Quick facts about LUCHA
About LUCHA: Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) organizes low- and moderate-income and minority families to take action on the issues most important to them and advance the causes of social and economic justice for all. LUCHA believes that those who are closest to a problem are best equipped to solve it. Working in collaboration with its sister organization, Arizona Center for Empowerment, LUCHA incorporates leadership development with grassroots, issue-based campaigns, advocacy, and civic engagement to create an Arizona in which every resident has an equal voice in determining policy and shaping the decision-making bodies that will govern communal life.
Read the New York Times piece about their history here.
In 2020, LUCHA contacted 120,000 voters, 76% of whom voted, a 5,781 vote increase in voter turnout relative to expected. Of those contacted, over 12,000 were first-time voters. LUCHA registered 11,200 voters in Arizona, a state Joe Biden won by only 10,500 votes.
LUCHA made an agile shift to digital engagement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, making 4.9 million attempts to contact 1.5 million unique voters via phone calls, texts, and socially distanced canvassing. 33% of voters contacted by LUCHA in 2020 were BIPOC compared to 21% of the general population in Arizona. LUCHA recruited 2,564 volunteers in 2020, nearly a third of whom became returning, consistent volunteers.
Investments in Arizona paid off with the election of progressive Democratic Senator, Mark Kelly, and the passage of a LUCHA-backed ballot initiative that imposes a wealth tax to fund Arizona’s public schools.
2021-2022 Action Plan:
LUCHA plans to advocate to pass sweeping voting rights legislation as well as issues important to Arizona families such as the DREAM and Promise Act, the Farm Workers Modernization Act, and federal minimum wage improvements.
LUCHA plans to grow its Arizona Democracy Collaborative (AZ/DC), a coalition of six influential community driven organizations acting as a hub of long-term democratic strategic planning and strengthening Arizona’s democracy through policy change, organizing, and public outreach. AZ/DC has plans to push for structural voting reforms in Arizona with initiatives such as same day voter registration and expanded early voting.
Flip the Vote’s Support Means:
The funding provided by Flip the Vote’s donors will allow LUCHA to expand into a third county in northern Arizona, Coconino, which has a large indigenous and Latinx population. Flip the Vote’s contributions will provide a living salary to a full-time organizer dedicated to this county.
LUCHA will use funds raised to advocate for economic justice in the form of paid family medical leave, childcare subsidies, adequate TANF funding, and educational investments from pre-K to adult continued education. Additionally, LUCHA will invest in defending Mark Kelly’s Senate seat in his 2022 re-election bid through continued voter engagement and turnout efforts.