ATLANTA, GA – FWD.us was proud to serve as a Gold Sponsor for the State of Latinos Conference hosted by the Latin American Association of Georgia on Monday. The annual conference brought together business leaders, researchers, practitioners, elected officials, thought leaders and other stakeholders from across Georgia to share ideas and experiences around the topic of civic engagement for Latinos.

FWD.us helped to ensure a bipartisan event and is particularly proud to have helped facilitate the participation of representatives from the Georgia House Republican Caucus. We thank Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, House Majority Whip Trey Kelley, Senators Brandon Beach, P.K. Martin IV, and Chuck Payne, and Representative Timothy Barr for their participation.

House Majority Whip Trey Kelley and Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller addressed conference attendees as part of an afternoon reception. President Pro Tempore Butch Miller spoke to the diversity of his Gainesville district, stressed the importance of personal relationships in effectively changing the legislative process and thanked FWD.us and Latin American Association leaders for working to create a strong network.

FWD.us is working with legislators in Georgia, both Republicans and Democrats, to ensure fair treatment of Latinos across the state, and to help policy makers understand how Latinos have helped make Georgia the number one state in the country to do business for five straight years.

“FWD.us understands that the issues facing Latinos are too diverse, too important and too great to encompass just one side of the political spectrum or to be addressed by a single political party,” said FWD.us Georgia State Director Samuel Aguilar. “To that end, we were pleased that representatives from the General Assembly’s Republican Caucus agreed to participate in the conference.”

Aníbal Torres, executive director of the Latin American Association, added:“As the culmination of a full day’s agenda, this evening's legislative reception goes a long way to increase the civic engagement of Latino leaders. We’re proud to work with FWD.us on shifting the cultural dialogue around immigration by working with our state leaders.”

In January, FWD.us announced an expanded focus to include support for smart immigration policy changes in Georgia that would make Georgia’s streets safer, encourage entrepreneurship, and contribute to sustained economic growth across the state. Read more about that commitment HERE.