Lorella Praeli
Guilford, Connecticut/Washington, DC | Community Change Action
Lorella has gone to the mat for immigrant communities for her entire career. In 2020, she is leading a national network of organizations that will deliver the immigrant vote. The experience of growing up as an undocumented immigrant from Peru with one leg shaped her path as an advocate for immigrant justice and in-state tuition for undocumented students in her home state of Connecticut. She was a national leader of the immigrant youth-led movement that won DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) from the Obama administration, providing protection from deportation and work authorization for 800,000 Dreamers. She is now the first woman and woman of color to be appointed co-president of Community Change Action and vice-president of Community Change, an organization working to make sure that communities of color and immigrant communities have the resources and power they need, not just to survive, but to thrive.
Community Change is launching a program to reach 250,000 voters and will have trained over 20,000 volunteer leaders by next year. Community Change Action is powering their state partner organizations to turnout three million voters across the country by building state and local infrastructure and directly contacting voters through door knocking, text, and social media.
What is the song you will listen to on repeat in 2020?
“Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.”
What are you reading right now?
“This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the Twenty-First Century by Mark Engler and Paul Engler.”
Who is your plus one?
“Grecia Lima, national political director of Community Change. She’s a formerly undocumented bad-ass Latina organizer and a sharp political mind grounded in experiences of people we fight for every day. Grecia knows that the work has to be year round and sustained for us to get to the world we deserve.”
Join the Movement
She the People is creating a politics we have not yet seen, one grounded in love, justice, and belonging. Join women of color across the country in making our voice and votes matter in 2020 and beyond. Are you ready?