Among all of the tough lessons and difficulties this year, sometimes we forget to acknowledge the transformational and good things happening every day in our communities. The growth of the Promotores program in 2020 – including the advancement of Promotores residents as leaders in their communities – accounts as one of the bright lights in a year that will go down as nothing short of memorable.

Martha Perez has been a Promotora since we launched the program in 2019. She’s volunteered hundreds of hours to make her communities better by reaching out to residents and advocating on behalf of issues that affect her family and her neighbors—housing, immigrant’s rights, after school programs, health care access, and job opportunities and protections. And all of her growth and work led to the opportunity to support our sister organization PCUN when a new job as a Farmworker Housing Coordinator became a good opportunity to apply her skills. Martha applied, interviewed, and was ultimately offered the position to support the implementation of PCUN’s “healthy workplaces” outreach program at FHDC communities.

The role will support the identification of neighborhoods, churches, and community locations with high concentrations of farmworkers and immigrants and will focus on connected folks with multilingual and culturally specific resources and information to referrals. It requires a high level of organization and public engagement, skills that were made possible through her 18-month duration as a Promotora. We want to congratulate Martha on her commitment to community development and civic engagement and look forward to supporting her work closely with other Promotores, Resident Services Directors, and PCUN’s community organizers.