VENTURA COUNTY — The Fund for Santa Barbara (The FUND) on Nov. 7 awarded Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) $10,000 to support our labor justice, youth development and language access programs in Santa Barbara County. The FUND will allocate a total of $103,000 to local nonprofit organizations in Santa Barbara County as part of their annual Fall General Grant Cycle.
MICOP is extremely grateful for The FUND’s focus on social change and civic action to support its organizing efforts. “Funding organizing efforts to create meaningful change is not easy to get in Santa Maria, our work relies on foundations that know this and make an effort to support, that is why we appreciate The Fund for Santa Barbara.” said Ana Huynh, MICOP Santa Maria Program Director.
Established in 1980, The FUND is a non-traditional community foundation that supports organizations and groups working for progressive social change in Santa Barbara County. The FUND works to advance progressive change by strengthening movements for Economic, Environmental, Political, Racial and Social Justice.
In previous years The FUND has helped MICOP further our mission to support, organize and empower the Indigenous migrant communities in California’s Central Coast by naming MICOP a multi-year grant recipient in 2019. As a result, MICOP has successfully expanded Santa Maria’s youth development, the COVID-19 rapid response team, our MICOP Immigration Legal Assistance (MILA) and our Indigenous Language Services (ILS).
Our Indigenous Language services have seen increased staffing in Santa Maria that paved the way for partnerships with schools and hospitals, allowing institutions to better understand the community they serve.
Through our community organizing efforts and labor justice program, MICOP trained dozens of farmworker leaders. By December 2023 we plan to have 15 new farm workers leaders graduate from our leadership academy curriculum, teaching them vital organization and civil rights principles.
In addition to our labor justice advocacy, our Tequio Youth Program has served more than 50 indigenous youth each year since the beginning of the grant. We recognize that today’s youth are tomorrow’s future, and through our Tequio Youth Program, we strive to empower them to be leaders. Tequio in Santa Maria regularly hosts meetings every Wednesday creating a safe space for our youth to be themselves. Through The FUND’s continued support we can ensure the success of the next generation of indigenous leaders.
While we have achieved many accomplishments with the help of The FUND during our time as multi-year grant recipients, there is still more to be done regarding social change efforts within the indigenous migrant community. We are grateful that our continued partnership with The FUND will ensure that our community in Santa Maria will continue to be heard.