Interview with María Rodriguez

Interview with María Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC). María was born in Kansas and grew up in Puerto Rico. She describes her background as bi-cultural; her father was from the Dominican Republic and her mother from the United States. She attended Academia de Ignacio and Academia María Reina. Her family then immigrated to the United States, and she studied at Georgetown University. She founded the Florida Immigrant Coalition and is a coalition builder. She works with many issues such as wage theft, racial justice issues, worker movements, poverty, and public health coverage. She also does defense work at local, state, and federal levels. María is a board member for several organizations and programs such as the Florida New Majority, the ACLU of Florida, the World Foundation Board in New York, and the Highlander Center in Tennessee. She has also received prestigious awards such as the Cesar Chavez Community Hero Award from the White House.