Some prominent Latinos are gathering today in Chicago to release an 82-point policy agenda. Their hopes include influencing November’s elections.

For most of its 20-year history, a Chicago group called Latinos United focused on housing issues.

Today the group is changing its name to the Latino Policy Forum. And it’s proposing local steps on topics ranging from education to immigration, from health care to public safety.

GARCIA: There is a tendency in our society to see Latinos as outsiders, as foreigners.

Maricela García is the group’s executive director.

GARCIA: We belong here. Our children, 90 percent of them, are U.S.-born. And 70 percent of Latinos are U.S. citizens.

The group says it gathered input over two years from more than 600 area residents. The result isn’t the first policy agenda from local Latinos. But it could be the most detailed and comprehensive.