By Brenda Moreno Sanchez & Lydia Lopez
Ukiah Vecinos en Acción, (Neighbors in Action), UVA, is a Latino Coalition formed by the community members in 2017. UVA consist of twelve members who are passionate and focused on taking action on issues affecting the Latino population. This coalition acts as a bridge between agencies and the community with the focus being, to enrich the positive presence of Latinos, to serve as a non-bias platform for information, and to build an environment of trust and positive relationships with other organizations.
UVA is currently housed at the ARC Family Resource Center, where it was first created. When the new Presidential Administration took office in January 2017, agencies and community members would contact the ARC Family Resource Center for information. As a result, a Community Dinner was organized where people were invited to come and talk about their worries. ARC Family Resource Center staff went out, did research, conducted interviews, and organized a second Community Dinner to report back to the people. Out of this, it was recognized and vocalized that there was a lack of Latino leadership; with a few volunteers UVA was created.
It is very important for UVA to stay connected to the people and to take action on the issues affecting our Latino community. Therefore, UVA incorporated two things in the way we do our work: to host Community Gatherings and to take action. The purpose of the Community Gathering is to hear directly from the people on what the issues are and what we should work on. In addition, it allows UVA to report back to the people on the issues, projects, and any information the people might have asked for. The second is that UVA takes action by focusing on a project. The project ideas come directly from what we hear at the Community Gatherings. Currently UVA has two projects: The Community Market and Disaster Planning, with a focus on the Latino community.
Poverty is an issue that came up at a Community Gathering which lead UVA to take action by partnering with Healthy Mendocino’s Poverty Action Team. The goal is to decrease the poverty rate in our county by giving people a creative opportunity to increase their household income through the Community Market. This is a big project which takes a strong collaboration that includes: West Company, Economic Development Financial Corporation, (EDFC), Grace Hudson Language Academy and the ARC Family Resource Center. The Community Market gives individuals and families the opportunity to take an idea, a skill, or a hobby and turn it into a business without the overhead expenses of a storefront. UVA’s role is to recruit participants and to make the day of the market fun, exciting, and family friendly for buyers to come and buy the participants products. The cohort that the participants will form will go through a series of workshops with West Company to gain skills on how to create and run a business. The benefit of going through this program is participants will get the opportunity to apply for micro-loans with EDFC for the startup of their business. In addition, this will prepare participants to be a part of other community events where they can sell their products and as a result, increase their household income. The market will take place at the Grace Hudson Language Academy parking lot where venders will have their booths and entertainment will be welcoming buyers. The hope is that this additional income will assist in raising families and individuals out of poverty.
The second project UVA is working on is enhancing communication with the Latino Community during a natural disaster or during a state of emergency. According to Healthy Mendocino, 35.73% of our county’s population is composed of members from Hispanic/Latino decent. During the devastating, Complex Fires in October 2017, most of the communication was conducted in English. The first days of any disaster are the most crucial moments where clear, fast and accurate information to all residents in their native language is very important. During a Community Gathering, UVA received feedback from the people in regard to this issue. Community members stated during the time of chaos, families relayed on the radio for news and updates. UVA is taking action by working on a collaboration with KZYX to add a Spanish translation after an emergency update. In addition, the Latino Community expressed interest in a training to better prepare themselves and others for disasters. As part of this project, UVA is in contact with local agencies who already are doing disaster trainings to assist and ensure that our Spanish speaking community is not left out, especially during emergencies. We are working on researching different trainings and their ability to be offed in Spanish; allowing people to have the same information and trainings as the rest of the county, but in their native language.
If you or anyone you know would like more information regarding UVA, the Community Market Project or the Project for Natural Disaster information in Spanish, please contact the ARC Family Resource Center at 707-234-3300, find us on Facebook, email us at ukiahvecinosenaccion@gmail.com, or come to our meetings. UVA meets every first Monday of the month at 5:45pm at the ARC Family Resource Center 1640 South State Street, Ukiah.
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Brenda Moreno Sanchez is a Program Specialist II on the Advocacy and Collaboration Team at Mendocino County Health and Human Service Agency. She has an Associate degree from Mendocino College and a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from Sonoma State University. She is currently the chair on the Ukiah Vecinos en Acción, (UVA). She is working on strengthening communication during natural disasters within Mendocino County
Lydia Lopez is the Bilingual Community Outreach Coordinator for Project Sanctuary. Prior to this role, she was with FIRST 5 Mendocino for a little over 10 years as the Program Manager for the ARC Family Resource Center. She is currently working on her Bachelor's degree with the ultimate goal of a Masters. Through her work at the ARC Family Resource Center, she started Ukiah Vecinos en Acción, (UVA), and continues to be a member of this coalition.
Author:
Brenda Moreno Sanchez & Lydia Lopez
Resource Date:
October 30, 2018
Resource Type:
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