(Photo by Bellanee Plaza)
ORLANDO | Nearly a dozen booths were spread across Loch Haven Park for the MadSoul Music Festival March 2 to raise awareness about various political issues in Florida.
The booths all brought something different to the attendees at the festival. Some issues the organizations spoke on were LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety, climate change and affordable housing.
Laura Buck, lead for Central Florida with Moms Demand Action, says she came to promote her organization because she wanted to spread the word to the community about how important secure firearm storage is.
“It’s all about secure storage, which is storing your firearms separately from the ammunition and both separately locked,” Buck says. “We want everybody to understand that they can work with their lawmakers and legislation to have laws passed that ensure that we have secure storage.”
Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence, according to its website.
Buck says speaking with lawmakers is the best way to advocate because the more people that are on board, the quicker change can happen.
Attendees surrounded a new organization called Sunrise Movement during the festival. Sunrise Movement is a movement of young people fighting to stop the climate crisis and win a green new deal, according to its website.
Giancarlo Rodriguez, co-hub coordinator of Sunrise Movement Orlando, says having the organization present at the festival is important because of the way Florida has changed in climate.
“This event shows that there’s people doing the good fight,” Rodriguez says. “Florida is not a lost cause and if we put in the work, we can fight for the Florida that we know and that we believe in.”
Rodriguez wants people to get involved with subjects that resenate with them because good change can come out of it.
Eric Grimmer, chapter lead of Orlando YIMBY, spoke to guests about affordable housing in Orlando. YIMBY stands for Yes In My Bag, according to its website.
Grimmer says the organization supports the construction of housing abundance to address the housing affordability issues Orlando has that are caused by an imbalance of supply and demand of homes.
“We are a 100% volunteer organization,” Grimmer says. “We all do it on our own because we truly believe that it’s going to create a stronger community that’s more sustainable, financially and environmentally, for everyone.”
The Orlando metro area is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, according to Orlando YIMBY’s website.
People Power for Florida was located at the entrance of the festival. People Power for Florida promotes civic engagement and increases voter participation with organizers and volunteers across Florida, according to its website.
Allison Minnerly, communications director for People Power for Florida, says she wants to raise awareness about the voting changes in Florida. She says it feels like there are more changes after every legislative session.
“Our organization prioritizes finding unique events to retool every day where they’re at, so not your traditional voter registration organization,” Minnerly says. “We’re really proud to be here, invited by Team Frost and Mad Soul, because we want to connect with people that are here.”
Floridians Protecting Freedom‘s Yes on 4 is a statewide campaign of allied organizations and concerned citizens working together to protect Floridians’ access to reproductive health care and defend the right to bodily autonomy, according to its website. Taylor Aguilera, organizing director of Floridians Protecting Freedom, says she was at the festival to promote the Yes on 4 campaign. The organization is reaching out to as many voters as it can ahead of the vote on Nov. 4.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of the six-week abortion ban until they’re put into a position where they have to go see a medical provider to receive care,” Aguilera says. “Then they find out that they’re having to leave the state. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, and we’re seeing this happen daily at abortion clinics across the state.”
Aguilera wants Floridians to know how important it is that people can receive the care that they need when they need it, especially in their home communities.
“We’re not only raising awareness about our amendment, but we’re also making sure that the public is aware of the public health crisis that’s coming down,” Aguilera says.
