guest column

The 'power' of community in Puerto Rico

The South Minneapolis-based organization COPAL launched a Minnesota to Puerto Rico delegation this year. The cohort included elected officials such as Senate Majority Leader Bobby Champion and partners such as the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and the Latino Economic Devlopment Center. (Photos submitted)

Ryan Perez

Posted Sunday, November 26, 2023 3:26 pm

DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ALL

Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL) celebrated the implementation of Driver’s Licenses for All on Oct.1.

Minnesota, which is home to over 80,000 undocumented immigrants, now joins 18 states and Washington, D.C. in authorizing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, marking a historic step towards inclusivity.

This law represents a significant step towards enhancing the safety and security of all Minnesotans. It ensures that undocumented individuals can legally drive, receive proper training, and obtain essential insurance coverage, making Minnesota roads safer for everyone.

But at the core of this victory is the dignity in the lives of our communities. COPAL is proud to have been part of that fight and recognizes the pressing need to ensure access to driver's licenses for all residents, including those who are undocumented. For many, driving is not a luxury but a necessity. This law will expand community members' access to cultural, religious, work, and school activities, as well as vital services like medical appointments, leading to a healthier and more engaged community.

“Oct.1 represents a shift towards a more dignified life in Minnesota. This isn't just a change for the eligible adults who can drive now – it's a celebration for all the kids who won't miss their opportunity to play on a soccer team or visit a state park,” said Ryan Pérez, Leadership and Organizing Director of COPAL. “We are restoring social lives and beginning to address a 20-year debt to immigrant families in Minnesota.”

“In celebrating the implementation of Driver’s Licenses for All, we recognize that this victory is not just about driver's licenses; it's about dignity, safety, and inclusion. It is a testament to the power of unity, community, and resilience,” said Francisco Segovia, Executive Director of COPAL. “We are proud to have played a part in this historic moment, but our work is far from over. Our commitment to our communities continues as we pave the way for a more inclusive Minnesota where everyone can thrive."

To prepare the community to obtain their licenses, COPAL has offered Spanish-language road safety classes online and in the Twin Cities, as well as the towns of Austin, Rochester, and Winona. In addition, COPAL continues to connect community members with information about obtaining driver’s licenses and assist community members with appointments through our bilingual website, navigator line, social media platforms, in-person outreach, and Workers’ Center. COPAL is also in the process of making our Workers’ Center into a third-party testing site in collaboration with the Minnesota Driver & Vehicle Services (DVS).

By Ryan Perez, ryanp@copalmn.org

Power is generated: electric power, community power, people power. This past August, a delegation of fifteen Minnesotans visited the island of Puerto Rico to learn from communities on the frontlines of battles for many kinds of power.
Communities are fighting for a reliable power grid, for example, to supply energy across the island. Following an ongoing series of natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria that resulted in months without electric power, as well as the human disaster of failed government relief efforts through FEMA, people across the island are challenging a now privatized electric monopoly. They are fighting back against corruption that has profited greatly from an unstable infrastructure, which results in the loss of human life when insulin can’t be refrigerated, or when a dialysis machine can’t be sustained.
When efforts to pressure the highest levels of government and private economy fail to provoke change, communities in Puerto Rico take their electrical future into their own hands, seeking local solar and other alternative energy solutions. When their purchasing power is insufficient, leaders build access to wealth through the solidarity of the Puerto Rican diaspora. This is the kind of people power that builds movement amidst a system that resists vital public policy change.
We firmly believe that in the struggle to build healthier communities in Minneapolis and across Minnesota, we can learn a lot from the resilient and adaptable organizing of the Puerto Rican people on the island. For this reason, our South Minneapolis-based organization COPAL launched a Minnesota to Puerto Rico delegation this year. Our cohort included elected officials such as Senate Majority Leader Bobby Champion and partners such as the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and the Latino Economic Development Center.
During the visit, our group visited a nonprofit organization in the mountain town of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, called Casa Pueblo. Casa Pueblo is a people’s organization dedicated to protecting natural, cultural, and human resources, within their town and across Puerto Rico. One of their founders, Alexis Massol González, spoke to our group about their solar resiliency project. Casa Pueblo is doing profound work creating an infrastructure designed to thrive regardless of the condition of the larger island grid, and despite the incompetencies and corruption of government institutions. They have developed a solar-powered theater, barbershop, and market; they have also built a sustainable coffee operation and rainforest school. When they are faced with environmental catastrophes, they have a high level of preparedness that serves their entire municipality by providing critical independent power.
This critical and independent power supply was developed through the critical and independent organizing of the people of Adjuntas. Leaders who started the organization over 40 years ago built a democratic governing institution whose name translates to the “People’s House.” Casa Pueblo is not dependent on government or corporations for its power; in fact, external state actors including the U.S. Department of Energy negotiate directly with Casa Pueblo as an organization with autonomy and the mandate of their members. Those members, who make decisions impacting the future of the municipality, grew in their leadership in battles against extractive mining projects and for the protection of Puerto Rican forests. They are solar-powered, community-powered, and people-powered.
To learn and replicate the transformative work of Casa Pueblo, we must first realize that we are in a place with a lot of wealth. Earlier this year, Minnesota held a budget surplus of over $19 billion. Imagine what a community like theirs could do with our resources! So, what we are lacking is not dollars, but political will, which can be created by organizing together and developing new leadership. So, let’s harness together the core philosophy of Casa Pueblo: creative democratic organizing for a resilient and regenerative future.
Right now, COPAL is working to address environmental injustices at a systemic level by supporting public policy change and grassroots action across the state. COPAL and our partners organize to hold accountability for the systems that should be curtailing the worst impacts of pollution, all while we envision a future with clean heat, electrified transportation, and community-based agricultural systems.
Join COPAL and our partners as we seek to bring about a just environmental future for all. If you are interested in getting connected, send an email to info@copalmn.org. Siempre pa’lante!
Ryan Perez is the organizing director of COPAL at 3702 E. Lake St.