Rights For All People

Drawing by RAP leader: Eugenio Rodarte '09

RAP envisions a world in which the rights of all people are respected.  A world where all people have access to quality education, health care, and dignified employment opportunities with just wages.  A world in which the police work in harmony with local communities to keep families safe, and laws are formed to promote and protect the rigths of vulnerable populations.  A world where all communities work in solidarity to achieve these common goals, and where all people flourish, thrive, and grow together.  Come build a new world with RAP!

Mission

RAP's mission is to bring the voices of immigrant leaders and their allies to the struggle for equality, mutual respect, and justice in the metro Denver area through education, community, organizing, and successful campaigns.  We began in 1994 as a response to the passage of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in California, and hired our first staff in 2003.

Rights for All People has emerged as a key organization in the Denver Metro area and Colorado as a whole. RAP has a base of over 500 members and a leadership team of around 60 immigrants and allies. Our campaigns come from the expressed needs and perspectives of our immigrant members. A major focus is leadership development, skill building and ensuring members “own” the work of the organization.

We work closely with many allies, building a web of complementary abilities that will result in a changed Colorado. Our immigrant leaders and staff serve as resources for organizations all over the state: they work with other immigrant groups, they devote time to building strong coalitions, and they provide models of grassroots policy campaigns that can serve other emerging organizations.

In addition to participating in theColorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, we are active in the Colorado Community Organizing Collaborative (CCOC) and the Colorado C-3 Roundtable, a coalition of 501(c)3 organizations doing civic engagement work. We have been invited to join the State Integration Pilot Project, where we will be working with our partners to develop a model to measure an effective intervention with immigrant non-voters’ effect on their voting relatives and social contacts. We are active with Ya Es Hora, creating an ongoing pipeline of immigrants applying for citizenship. And we are partnering with the Latina Initiative and Intercambio de Comunidades to offer classes at our building.

RAP is currently the fiscal sponsor for theColorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC). We are currently in the midst of an 18-month transition plan for CIRC to develop its own 501(c)3 status.