#LATISM
It all started with a hashtag. Yep, words prefixed with the simple symbol #, and in this case followed by the letters: L-A-T-I-S-M. A conversation started, and a movement was born.
Byrdie Franco, a supporter of the cause, came to speak to students at the University of the Incarnate Word about Latism, one of the most influential organizations for Latinos who are involved in social media.
It’s an online movement “dedicated to advancing the social, civic and economic status of the Latino community.”
Franco, a native of Eagle Pass, Texas, got involved with the organization through twitter. She said she didn’t even know she was involved with Latism until someone else tweeted her about enjoying a previous conversation she had online. From there Franco was intrigued and started looking for information about this cause. She eventually contacted some people of authority and become more involved herself. Really involved, she just opened a San Antonio, Texas, chapter about three weeks ago. (Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to get involved, it could take you places.)
But more about this Latism movement, apparently — and by that I mean for an online movement this is very legit — it is a one of the most effective movements on the Internet right now, with over 10 million #latism impressions daily; and it’s a 501(c) 4 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, meaning they only make money for charitable, educational or recreational purposes.
This cause is for and by Latinos to promote community action and commitment. However, the latism organization says it way better than I ever could, so their mission is to:
To equip our members with the tools they need to transform their communities by integrating community and networking resources that enable our members to make choices, take part in actions and decisions that affect their lives, and become agents for change.
To represent, influence and engage the voice of Latino(a)s in all social media platforms
To educate and provide learning opportunities to those involved with LATISM
To foster leadership among its members
To actively seek, create and promote jobs via social media in order to help ensure that Latinos play a proactive role in this new workforce
To provide a common platform of support and networking
To help promote and grow members’ businesses, helping members to acquire better positions and improve their businesses by finding and channeling business, funding, networking and/or speaking opportunities
To cultivate talent at every stage in the pipe-line: ensuring that people are able to get into the pipe-line & learn the basics, mentoring and working with those mid-pipeline and promoting emerging talent & experts from all industries
To encourage new members to blog and master their own social media space
Franco also mentioned that there are others perks to latism as well. There was a first-ever bloguera retreat on May 20 – 22, 2012, in Washington D.C. It was an invitation only event where administration officials from the White house discussed the top issues affecting the Latino community, such as, education, health and jobs. They also have other projects and conferences coming up, so go tweet #latism, and see what you can become apart of too.
For convenience: http://twitter.com/LATISM