants with the necessary paperwork. So far, 282 immigrants became U.S. citizens through the program. It is a slow process that won’t change the outcome of elections right away, but it drastically changes outcomes for those who are able to successfully complete the process.

Nonprofit workers dedicate their lives to making the world a better place. But once they retire, they rely on 401(k) plans that are generally terrible for the planet. 

Most companies invest the money put into these funds in assets like gas, oil and coal. Often, nonprofit workers looking for reliable retirement plans don’t have sustainable and ethical options. If they want to retire, they have to rely on unethical and planet-destroying investments, a steep cost for survival in retirement when you’ve spent your life working to address the issues those investments caused.

This is the problem Just Futures, a platform that connects nonprofits and their workers with conscientious investment, seeks to address. Founded by movement activists, nonprofit workers and volunteers, Just Futures offers nonprofit organizations alternative options to the retirement plans that actively harm the planet and those living on it. The organization just ran its first pilot program with nearly a dozen nonprofit organizations across the country.

“When we come into new organizations, they’re like: ‘Where have you been? We've been looking for you,’” George Guerrero, CEO of Just Futures, told TriplePundit. “That's the sort of feedback that makes it really gratifying.” 

Just Futures screens companies for complicity in climate change, the prison industrial complex and immigrant detention, weapons manufacturing, employment discrimination, union busting, predatory and discriminatory lending, the promotion of hate speech, and asset managers that voted against shareholder resolutions that support racial justice. The organization also scores companies on whether the investment will provide good returns for their clients. 

“We have the notion that elements that are specific to climate are fundamentally rooted in social justice issues and social equality issues that resonate within other parts of society,” Guerrero said. “They're all interconnected. People and the planet are inexorably tied together, so impact on climate has an impact on people, and vice versa. All of those elements are factored into how we think about the investment solutions that we build for our clients.”

The elephant in the room is the question of whether investment — or capitalism itself — can truly be ethical. For many social justice activists, capitalism is the root of social issues that can only be solved through an equitable redistribution of resources that capitalism does not allow. Just Future recognizes this tension and doesn’t pretend it’s not an issue, Guerrero said. 

“We are an investment organization. We’re investing people's money. Those dollars go into public trading companies — it’s capitalism,” Guerrero said. “So, there's a fundamental contradiction in how some people think about all these elements, and we're open and upfront with our clients about that. It's about the emphasis on fiduciary-first and how values can layer into that responsibility. But I wanted to name that because we're not putting ourselves out there as an idealized, 100 percent [ethical] solution. That doesn't exist because you're always going to have that tension.”

The interconnectedness of social justice issues means that war profiteering is recognized as a huge source of planet-warming emissions, for example. 

“The weapon industry is something we screen for and that we are cognizant of,” Guerrero said. “It is a sector we de-emphasize, and we can point to a rationale relative to risk management [because of] the volatility of companies that are involved in that type of business. This is part of that tension that I was referring to.” 

Part of Just Futures’ mission is the concept of a just transition, a framework that seeks to guarantee that the global transition to a net-zero economy is fair and inclusive to all workers, communities and social groups.   

“It’s about moving from an effectively extractive system, an extractive economy that we live in, to one that's more restorative, cooperative,” Guerrero said. ”It's not going to happen overnight, this kind of change. It's not a light switch. It's more of a dimmer …where the illumination that's required to signal that change happens over the course of decades. It's probably not going to happen in my lifetime. But we hope that Just Futures is just one of many agents of change.”

Summer jobs and student internships have been rites of passage for generations. But this summer could pose unique challenges for employers as some analysts anticipate the string of protests at colleges and universities will spread to office buildings and corporate campuses. 

Google insists on a protest-free zone

The events of October 7, 2023, in Israel and the aftermath in Gaza have been widely reported, as have the protests on college and university campuses in the U.S. The protests resulted in more than 2,200 arrests across at least 40 locations since April 18 alone, according to news reports. 

Due to the number of campuses involved, it is reasonable to assume that many summer job seekers, interns, and graduates in search of permanent employment have been exposed to organized protests as well as individual actions at their schools and elsewhere. Depending on the school’s public or private status, many of these students are also accustomed to an environment in which the right to protest is protected, respected, and supported by their peers and teachers.

Of course, the First Amendment does not apply to private workplaces, though labor laws may afford some redress against retaliation. That fact was on full display last month when dozens of Google employees were fired shortly after participating in two sit-in protests at the company's offices on April 16. 

C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the trade association SHRM (formerly the Society for Human Resource Management), told CNN he expects further workplace protests to be limited, “because of how swiftly and unapologetically Google addressed it."

That viewpoint is consistent with a staff memo attributed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. As cited by CNN on May 1, the memo urged “staffers to keep ‘politics’ out of the workplace.”

“Pichai told workers that ‘this is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers.’ Pichai went on to urge Googlers to not ‘fight over disruptive issues or debate politics’ in the workplace,” CNN reported.

Warning signs for Pride Month

Even if simplistic exhortations about workplace behavior are effective within the office walls, outside activity is a gray area. Business leaders will need to be mindful as the U.S. marks LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June as the display of national flags and symbols at Pride events is already a matter of contention going back years.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict — ostensibly not about LGBTQ issues and thousands of miles from the U.S. — has become a potent flashpoint within the queer community,” NBC reporter Avichai Scher observed back in 2019 amidst tensions around the Israeli flag being displayed at some Pride events.

Though other observers have drawn a more direct overlay with LGBTQ+ issues, a look back at Scher’s reporting mirrors the complicated landscape of Pride Month 2024.

When workers organize to protest issues such as climate change, sexual harassment or the treatment of migrant children, circumstances of personal identity and national heritage are not generally the focus of attention. In the current protests, personal identity and national heritage are entirely front and center.

To further complicate matters, Pride Month has also become the focus of right-wing attacks, a phenomenon linked to the failed insurrection of January 6, 2021, and supported by a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in many U.S. states. Signs of another layer of risk appeared last week when a Black female student protestor at the University of Mississippi suffered racially charged taunts from a large crowd of counter-protestors that was mostly white and male. U.S. flags and flags supporting former President Donald Trump were on display.

In another widely reported incident, a protest group on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, was physically attacked in the early morning hours of April 30. As of this writing, the instigators of that attack are unidentified.  

In addition, reports of harassment and unsafe environments on campuses have raised concerns over personal safety for many students, regardless of whether or not they are part of an organized protest. 

Communication is the key

Against this backdrop of contention on campuses across the U.S., employers need to communicate with their employees about the potential for Pride Month activities to be disrupted by hate speech, harassing behavior or outright violence.

The risk management organization United Educators provides guidance for campus administrators that can also be helpful for businesses: “Activism-fueled demonstrations by campus community members at colleges and universities are a perennial risk,” the organization notes in an online guidance. It advises taking common sense steps, such as making sure that policies are communicated clearly and in detail.

The organization also suggests that response plans should be rehearsed in coordination with other stakeholders. In terms of businesses, that would include employee groups as well as a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) officer or other personnel liaison, in addition to security and communications personnel.

The importance of situational awareness

Employers also need to find a space for communicating with their employees about risk at public events, rather than focusing solely on expectations for their personal behavior.

Pedro Noguera, dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, shared his experienced perspective with Ayesha Rascoe of National Public Radio last week. Noguera was among the leaders of the 1980s anti-apartheid activist movement while student body president at the University of California, Berkeley.

In particular, he said the movement to push universities to divest from South Africa was successful because it was nonviolent and leaned into educating students and faculty about the apartheid system. "We did a lot of education work, we did teach ins, and that really helped because many people didn't understand South Africa, didn't understand what divestment was about," Noguera said. "[University administration] weren't happy about what we were doing, but we tried to assure them that this was not about destroying the university or tearing it down. This was about making the point politically."

Though accusations regarding the involvement of “outside agitators” have been a feature of protest movements for generations, Noguera cautioned today’s protestors to be vigilant about protecting the integrity and mission of their movement.
 
“My advice [to protestors] is always be careful about who you're out there with," he said. "There are elements out there who are agitators, who are provocative. You got to really be careful because they will divert the message to be the destruction of property and violence, away from the focus of the protest."

In the end, there is only so much preparing and guidance can accomplish, and employers may have to view the way they navigate emerging protests through the lens of a learning experience. The lesson taught by Google — that a business leader’s job begins and ends at the office door — is clearly out of date.  

Newscasters and on-air personalities lined the sidewalks of Times Square in New York City last week, broadcasting live to television, radio and digital audiences about the 2024 U.S. elections. Campaigners in matching T-shirts offered to help passersby register to vote and sign up for election updates. Overhead, billboards lit up with messaging for Vota Conmigo, a voter education campaign from the Mexican-American media company TelevisaUnivision and partners across the United States. 

Spanish for "Vote With Me," the Vota Conmigo campaign focuses on providing essential election information to Hispanic and Latino voters. The nonpartisan campaign reached 770 million media impressions and registered 1.3 million new voters ahead of the 2020 election. 

"It was a great success story," Teri Arvesu, SVP of social impact and sustainability at TelevisaUnivision, said of the 2020 effort. "That becomes the new benchmark — we have to get bigger and better from there." 

Civic engagement groups predict about 17.5 million Hispanic and Latino voters will cast a ballot in the November elections, a 6.5 percent increase over 2020. With voter registration through Vota Conmigo, TelevisaUnivision and its partners aim to increase Latino participation even further to 20 million at the polls. 

"This is about democracy," Arvesu said. "It doesn't matter who you vote for, I don't care. It's about showing up. And that means something fundamentally much deeper for our community when so many of our families came here from countries where they would not have been able to exercise that right to vote or to participate in a democratic society."

Breaking down barriers to voter registration in Hispanic and Latino communities 

Though they're a powerful voting bloc in the U.S., Hispanic and Latino Americans are less likely to be registered to vote compared to white Americans. A number of factors contribute to this, including a lack of voter education materials in Spanish and apprehension among new citizens about voting processes or their eligibility to vote. "Our community doesn't want to make a mistake," Arvesu explained. "Rather than making a mistake, they might prefer not to act." 

The Vota Conmigo campaign aims to break down some of these barriers and ensure more eligible Hispanic and Latino voters have their voices heard at the polls. 

"Compared to English, there's not enough [Spanish-language] content on voter education. There are fewer media companies in Spanish," Arvesu said. "Univision will always and has always filled that void for our community to the best of our ability." 

Univision is the largest Spanish-language media network in the United States for more than 30 years running, reaching millions of viewers annually with news broadcasts, sports, scripted series, telenovelas and other entertainment programming. It also serves local programs to 17 regional markets across the U.S. 

"The relationship of our audience to our brand goes so much further beyond the relationship that other communities may have with the English-language equivalent," Arvesu explained. "I’m a 200 percenter — 100 percent Hispanic and 100 percent American — and I have not found the equivalent of this in my American life. It is a phenomenon that exists in Spanish-language and through the immigrant experience. It is something emotional, it is nostalgic, and it's a lifeline." 

Because there are fewer trusted sources of election information in Spanish, Hispanic and Latino voters are often targeted with disinformation campaigns aimed at misleading them about their eligibility or even basic information like the date of Election Day and the time polls are open. 

Vota Conmigo leverages the brand's trusted relationship with audiences to provide essential election information like voter registration deadlines, vote-by-mail options and how to find local polling places, providing a powerful counter to disinformation efforts and drive voter registration.

"The way our community figures out if something is mis- or dis-information is to turn on Univision to see if they're talking about it," Arvesu said. "We need to make this something that is demystified. We are building the confidence of our community to participate. They're not going to make a mistake. And the more we can illustrate that in walking them through the process, giving them the tools to be able to build that confidence, we have found that tends to have higher conversion rates at the polls."

The network also enlists its reach and marketing might for omni-channel takeovers for Vota Conmigo, with segments integrated into everything from news broadcasts to sports, animated shows and the network's iconic entertainment hits like "El Gordo y La Flaca." 

"It feels like it's in brand," Arvesu said. "It's meeting the viewer where they are to get them interested, and then get them to consume the educational content and tools we've created."

Times Square event kicks off Tuesdays of action until Election Day

The Times Square splash marked the first 2024 iteration of Martes de Acción (Action Tuesday) when every television, radio, digital and social media property across the TelevisaUnivision network features content related to voter registration and Vota Conmigo. The days of action will continue monthly through Election Day, with weeklong takeovers in September and October for National Voter Registration Day and Vote Early Day. 

The event last week featured prominent television personalities including news broadcaster Borja Voces, who recently became a U.S. citizen and will vote for the first time in 2024. A video series called "Mi Primera Vez" ("My First Time") also features on-air mainstays like newscaster Maity Interiano and presenter Roberto Hernández reflecting on what it means to cast their first ballots. 

"All our talent gets super excited," Arvesu said. "Then they start sharing it, and it's all over the place. That's how you see it come to life." 

Enlisting partners and ambassadors to drive voter registration 

While Univision's reach is large, it doesn't include every eligible Latino voter. Latino and Hispanic voters are more likely than white voters to get their political information from word-of-mouth sources like social media, and those who primarily rely on social media for this material tend to be less informed and engaged around politics.

To go beyond its own sphere of influence, Vota Conmigo aims to enlist viewers as ambassadors for accurate election information through their social media channels and in conversations with friends and family. "No matter how big your digital footprint is as an individual, each of us are micro-influencers," Arvesu said. 

The campaign also engages TelevisaUnivision employees working in front of and behind the camera. "We need to make sure our employees are highly, highly educated in the topic so we can deliver on the promise to our community to get the best, most accurate content," Arvesu said. "You have to start at home with everything, so we are starting at home. In our campaign, we work with all parts of the company. It is truly an enterprise-wide cause and commitment."

And it doesn't stop at Univision. The Vota Conmigo campaign also includes Latino civic and nonprofit organization like Mi Familia en Acción, The Libre Institute, NALEO and Poder LatinX. For the first time in 2024, other Spanish-language and bilingual media companies are also getting involved. 

The Hispanic Get Out the Vote Coalition — which includes TelevisaUnivision, the National Association of Broadcasters and media companies like Telemundo — aims to bring the reach of Spanish-language and bilingual media together behind voter registration. The coalition and Vota Conmigo are still accepting new partners in the ramp-up to November, and Arvesu is encouraged that the engagement they've seen so far will result in record turnout for Latino voters in November.

"I’ve been in the business for quite a bit of time and I don’t think I have ever seen that level of unity amongst the media companies," Arvesu said. "It's going to be a little hard to ignore this community in this election when you see the way these communities are collaborating and working together. There is strength in numbers, even if we have different opinions politically, and I hope people are taking note of it."