Latino Leadership in Passing the Berkeley Sugary Drink Tax

After 30 attempts to pass a local tax on sugary drinks, the voters of Berkeley, CA, overcame intense beverage industry opposition to become the first municipality in the US to pass an excise tax on sugary drinks.  Learning from failed attempts in Richmond and El Monte (CA), where  beverage industry operatives drove wedges between the Latino and African American communities and the tax advocates, the Berkeley campaign, led by the Berkeley Healthy Child Coalition (BHCC), knew that in order to win, Berkeley's ethnic communities needed to be fully represented in the campaign's leadership.  Berkeley's Latino and African American health advocates, led by Latinos Unidos and the Berkeley NAACP, played unique roles as full partners within the BHCC to develop campaign messaging that would resonate with most Berkeleyans, and also with our ethnic populations who would bear a disproportionate financial burden when the taxes were levied.  The more nuanced story of how the Latino and African American advocates worked hard inside the BHCC to ensure that the revenues would be spent on addressing the needs of Berkeley's most vulnerable communities will also be discussed.  This presentation will describe the strategic development of the tax campaign, how Latinos Unidos and Berkeley NAACP participated at the leadership level, the efforts to get out the vote among our communities of color, and now that the tax has been won, how the ethnic partners are working to ensure that the tax revenues impact rates of diabetes and obesity in Berkeley s most vulnerable communities.