Rosalinda Montéz Palacios
Ms. Montéz Palacios is the Reproductive Rights Policy Coordinator. In this capacity, she is responsible for researching topics on reproductive health and developing screening process to lend a Latina lens perspective around these issues. Information is disseminated in many forms, including a newsletter that is launched by way of the internet to hundreds of subscribers nationwide. Alerts and position papers on reproductive health legislation and other policy matters are also developed and distributed through the internet.
In addition to coordinating public information, Ms. Montéz Palacios coordinates the National Latina Lens Advisory Body that meets monthly, via teleconferencing, to discuss national reproductive heath policy matters, and to coordinate activities related to positions on particular policy issues. This national body developed a set of ‘Principles of Unity.’ Establishing these principles grounds our work to embody both a collective voice and a long-term vision that is a framework for our efforts as we grow a movement of Latinas in the reproductive health field. As policy makers, grass roots activist, health care workers, alternative health practitioners, and allies engaged in improving access for the working poor who have none or little access to reproductive health care services, these set of principles guide our work as we seek too position Latinas in visible, authoritative positions as policy and decision makers for our community.
Ms. Montéz Palacios brings to the National Latina Health Organization over 30 years of successful community grassroots organizing and policy knowledge. Her broad based activities have been documented in two publications, including Makani Themba’s, Making Policy, Making Change, and the recent publication of research on girls in gangs in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, by Marie ‘Keta’ Miranda, PhD, Home Girls in the Public Sphere.
In addition to her nationally recognized organizing and policy efforts, Ms. Montéz Palacios has a B.A. degree in Humanities, and is completing a Masters Degree in Women’s Spirituality from New College of San Francisco, focusing her research on Mexicah Goddess’s of Meso America to reclaim the Moon Goddess Stone from its current patriarchal myth as a ‘male Sun Calendar.’
The top main issues this body is engaged with are the following: Nominations of justices to the Supreme Court, federal and lower courts that are favorable to maintaining abortion services for women; Constitutional protections on reproductive health, which includes defending Roe v.Wade, and on a national level, repeal of the Hyde Amendment. We put forth a national call for universal health care, which includes health access services for the undocumented. Additionally, efforts to dialogue with private foundations to ensure they provide resources directly to Latina based organizations engaged in reproductive health services. Close analysis and broader involvement with the current national and state trend by national hospital corporations that place religious restrictions on health care services and facilities. In our efforts to coordinate national activities with local actions, a Local Latina Lens Advisory Body developed.
Karina Xiomara Najera - Program Coordinator
Ms. Najera has worked with the youth in the community for many years. She has served as an advocate for youth to ensure fair treatment regarding policy issues and counseled youth in times of crisis. She has also presented and trained school officials and community members on gang activities in the schools and the community and has a long history working with gang members. She has planned, implemented, facilitated and evaluted programs addressing issues concerning female gang members.
At age of 19 Ms. Najera was a student teacher for Raza Studies at Fremont Hight School in Oakland. She planned, facilitated and evaluated the curriculum for high school students. She has also coordinated a Raza Studies program via mail for inmates in Pelican Bay State Prison.Ms. Najera has presented at local, national and international conferences focusing on youth; including NACCS (National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies) conference in Portland, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona; MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social) in Boulder, Colorado and at the 2000 YMCA International Conference in Mexico City. Topics have included youth activisms, development of Raza Studies, and STI and teen pregnancy prevention.
Martha A. Noyola Administrative Assistant/Project Coordinator
I am the product of two hardworking immigrant parents from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. I was born in Houston, TX, but raised throughout the country and Mexico. My parents were migrant field workers and work seasons for field workers vary throughout the country so the whole family would move constantly looking for work. I’m grateful to my parents for always trying to make our lives better, and I am grateful for all the difficult situations we experienced which in turn led me to choose to dedicate myself professionally and personally to make a difference for the Latino community.
My experience in various parts of the country taught me that the Latino community is in great need of support in every aspect of American life and that was why I have worked very hard to reach my goal to make a difference. I recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Chicana/o Studies, which was a very thorny journey, being a poor woman of color and the first one in my family to attend college and graduate, but I have set a marker for future generations and that is very fulfilling. I am still on a learning journey and luckily I have surrounded myself with the right guides for my life goals. I am confident that I will make a great difference for myself, but most importantly, for the Latino community.
Luisa Ortega
Born in Los Angeles, CA and a current resident of Oakland, Luisa Ortega has moved throughout the State of Califas within the sphere of organizing and social justice. Since High School, Luisa has worked with many organizations, and on her own, developing methods, and attending social gatherings, that pursue an anti-colonial existence in communities of culture. Like many Xicano/a(s), Luisa began organizing at the age of fourteen with the help of MEChA on such social issues such as Prop. 187 and Educational Justice for indigenous/xicano youth. She continued making political headway in her small suburban community as the only Xicana to apply to and attend the 1997 fall semester at the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated in four years with two BA’s in Political Science and Ethnic Studies.
While at Berkeley she organized on the political level against Propositions such as 209 and 227, but was then awakened to the current path she finds her passion for, indigenous spirituality and the rights of all indigenous peoples. In 2000, she participated in the Peace and Dignity Run in Teotihuacan, Mexico where she had the blessing to meet and make relations with many who continue to hold a special place in her life. Today, as a Program Coordinator for the National Latina Health Organization, Luisa continues to pursue social justice as well as live her life as a spiritually conscious person. Her current work with young women has taught her many wonderful lessons in life as well as driven her continued pursuit of educational justice in all communities of culture.
Ms. Najera is a single mother of a baby girl. She was born in El Salvador, Central America and raised part of her life in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. She is dedicated to the empowerment of young Xicanas, Latina/o and has a commitment to young people of color. Ms. Najera constantly works towards creating viable political space for youth to make their words and actions heard in response to problems inherent in their communities. She is extremely proud of being part of the Xicana Moratorium Coalition and OLIN a youth organization that has been organizing in Oakland and the Bay Area since 1993, when Ms. Najera became part of the organization she was only 14 years-old and since then she has been active in the community.
Cynthia Reimann - Program Coordinator
Cynthia Reimann was born in Orange County (Southern California) and raised in Hayward, California. She was raised by her mother and extended family. Her mother, an immigrant from Mexico, toiled like mad in the work-force to provide for her family and offer a better quality of life.
Cynthia graduated from James Logan High School with the intent to pursue a degree in Fashion Design through the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. This dream slowly disintergrated due to lack of money, inspiration, and motivation from loved-ones. Nevertheless, she overcame the financial and emotional barries and went onto college. She is one of the first members of her immediate family to receive a college education.
She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Arts and Cultures, with a concentration in Cultural Studies focusing on the Afro-Latin Diaspora (History, Folklore, and Performing Arts). As a volunteer tutor for UCLA's South Central Evening Tutorial Program and dance instructor for ARTScorpsLA, she welcomed the opportunity to inspire, guide and educate inner-city youth on politics of identity, history and art.
Cynthia has always enjoyed art and through her college experience she was able to further develop and in depth fascination and curiousity to learn the histories of other cultures through body movement, song and music. As a strong advocate for art education and equality for all, she looks forward to continuing to pass down the knowledge she has acquired throughout her life to young people, thus helping to create a greater sense of self and communal unity.
|
