Bringing about Change in the Coachella Valley - the ICUC

Yvonna Cazares wants to spread the tools and language of political activism throughout communities. Cazares is a community organizer in the Coachella chapter of ICUC, Inland Congregations United for Change.  The organization works to develop leadership capacity in minority communities, particularly immigrant workers. A child of Mexican immigrants, Cazares was encouraged by her family to pursue education and graduated the University of California, Los Angeles, before becoming a professional lobbyist then organizer.Once individuals learn the tools of activism, she says, people can meet with local and state officials that are making decisions directly affecting them: labor, environmental, and police issues.“Maybe members of our community don’t know English, maybe they don’t know how to tackle certain questions,” said Cazares. “I don’t know what it is but somehow the community needs to be equipped with those kinds of tools.”ICUC helped a community in Cathedral city fight a towing-and-impound law they said disproportionately worked against working class and undocumented immigrants.  Read more at Coachella Unincorporated