Power California

Power California promotes left-of-center policy advocacy such as granting a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants, government-controlled healthcare, and “end[ing] the exploitation of our natural resources.”²

Power California has allied itself with organizations such as the California Environmental Justice Alliance, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Californians for Justice, and Resilience Orange County.³ It also has an explicitly political Action Fund which was fined $5,000 by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to “timely file two semiannual campaign statements.”⁴

Founding

Power California is a Californian voter-registration coalition that encourages young people to think with left-wing ideas, and calls for everyone who lives in the state, regardless of citizenship status, to be fully involved with the decision-making processes of California.¹

Power California was originally called Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) but changed its name in 2018 when MIV merged with a similar voting coalition called YVote.⁵

MIV started as a state-wide campaign in 2004 to organize a coalition with multi-ethnic organizations that worked with immigrant communities to boost the number of voters from immigrant backgrounds.  MIV and the other organizations did this by helping immigrants register to vote and by encouraging voting.⁶

The original MIV campaign was governed by a coordinating committee comprised of six coalitions and coalition-conveners. The Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition (BAIRC); the California Partnership (CAP); the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA); the Korean Resource Center (KRC); the Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action (PILA); andthe Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN) were the six coalitions on the Coordinating Committee.⁷

Funding

According to its 2021 tax return, that year, Power California received $3,661,126 in contributions and grants. Its total reported revenue was $3,690,526, total expenses were $3,169,936, and its assets were $4,738,063. ⁸

In 2022, Power California saw greater contributions, with its revenue increasing to $8,707,902. It paid out $3,849,395 in expenditures and ended the year with $9,594,499 in net assets. ⁹

In 2023, Power California reported revenues of $4,617,303, total expenses of $4,429,281, and ended the year with net assets of $9,877,844. ¹⁰

Funding

While it was called “Mobilize the Immigrant Vote,” the organization received multiple grants from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund between 2011 and 2017. The total amount of money granted to MIV by the Fund between those years was $955,000. ¹¹

In 2017, Power California received $140,000 from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. ¹²

In 2018, Power California received $190,000 from the Levi Strauss Foundation to build its capacity as a “leading social justice organization” in the Bay Area and for participating in its Pioneers 2020 Initiative. That same year, it received $150,500 for general support and $2,200,000 “to support intergenerational VCE [Voter and Civic Engagement]” from the James Irvine Foundation. ^{13 14}

In 2019, Power California received $25,000 from NEO Philanthropy, $40,000 from Tides Center, and $79,100 from the Latino Community Foundation. ^{15 16 17}

In 2020, Power California received $100,000 from the Alliance for Youth Organizing, $125,000 from the Arcus Foundation, and $135,250 from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. ^{18 19 20}

In 2021, Power California received $85,5000 from the Edward W. Hazen Foundation and $112,000 from the Common Counsel Foundation. ^{21 22}

In 2022, Power California received a total of $125,000 from the Hidden Leaf Foundation. ²³

In 2023, Power California received $80,000 from the California Calls Education Fund and $75,000 from the Silver Lining Foundation. ^{24 25 26}

From 2018 to 2023, Power California received $2,090,000 from the Ford Foundation. ^{27 28 29 30 31}

In 2024, Power California received a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation earmarked for “civic participation” and “civil and human rights.” The full text of the grant explained that it aimed to strengthen Power California’s “youth civic engagement infrastructure and engage young voters of color statewide [who are] building out strong leadership pathways centering young people in underinvested regions of the state.” ³²

Grantmaking

In 2023, Power California made grants earmarked for “civic engagement” to its 501(c)(4) sister group PowerCA Action ($350,000) as well as to PICO California ($30,000), the California Calls Education Fund ($30,000), the California Black Power Network ($30,000), and Innercity Struggle ($30,000). ³³

Political Activities

Although it lists itself as a non-partisan organization, Power California promotes left-of-center and progressive viewpoints such as socialized healthcare, blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants, and green energy.²

Power California, known as MIV at the time, began its voter engagement drive in 2004 after its original campaign with the Northern California Citizenship Project (NCCP). Power California targeted foreign-born voters in the state, which amounted to nearly 15 percent of the population, to greatly increase voter engagement. The organization did this by producing multi-lingual “palm cards” containing information on how to vote, where to vote, and what voting rights immigrants have. ³⁴

Power California started 99Rootz, its regional youth and young adult leadership initiative, in early 2018. The youth organization focuses on social justice initiatives and building “leadership pathways and safe spaces for growth and development” for young people who live in the towns along California State Route 99, which cuts through the highly agricultural and immigrant-rich Central Valley.³⁵

99Rootz has also developed “Summer Academies.” These academies hold “deep training” sessions on political education, identity politics, and campaign planning.³⁵

In 2018, according to Power California’s then-executive director Luis Sanchez, the organization has registered and pre-registered 10,000 young voters in 2018 and reached out to thousands more to interest them in casting their vote. Sanchez also claims Power California informs young voters on issues such as immigration, the environment, and affordable housing.³⁶

In 2020, Power California was running the “Yes on Prop 15: Schools and Communities First” campaign, an advocacy initiative endorsing California’s Proposition 15 which raised property taxes for corporations and sent funds to the state’s Department of Education. The proposition was defeated in November 2020. ^{37 38}

By 2020, the organization began an advocacy project titled “The Vote at 16 Coalition,” which advocates for lowering the voting age of California to 16 years old. ³⁹

As of 2025, Power California was still running the Vote at 16 program, which at that time had been renamed “Ready to Vote: Expanding Voting Rights to 16.” It endorsed the Youth Climate Strike, the March for Our Lives, and called for the children of illegal immigrants to be granted voting rights. ⁴⁰

Affiliations

Power California has many partner organizations including the California Environmental Justice Alliance, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Californians for Justice, and Resilience Orange County,³ which celebrates the undocumented status of its Executive.⁴¹

Power California also has an action fund called Power California Action. Originally founded in 2011 as the MIV Action Fund, the name was changed in 2018 to reflect the merge of YVote and Mobilize the Immigrant Vote.⁴² While it was still under its former name, the MIV Action Fund was fined $5,000 by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to “timely file two semiannual [sic] campaign statements covering the reporting periods of October 21, 2012 through December 31, 2012 and July 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014, in violation of Government Code Section 84200 (2 counts).”⁴

Power California, under its former name, is also a member of the We Are America Alliance,⁴³ an organization created in 2006 that holds similar ideals to Power California, and focuses on voter engagement with left-wing immigrants.⁴⁴

Power California also collaborated with CultureStrike and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration in 2015 to create UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE, an initiative that aims to address “racial justice” by challenging deportation of illegal immigrants and the incarceration of minorities through art and culture.⁴⁵

Leadership

As of 2023, Power California was led by Luis Sanchez, its president and executive director. Its board of directors included chair Dana Gin Paredes, Tyler Okeke, Christian Arana, Randy Villegas, and Ashley Thomas. ⁴⁶