Francesca Menes, named one of the 20 under 40 emerging leaders in South Florida by The Miami Herald, has declared her candidacy for Florida House of Representatives, District 108.
A native Miamian, born and raised in Little Haiti, Francesca has proven her commitment and dedication to her community with more than 8 years advocating on issues that would benefit Miami-Dade and our state. Francesca is a community organizer committed to working at the intersection of social justice issues, including worker’s rights, racial justice, criminal justice, immigrant rights, women’s rights and LGBTQ. She understands the importance of having those who are directly impacted at the center of the work.
As Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) for the past 6 years, Francesca has led two highly successful statewide legislative campaigns to pass in-state tuition for undocumented students in 2014, and to stop anti-immigrant legislations in the current legislative session. She has also been the co-coordinator of the Florida Wage Theft Task Force, which alongside strong community partners and labor, promoted anti-wage theft ordinances in several counties throughout the state, including Miami-Dade County to protect low-income and working families. Finally, in 2014 Francesca led FLIC’s civic engagement campaign knocking on more than 48,000 doors to mobilize Black Immigrant, Latino and African-American voters.
“I am pleased and honored to announce my candidacy for Florida House of Representatives, District 108. For far too long, I have heard candidates and elected officials stating that they are the voice of the voiceless, but I recognize that our people have a voice and it is my responsibility to empower them to speak for themselves, instead of speaking for them. As a Representative I will fight side by side with my community, in the same way I have done for many years, to ensure that our current and future generations have a strong foundation to build upon,” said Menes.
“As a headstart graduate, I understand the importance of early childhood development. We have an obligation to our youth to introduce and pass legislations that provide opportunities for them to flourish and reach their highest potential. There is a high level of frustration in my community, when we see our youth being targeted and criminalized.”
“When we see inadequate funding of our public schools, and a cradle-to-prison pipeline that prioritizes profits over our communities. We need to see education policies that focus on the overall well-being of our students and supports our teachers. We need to see criminal justice policies that hold all officials and individuals accountable to their actions and a system that is rehabilitative not punitive.”
