"They have to be more relevant to the new generation," said the responsible, who works with the Leadership Institute, to Lusa News Agency. "They can at least contact people and ask what they would like to have as a member of this organization and of this community," he said.

Nathan Fatal, son of emigrants from Óbidos who was born in USA, Rhode Island, identifies a disconnection between what Portuguese associations intend to do to and what is being done.

"The most common thing is to talk about the problem, but not do anything to solve it," he noted. "It's going to be very difficult to get more involvement from Portuguese American youth without talking to them directly."

Fatal referred to the positive example of the initiatives of the Luso-American Leadership Council (PALCUS), which are designed to improve the situation.

"They have scholarships to help with Portuguese studies, they have internships, they have programs for traveling to Portuguese-speaking countries and I think all of this is a very good idea", he said. "As a PALCUS member and a 29-year-old, I think they've done a good work to make me feel welcome."

One of the areas that Nathan Fatal considers important is the teaching of the Portuguese language. "I don't know anyone my age that lives in the United States and speaks Portuguese," he said, explaining that he learned to speak and write the language at university.

"I always felt a very strong connection with Portugal, being Portuguese and speaking the language," he explained. "Music, culture, food have always been part of my life".

Nathan Fatal moved from Washington, DC to Los Angeles in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, after several years of traveling between the two cities as part of his trainer job.

"The trainings are about leadership, activism and how to be a candidate. My focus is how to recruit volunteers and develop leaders, contact voters," he described. Other practical issues include how to raise funding, start an organization, file papers, apply, and get the message out.

"In the song Grândola Vila Morena, there is a part that says that the people are the ones who give the most orders. I really believe in this idea," he said. "That's why 25 April is as important to me as Independence Day in the United States."

As a trainer, Nathan Fatal is focused precisely on giving trainees concrete tools to make a difference in their communities.

"I believe in the people and in the possibility that the government is transparent, accessible, that we work with it in a more peaceful and easy way," he said.

Graduated in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the Portuguese-American said that it is not necessary for people to be professional activists to make a difference.

"If government was more accessible and transparent and more people knew how to participate, even those who don't have a lot of money could participate more easily," he said. "A person can be a teacher, an engineer, in any industry, and still have a role and use his power."