ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
Gente Organizada (Gente) is a community-led social action non-profit organization based in Pomona, CA whose mission is to organize to build intergenerational power and wellness for youth and immigrant families in Pomona.
WHAT WE DO
Our youth development and family strengthening work is grounded in social justice through community organizing that emphasizes healing-centered engagement. In which youth and parents define themselves not as victims of social forces but as the agents of social justice. By transforming the root causes of harm in their community, they are able to improve their own health, safety, and well-being. The people we work with identify the issues that affect them—in terms of their race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexuality, and citizenship—and then work with Gente staff to develop actionable solutions.
We have three main components of our work:​
Our Social Action Groups
Our Organizational Pods
Our Coalitions and Partnerships
WHO WE ORGANIZE AND BUILD WITH
Gente is deeply connected to the families of Pomona, a majority of whom are immigrants. Rising fear within the community as a result of the national climate around immigration and policing has left much of our community seeking opportunities to pull together.
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Since 2014, Gente Organizada has built on our foundation of trust and pride with our members to become the heart of a thriving local movement of people-powered community care and action. Gente is proud to be unique in our geographic focus area of the City of Pomona, the largest city in the East Los Angeles County region, known to be one of the most economically disadvantaged sub-regions of the County, with a largely Spanish-speaking immigrant population. We center our work on our city’s most valuable yet under-resourced strength: BIPOC youth ages 12-26, especially the children of immigrant families and LGBTQIA+ young people.
Together, we are reclaiming the future we want for the place we call home.
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
WHO WE ARE
DIRECTOR'S COUNCIL
Gente has a shared leadership structure because we believe in leaderful movements and recognize that there is a more effective way of governing our organization than the traditional corporate nonprofit model. Instead of an Executive Director, we have a Director’s Council which guides and makes decisions on the organization’s day-to-day work to better align with our values of shared decision-making and power.
OUR TEAM
C. Vanessa
she/they
Manager of Operations
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Economic Justice Pod
Berenice
she/her
OUR TEAM IS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POMONA COMMUNITY AND ALL MEMBERS OF OUR STAFF HAVE STARTED WITH OUR ORGANIZATION AS EITHER MEMBERS OR VOLUNTEERS OF OUR SOCIAL ACTION GROUPS.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our community-led Board of Directors is comprised of local youth and parents who live, work, and study in the City of Pomona. All members of our Board are current members of our social action groups. Our board is responsible for the overall vision and activities of the organization, setting policy, and allocation of resources. Our youth-led Board of Directors is the principal governing body of the organization and oversees our Director’s Council.
BOARD MEMBERS
Destiny Rivera-Gomez, Board President (TAY Rep)
Ivan Hernandez, Board Secretary (Director Rep)
Ana Tostado, Board Treasurer (Parent Rep)
Violeta Acuna, Board Member (TAY Rep)
Romualdo Sanchez, Board Member (TAY Rep)
Samantha Zavala-Angulo, Board Member (TAY Rep)
Maria Garcia, Board Member (Parent Rep)
Yesica Limon, Board Member (Parent Rep)
Dr. Bianca N. Haro, Board Member (Community Rep)
Evelia Rocha, Board Member (Director Rep)
Jesus Sanchez, Board Member (Director Rep)
