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ELLA hosted a community forum for Sunnyside residents on November 30th to inform them of the proposed biomethane plant supported and developed by the City of Sunnyside, Port of Sunnyside and Pacific Ag of Oregon. The city, port and Pacific Ag did little to communicate with residents about the project or any environmental impact as a result of the project. No effort was put forth to inform our Spanish-speaking community. This has us and residents very concerned. Residents have a right to understand all of the environmental and economic implications of living next to a biomethane plant. After canvassing the neighborhoods closest to the proposed biomethane plant, we asked residents who are concerned about the project to attend a community forum to address their concerns directly to representatives from the city, port and Pacific Ag. The city chose not to attend or respond to residents. The executive director, Jay Hester, attended but chose to listen only, not respond. Harrison Pettit of Pacific Ag provided an overview of the project. Residents had many questions for Mr.
JASPER KENZO SUNDEEN Yakima Herald-Republic * Oct 15, 202 [caption id="attachment_1724" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Sunnyside candidates for school board and city council and organizers from ELLA attend their weekly meeting to share information and resources on Oct.4, 2023. Photo by Jasper Kenzo Sundeen/Yakima Herald Republic[/caption] "Sunnyside candidates for school board and city council and organizers from ELLA attend their weekly meeting to share information and resources on Oct.4, 2023." Photo by Jasper Kenzo Sundeen/Yakima Herald Republic Almost 70 people gathered in the gym at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on a July evening in Sunnyside. Grandparents, parents and children sat on folding chairs in front of a panel of six candidates for school board and City Council in the second-largest city in Yakima County. It wasn’t the traditional fall election season, but with the primary looming in early August, candidates and get-out-the vote nonprofits had come together to connect with an oft-underrepresented group of Yakima Valley voters: Spanish-speaking residents. “Estamos aqui para escuchar a sus voces,” said Keren Vazquez, a candidate for Sunnyside City Council’s Position
After a summer of foul-smelling water, frustration and packed city council meetings, state agencies and nonprofits are turning their attention to Mabton’s water problems. Dozens of residents attended a city council meeting and a separate listening session last week, demanding solutions. Officials noted the ongoing issue and shared their efforts to solve the problem. Organizers with nonprofit Empowering Latina Leadership and Action (ELLA) and the Mabton Food Bank are bringing in free water for residents. State and local engineers said they are conducting further tests to determine the exact cause of the water’s bad smell but hope that a new well will help. The city could then move away from a well supplying the worst-smelling water. Officials at the state Department of Health and Valley Water Services, the private contractor that oversees Mabton’s drinking water, said the water meets state safety regulations, but acknowledged the unpleasant conditions residents face in the city of roughly 1,000. “We understand tap water shouldn’t taste and smell bad,” said Barbara Morrissey, a DOH toxicologist, said in an interview. “When
Publicado 25 noviembre 202 La violencia doméstica no es nueva en el valle de Yakima, tampoco en la comunidad latina, y esto lo saben organizaciones locales que trabajan en el tema. “Desde que terminó la pandemia hemos tenido un aumento de 30 por ciento en las llamadas de personas que buscan nuestros servicios y piden protección. Cada mes tenemos 17 peticiones de órdenes de restricción emitidas por la corte y sabemos que estos números están subiendo”, mencionó Dani Aguilar, coordinadora de alcance comunitario de la Asociación de Mujeres Jóvenes Cristianas de Yakima (Young Women Christian Association, YWCA). Actualmente, la YWCA en Yakima administra un refugio de emergencia que tiene 14 habitaciones y 44 camas para las víctimas de la violencia doméstica y sus hijos, así como 16 unidades de vivienda de transición que van de una a tres habitaciones. “Nuestros refugios están al límite de su capacidad y mantenemos una lista de espera", mencionó Aguilar. La YWCA además cuenta con asesores legales y consejeros que guían a las víctimas para denunciar su situación ante las
Published March 15, 2023 On a Friday evening in downtown Sunnyside, 20 or so women, most of them mothers and grandmothers and all Hispanic, sat inside a narrow classroom. Notepads, binders and writing utensils rested on their desks. The women were discussing topics that are as taboo as they are a part of their daily life — sexism and machismo. Their heads turned toward the back of the room to Teodora Martinez, who is part of ELLA, a group that organized the class. “How many of you have been in an airplane,” she asked in Spanish, “when you’re sitting there about to take off and they start going through safety guidelines, whose mask do they tell you to put on first, especially when you have kids with you? Maria Magaña, one of the women in attendance, responded: “In our church, they taught us to put the mask on our husbands first. … We were told they’re our second half. We can have more kids, but we are bonded to our husbands, we are taught to
ELLA’s mission is to help increase Latina representation as key decision-makers across all sectors of our community. As it stands now, what we see in most businesses, organizations and institutions is Latinas as front-line service providers. We run storefronts and front offices. Upon entering most establishments, we are the first point of contact for customers or clients. But the higher up the chain of command or hierarchy, the less likely we are to be seen. Why? Because Latinas are rarely represented in management and executive roles. Without Latinas, most workplaces would not function properly. We are covering every minute detail to ensure customers and clients are served well, we guarantee businesses and organizations are managed efficiently, and we make sure that managers and executives have what they need to “lead”. Latinas are in the trenches, laboring from the belly of the beast, but rarely directing from the ivory towers. Most Latinas are quite capable of leading based on work experience alone, but we are also earning college degrees at a faster rate than many other
Most nonprofits have noble missions aiming to resolve any number of community issues such as homelessness, domestic violence, and unemployment, just to name a few. Their intent truly is to help those in need. Many of them successful in their recruitment of volunteers and employees that share their quest to help build a better community. But we also know of many nonprofits who’ve become complacent and ultimately cause some amount of harm to the people they once intended to humanely serve. In the many years I and the ELLA board of directors have worked with nonprofits, we’ve seen this firsthand. It is one of the reasons ELLA exists. We have seen humble people in need of help made to feel like a nuisance by the very staff paid to assist them. ELLA decided it was time to provide workshops to teach them how to navigate social services. More importantly, teach them how to advocate for themselves when they feel they aren’t even being heard. All too often, people will take the initial denial of services
There is no better working environment than that of like-minded Latinas who share the same principles of making a positive impact and reducing racism, sexism, and homo/transphobia in our shared communities. There is empowerment just being in the presence of other strong Latinas who make it their life’s mission to help improve the living conditions of others around them. There are many approaches to working towards social justice and it seems that every little bit of that progressive work should be looked upon with collective respect and appreciation. But often, the good intentions of those who dedicate their time and effort to social justice work are met with skepticism and suspicion by the very community of people they’re trying to help. We refer to the most extreme cases of this as the “crabs in the bucket” mentality, “if I can’t have it, neither can you”. This is even more troubling when that mentality comes from other Latinas, particularly our Latina elders. Generational differences have often caused riffs within local social justice movements. It seems more
"CHINGONA" By Melanie Vigil-Gutierrez aka Chicana 702 with Chicano Poet Society “Ok so you fell on your face! You’re just going to sit there and bleed? Cry and analyze your steps Is that really what you need? Get up! Stop crying! Dust yourself off Speak no word about How you fell! Why you fell! Just dust yourself off! Don’t be mad there is no one to blame! You may have tripped over your pride Just watch your next steps So you don’t ever repeat the same! No one is going help you up But that’s because God believes you’re strong enough to do it alone. No need to call for help You’re a Chicana Woman full grown! It’s ok that you’re hurt That only means you have a heart But that’s a temporary pain It only feels ripped apart But if you stop crying and take a deep breath You will hear it’s still beating strong and in rhythm deep in your chest! In fact you are ok Ten more steps and that fall will be
There are so many heroic Latinas that lived and died dedicated to serving our communities and deserve recognition on our Dia De Los Muertos alter. We chose to honor several of these courageous and selfless Latinas today. Jovita Idar (19985-1946) Jovita Idar, born in Laredo, Texas, was a civil rights activist, teacher, nurse, suffragist and journalist. As the editor to her family's publication, La Crónica, Idar exposed much of the injustices committed against Mexican Texans, including lynchings, segregation and the poor conditions faced by students in schools. She was often a target of the Texas Rangers, whom made several attempts to forcefully shut down the publication, eventually ransacking the office and destroying the printing presses. In 1911, Idar founded La Liga Feminil Mexicaista, a feminist organization that provided education to children, helped the wounded during the Mexican Revolution, encouraged women to vote, and advocated for the rights of Mexican Americans. She valued education so much that she was known for saying, "when you educate a woman, you educate a family." Berta Cáceres (1971-2016) Berta Cáceres