Liberty City resident Rose Mason fought her way through the rain in order to support voter registration in her community.

''We really need to make sure that our people are informed about what's going on. They need to get out and vote. We're making history right now,'' Mason said.

She was one of more than 300 people who attended the second annual Pride and Unity Festival, which was held Oct. 4 at Belafonte Tacolcy Park in Liberty City.

With the theme ''Community Power -- Voter Power,'' the event was a time to promote activist community groups and push to get voters registered.

''It is a historic election year, and our people need to get out and vote. But at the same time, we have to build beyond Election Day and hold our elected officials accountable to community values and principles of racial justice,'' said Aiyeshia Hudson, event planner with the Miami Workers Center, a local advocacy group that helped organize the festival.

Greg Hunt, who has lived in Liberty City for 34 years, feels voting is so important he registered again -- ``to be on the safe side.''

''People need to vote,'' he said. ``They need jobs. It will help the community as a whole.''

The ACLU echoed the sentiments and had representatives on hand to assist ex-felons regain their right to vote.

''We want people to be registered,'' said Shawanda Manuel, the Miami Workers Center's director of operations. ``Unfortunately, the largest number of unregistered voters is among people of color. This is a huge, huge thing.''

The festival also aimed to support small businesses, she said, ``to inform people of the issues and to bring people together.''

To this end, groups such as Miami Bridge Youth and Family Services, Planned Parenthood, LIFFT (Low Income Families Fighting Together), the Miami-Dade Green Party and Miami in Action were on hand to answer questions and give out information.

''I really hope that people were inspired to get engaged, to go out and get involved with activist groups who are trying to make a change every day,'' Hudson said.

Children played and bounced around, and area residents had the opportunity to receive health screenings, listen to live bands and enjoy spoken poetry.

The festival was sponsored by the Partnership for a New Hope, a coalition organized by the Miami Workers Center a year ago. The partnership is made up of the joint alumni of Miami Dade County, N. Dade Steering Committee, Redemption MB Church, Emmanuel MB Church, Greater Love Baptist Church, Belafonte Tacolcy Community Center, Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, Urban Environmental League, Emerging Green Builders, Via Concepts, Village South and LIFFT.

Created 10 years ago, the Miami Workers Center is ''a strategy and action group working for racial and economic justice in Miami and nationally,'' communications coordinator Joseph Phelan said.

The event's purpose was summed up in this line from a poem written and performed by area resident Melinda Multimore: ``Together, we are a powerful nation.''

The Miami Workers Center is at 6127 NW Seventh Ave. For more information, call 305-759-8717 or go to www.miamiworkerscenter.org.

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