“The ocean is a part of Latino lives,” said Maite Arce, President and CEO of Hispanic Access Foundation. “It is a source of food, jobs, medicine, spirituality, family memories, and the very air we breathe, especially for coastal communities, which are experiencing significant growth in Latino populations and are among the most vulnerable to coastal threats increasing in severity and frequency.”

During the week, members visited congressional and administration offices to advocate for issues like access to our coast, preserving cultural heritage in our oceans, protecting our ocean from climate change, and more. Members also hosted a virtual interactive presentation featuring our newly released Ocean & Coastal Protection Toolkit and discussed ways we can help preserve diverse heritage sites on the ocean and coast. The toolkit provides a deeper look into the processes of nominating important cultural sites for preservation and elevates the importance of protecting these sites for Latino communities through site-specific case studies.

“Latinos and other communities, traditionally underserved, should have equitable access to a clean and safe ocean and coast for recreation, livelihoods, and culture. The ocean should be pollution- and plastic-free, as well as free of the threats of offshore drilling and mining that harm local communities and the global climate alike,” said Arce.

Hispanic Access Foundation’s Olas y Acción is a group of young Latino professionals in ocean and marine science, who advise Hispanic access year-round on ocean policy and their ocean content and materials. They help organize community-based and national events and participate in fly-ins, lead webinars, assist with research and policy, carry out projects, and more.

To learn more about Hispanic Access’ ocean conservation work, read the newly released toolkit https://bit.ly/OceansyLatinosToolkit23.