{"id":5061892,"date":"2025-03-24T15:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T19:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rilatinonews.com\/?p=5061892"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T19:39:51","slug":"improving-policymakers-understanding-of-the-communitys-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/riln\/2025\/03\/24\/improving-policymakers-understanding-of-the-communitys-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving policymakers&#8217; understanding of the community&#8217;s needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marcela-betancur\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marcela Betancur i<\/a>s the executive director of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thelatinopolicy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Latino Policy Institute (LPI)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/thelatinopolicy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LPI stimulates public policy discourse by examining and communicating the evolving experiences of the Latino community in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I spoke with Marcela on a recent episode of Fulcrum Democracy Forum (FDF). The program engages citizens in evolving government to better meet all people&#8217;s needs. Consistent with the Fulcrum&#8217;s mission, FDF strives to share many perspectives to widen our readers&#8217; viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Fulcrum Democracy Forum: Marcela Betancur\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uA1GOgj_dIo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;For the last 20 years, almost, the Latino Policy Institute has been strongly committed to looking at the experiences, especially the evolving experiences of Latinos in our state,&#8221; Betancur said. LPI focuses on improving policymakers&#8217; understanding of the community&#8217;s needs in areas including education, economic equity, housing, health, and workforce development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently, the Latino Policy Institute hosted Demystifying Democracy, an interactive event to learn how to navigate the legislative process. &#8220;This is our third year in a row partnering with Common Cause Rhode Island. In Demystifying Democracy we focused on how does a bill really become a law,&#8221; Betancur said. &#8220;In this session we include reporters, legislators, and advocates to tell us a little about what the process really looks like for them and what it can and should look like for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marcela was raised in Colombia and immigrated to the U.S. at age 12. &#8220;I was the daughter of somebody who was an undocumented immigrant. We had to do plans of what happened if she were to be deported,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Today those are the conversations we&#8217;re having with our community members. Ensuring that parents are making plans.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Latino Policy Institute focuses in areas including education, economic equity, housing, health, and workforce development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5061893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Balta","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/riln\/author\/hugobalta\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Latino Policy Institute focuses in areas including education, economic equity, housing, health, and workforce development.","authors":[{"term_id":6017,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"hugobalta","display_name":"Hugo 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