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A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR OUR FUTURE

About The Project

In 2026, as the United States marks 250 years since its founding, HOPE convened a consortium of legal scholars, public servants, activists, and entrepreneurs to explore how the Bill of Rights—the foundational first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791—might be expanded for the challenges and opportunities of our time.

Over several months in 2025, 11 leaders were invited to build upon its enduring principles, offering bold proposals that reaffirm its original promises while extending its vision for the future.

A Bill of Rights for Our Future is a multidisciplinary art project by Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE). This project was made possible by The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, with support from the Latina Futures 2050 Lab.

Portrait photography by Camila Falquez.
Text by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd.
Concept and vision by Helen Iris Torres.

*The perspectives and proposals presented are those of the individual contributors and are shared as part of an exploratory, educational dialogue. They do not represent endorsements or policy positions of HOPE.

About The Organizers

Helen Iris Torres is the CEO of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), one of the nation’s most influential Latina organizations.

For over two decades, she has built a statewide leadership and civic engagement infrastructure that has empowered thousands to step into leadership roles across government, business, philanthropy, and community service. Under her leadership, HOPE has become a national force advancing civic participation and expanding pathways for underrepresented leaders.

In 2025, Helen received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in recognition of her work expanding opportunities for Latinas and strengthening civic leadership. She serves on the Boards of Directors of the Weingart Foundation and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and serves as a workforce committee advisor for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, supporting efforts to build an inclusive and future-ready workforce.

Helen has led statewide coalitions that have helped secure historic firsts, including the appointment of the first Latina to the California Public Utilities Commission and the first Latina to the California Supreme Court. She has also served as a policy advisor under Governors Davis, Schwarzenegger, and Brown, including appointments to commissions overseeing AmeriCorps funding and the Little Hoover Commission.

Across her career, Helen has championed investment in Latina leadership as a catalyst for stronger civic participation, economic opportunity, and a more inclusive democracy.

About the Photographer

Camila Falquez is a New-York based photographer.

As a Colombian immigrant who grew up in Mexico City and Spain, Falquez has developed her own visual and photographic language, channeling the feelings of longing in traditional fashion imagery into more inclusive pictures that speak to representation and social consciousness. Her work merges a personal form of surrealism with a distinctive color palette and empowering gaze. Her images have been published in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, WSJ, Vogue Spain and Vogue Italy, among others. She has collaborated with brands such as Apple, Hermes and Nike.

About The Writer

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd is a Xicana writer, editor, author, and cofounder of Hearing Things, a worker-owned music and culture publication.

She is also an editor at Hell Gate, a journalist-owned local news site in New York City covering politics, housing, labor, and the arts. Formerly the top editor at both Jezebel and The Fader, for 25 years she has written about culture, politics, and the intersection between the two. Her work has been found in a slew of publications, including The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vibe, Rookie, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Flaming Hydra, a writers’ collective in which she is a member. She has interviewed political luminaries such as Nydia Velázquez, Stacey Abrams, and Melissa Mark-Viverito; authors like Jean Guerrero, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and Lucy Sante; and entertainers including Karol G, Aubrey Plaza, Anitta, and Lido Pimienta. In 2018, she profiled Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico for his first-ever magazine cover.

Julianne’s forthcoming book on Penguin, Vaquera, is about growing up Mexican American in Wyoming and the myth of the American West. Her upbringing as the youngest prima in a large, working-class, Catholic family of immigrants from Guanajuato—and the values instilled in her by her abuelita, mother, and tías—has influenced every aspect of her work, especially her desire to illuminate lesser-told stories and focus on marginalized peoples across the globe. She currently lives on the Lower East Side of New York City with her longtime partner Ashok and two cats, though their hearts will always be in Los Sures.

About HOPE

Hispanas Organized for Political Equality® (HOPE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to ensuring political and economic parity for Latinas through leadership, advocacy, and education to benefit all communities and the status of women.

HOPE® prepares and supports Latinas as civic leaderswhile providing inclusive leadership opportunities open to all who want to learn from the Latina perspective. We advance civic education, foster community leadership, and advocate for fair and informed policy solutions that expand opportunity for every community.

For more than 35 years, HOPE’s innovative programs have trained and inspired over 65,000 participants nationwide, while our public education and advocacy efforts have reached millions more. Our work highlights the experiences and contributions of Latinas to the U.S. economy and society, helping to strengthen civic participation and build stronger, more representative communities.

HOPE programs and educational events are open to all individuals who support Latina leadership to strengthen our democracy and advance economic mobility.

Inspired by the visions put forward in A Bill of Rights for Our Future, we invite you to contribute your own idea for a new or expanded right.

If you could add one right for our future, what would it be?

Add Your Right

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