Celestine Balderas, Albuquerque, NM

Celestine Balderas was sworn in as a new American on May 2, 2008 at a ceremony near her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She registered to vote in time for her state's primary

“I think that issues concerning children and education are important to mothers and that low income communities have the worst schools and need the most assistance programs,” says Celestine. “My family is here and I want the right to be with them. As a citizen I will be able to be with them; as a voting citizen I will be able to fight for them,”

Celestine says that she wants to vote to make life better for her and her family.

“The change I would love is more after-school programs for children and better daycare systems," she says, "So many working parents can’t get home until very late and their children deserve good care while their parents are working to feed them. These types of programs would help families,”

For more information on this story, please contact:

Matthew Henderson, ACORN, 505-379-6947, nmacorn@acorn.org