FLAD’s President, Rita Faden, participated in the third annual summit of the California Portuguese American Coalition (CPAC), a meeting between partners representing the Portuguese-American community in the US, in partnership with the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States (PALCUS).

CPAC is an association of Portuguese-American politicians and civic movement leaders from California with the goal of encouraging cooperation in defending the interests of this community.

At the end of the summit, FLAD’s President reinforced the Foundation’s commitment to the fight for greater political representation of the Portuguese-descendant community in the US, in order to achieve a more effective defense of its interests in the United States.

We need to better defend our interests as a Portuguese community. It is easier to have a stronger political representation if we are present. That’s why this #MakePortugueseCount project is so important. Because if we have the numbers, we have a different power.

On the sidelines of the CPAC summit, Rita Faden met with CPAC and PALCUS board members to discuss the strategy to promote the interests of the Portuguese-American community in the United States of America.

I had a very good discussion with CPAC and PALCUS, and one of the things we discussed is how to build a stronger political representation. As we have experienced, there are many ideas and interests in promoting Portugal and the Portuguese community. My message is to start acting. This is the moment. There is an interest in Portugal that we have never seen before. We have a strong and well-integrated Portuguese community, and that’s great. This is the moment we’ve been looking for to take action.

At a meeting promoted by Idalmiro da Rosa, Honorary Consul of Portugal in San Diego, California, FLAD’s President once again highlighted the importance of including the Portuguese ancestry in the #2020Census, essential to strengthen the voice of the community in the United States. FLAD is thus associated with the #MakePortugueseCount campaign.

A very important campaign, launched by CPAC and PALCUS. It is very important that all the Portuguese in the 2020 Census can select their Portuguese ancestry.