A coalition of civil rights groups has launched a television ad in four states, including North Carolina, meant to drum up support for Democratic health care proposals.

The organizations — the NAACP National Voter Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Campaign for Community Change, the United States Student Association and PowerPAC.org — are initially targeting states with large African American and Latino populations. The ad is also available in Spanish.

The ad is rich with Civil Rights imagery. The English version features an older African American man walking as people board a bus in the background. He begins by saying when he was born, health care reform failed. The description is clearly meant to evoke unfair and discriminatory busing practices of the Civil Rights era. Later in the ad, a Hispanic woman tries to board the bus, but the door closes on her.

The ad is also set to run in Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Andrea Bazán has beennamed to a federal border task force.

The Durham resident, who currently serves as president of the Triangle Community Foundation and chair of the board of the National Council of La Raza, will serve on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Southwest Border Taskforce. 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the initiative last month as a way to support Mexico's campaign against violent drug cartels.

The task force will work to reduce the flow of guns and cash from the U.S. to Mexico, reduce the transfer of contraband across the border in both directions and improve enforcement of immigration laws.

Other members of the task force include law enforcement from border areas, the mayor of San Diego and the preisdent of the California Endowment.

The group will hold its first meeting on June 4 in Albuquerque, N.M. 

El Pueblo plans to reach out to Hispanic voters.

The longtime Latino advocacy group is one of 25 groups around the country to receive a grant from the National Council of La Raza for voter outreach ahead of the Nov. 4 elections.

"This type of outreach is critical to increasing the influence and strength of this underserved population in this year's, and future, elections," said advocacy director Irene Godinez in a statement. "Our goal is to make sure that everyone in our community who is eligible acts, participates, and votes."

El Pueblo is training young workers on registration drives and plans outreach efforts in the coming months, including at La Fiesta del Pueblo on Sept. 6-7 at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

According to the State Board of Elections, slighty less than 1 percent of registered voters were listed as Hispanic as of Aug. 9, although Hispanics made up 6.7 percent of the population in the 2006 Census.