The State of the State for Washington Latinos

A Community Partnership Between Whitman College and the Walla Walla Latino American Forum

Toppenish Public Meeting

The State of the State for Washington Latinos 2008: Voting Rights and Political Mobilization was the topic of a public meeting, May 7th, in Toppenish.

The community presentation by Whitman students generated two news stories. KIMA-TV in Yakima produced a report called "Students Schooling Community." Reporter, Pat Muir, of the Yakima Herald-Republic did a story under the headline "Report cites Voter Act violations."

In the fall of 2005 under the direction of politics professor Paul Apostolidis, Whitman College undergraduates completed the initial report on The State of the State for Washington Latinos. It was the first-ever widely inclusive account of social and political conditions for Latinos in Washington. Spanning issues ranging from education to health insurance, from farm labor to housing, and from voting rights to domestic violence, the 2005 report showed graphically that the challenges and inequalities facing Washington Latinos are multiple, interwoven, and deeply entrenched.

The State of the State for Washington Latinos: 2006 dramatically expands the scope of the earlier inquiry, supplementing the first report with an entirely new array of research on pressing issues that affect Latinos and all residents of this state. A second group of advanced and highly motivated undergraduates at Whitman College conducted the inquiries.

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