There's a new effort to empower Latino voters in Omaha.
Thanks for watching tonight. I'm Alex Mcclune.
Organizers are working to engage people through forums,
which comes after the City Council's appointment of a new
member representing S Omaha,
KTV News Watch Sevens. Jessica Perez joins us live with
the people pushing to make a difference.
The group Elevate, along with former City Council candidate Eric,
said Avon helped organize the form.
He tells me forms like this will help create unity
and educate people.
A full house full of people looking to raise the
Latino voice is what community members say is the first
step to seeing real change in Omaha.
After the city of Omaha selected the District 4 candidate,
a lot of people thought that that person wasn't representative
of the community in South Omaha of District 4.
So people said like, hey,
we need to start building power with the Latino community.
So this Latino form was born with the goal of
educating the public on Latinos impact in Omaha and Nebraska.
He says the largest is economic.
According to a UN OS report,
the Latino and Hispanic population spent 1.8 billion in Nebraska
in 2019.
Their labor generated over 16 billion in production in the
state,
over 5 billion in Omaha alone.
Bringing a bunch of people together and finding our power,
I think that's what's been lacking in the last few
years and showing the community how there's power in numbers,
many in the audience saying the unspoken discrimination between Latinos.
Needs to be thrown aside.
So personal stylist community member Saul Lopez says dialogue with
elected officials is needed.
There is a big concern that the needs,
the ones of the Latino community,
are not being communicated before City Council at this point,
he says. There is a concern council doesn't want to
address those needs,
like only investing 3% of the city's budget in South
Omaha right now.
I think the community is becoming organized,
that's number one. Number two,
we have to find a way to work towards solutions.
Surgeon says he's hopeful bringing people together will help create
a larger movement to help.
Get proper representation not just at the City Council,
but at Douglas County, at the AT at the state
level even even larger than that.
Sylveon says other steps are that are needed,
our leadership and coalition building to make sure the movement
is sustainable.
He hopes to host more of these forms in the
future.
Jessica Perez, KTV News Watch 7.