Staff of Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project. Courtesy photo.
By Sandra Young / President MICOP Board of Directors
OXNARD — Dear friends of MICOP, (June 25) we are officially announcing the realization of a twelve-year dream. As of July 1, 2014, Arcenio J. López takes the helm as Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project’s executive director.
I know that you will join current Executive Director Margaret Sawyer, the MICOP Board of Directors and staff in celebrating this achievement. Advancing indigenous leadership has always been our goal, and we have worked together over the past three years to prepare for this transition.
We are equally happy to announce that Margaret Sawyer, after taking off a few months to give birth to her second child, will continue as a crucial member of the leadership team in the capacity of development director. She will also help us realize the start-up of our FM radio station, already in process. We are deeply grateful for Margaret’s four years of executive leadership, and her dedication to continuing this journey.
Arcenio began work with MICOP in 2003 as a volunteer at monthly community meetings. He had been seeking a way to contribute to the success of his community, and was drawn by MICOP’s vision and broad reach. In 2006, Arcenio was hired as our first Community Organizer. He mobilized Mixtec families in El Rio and Nyeland Acres to successfully press for better school bussing and public safety policies, founded MICOP’s Tequio Youth Group and adult literacy program, and also launched our Indigenous Interpreter Services. In 2010, he was selected by the Board as Associate Director, supervising MICOP programs and leading MICOP’s “¡No Me Llames Oaxaquita!” campaign. Originally from San Francisco Higos, Oaxaca, Arcenio graduated from high school in Mexico and from Oxnard College.
Thank you for your partnership as we all seek to create strong sustainable achievements toward social justice in Ventura County.
For more information, visit http://www.mixteco.org or call 805-483-1166.