Staff

Belén is a proud Chicanx feminist and problem-solver. She is the second youngest of six children shaped by her single Mexican mother’s fierce love and grit. Belén grew up in Roseland, a segregated, immigrant community where she experienced the impacts of racism and inequitable development such as food and housing insecurity, brownfield sites and the school to prison pipeline. She became fully politicized at 15 after surviving abuse and a housing eviction. Belén is a first-generation college graduate holding a B.A. in Community Development and environmental science and M.A. in Sustainable Development with a focus on climate change and disaster risk reduction. She is passionate about co-creating (and sometimes demanding) anti-racist public policy, liberatory systems of mutual aid and the use of land for public good to address climate justice.

Chad grew up in Santa Rosa and graduated from Montgomery High School. He has worked closely with Sonoma County youth for the majority of his adult life and now applies this experience towards building power with others with a focus on strengthening the political power of the Sonoma County Tenants Union! As a tenant organizer, he is motivated by righteous anger in regards to the idea of “housing as a business,” that leads directly to deep and widespread housing insecurity. Tenants have for too long been on the losing end of the “housing market,” and only through the collective political power of a tenants union can we ensure that housing is recognized and protected as a human right. Chad believes in interdependence and loves meeting new people, hearing their stories, and exchanging wisdom. You might find Chad riding waves on the coast when he is not making waves in town.

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Diana, the fourth of six children, was born and raised in Sonoma County, where she attended SRJC before transferring to UC Berkeley to study Social Welfare. As a young adult, she dealt with housing insecurity and slumlords, and her close family members experienced homelessness. She believes housing is a human right and that everyone should be able to come home to a safe haven. Diana loves bringing people into organizing, building their power to transform the system from the ground up so that everyone's well-being and rights are protected. She enjoys spending time with loved ones, singing, dancing, drawing, writing, exploring, and relaxing with a good book, movie, TV show, or podcast.

Raised by her single immigrant father and Mexican grandparents in mixed rural communities in the Green River Valley of Washington state, Lina witnessed the injustices they and other immigrant families faced navigating life in the United States. Lina first found her political awakening as a youth coach facilitating nonviolence leadership and poetry slam workshops with K-12 students across the West Coast from Seattle to Oakland with the Institute for Community Leadership. After obtaining her BA in Ethnic Studies at Mills College, Lina became a co-founding staff member of Oakland-based Native American Health Center, focusing on community-based graphic design and digital storytelling workshops in collaboration with intergenerational and intertribal stakeholders. Lina also co-founded a multiplatform pilot, KQED en Español, a Spanish language engagement and news initiative at the NPR/PBS affiliate station of the San Francisco Bay Area. Lina loves singing the songs her grandfather taught her from the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico. Lina now lives in Sonoma County, tending a milpa alongside her sweetheart, black cat, and senior Chihuahua.

Gaby was born in El Salvador and in the late '80s her mother brought her to the U.S. as a baby. Her academic and career paths are informed by her upbringing in an immigrant household in northern California that benefited from supports of family resource centers like the Fairfax-San Anselmo Children's Center, the first low-cost child care center founded by a community member, not by an established school, church or other institution. Through her work as the Just Recovery Partnership manager, Gaby has been an advocate for language justice in formal disaster response and government spaces by highlighting the intersections of language, disasters and public participation.

Karym is an immigrant from Mexico. He was brought to this country at six years old and grew up undocumented. Karym first got involved in the North Bay Organizing Project as a student leader and farmworker in 2010. As an NBOP leader, Karym led a campaign to win Restorative School Discipline in Santa Rosa City Schools. Karym then became NBOP’s first youth organizer in 2014 and from 2017 to 2020 was organizing in the Central Valley.

Rocio is the fourth of 12 brothers and sisters and an immigrant from Michoacán México. She came to the U.S. in 1991 and started working for a Spanish Radio Station until the present. Rocio attended two different schools to take ESL classes and got her GED from Santa Rosa Junior College. She has been volunteering at The Resurrection Parish in many religious groups since coming to this country and volunteering for the Redwood Food Bank for more than 10 years and also worked as a Teacher Assistant for 20 years in the Roseland School District. Rocio has been involved with community organizations for many years and is now working with North Bay Organizing Project. She enjoys walking in nature, loves singing and dancing and her hobbies include playing the guitar, reading books, and going to the movie theater. She loves spending time with her family.

Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, Manny came to the U.S. at the age of 10. He grew up in the Roseland Area of Santa Rosa and attended local schools, eventually pursuing his education at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC). While attending SRJC, Manny joined M.E.Ch.A. de SRJC and got involved in student activism engaging in topics that dealt with undocumented students' rights, immigration policies, and promoting higher education to marginalized young people. He received his Associate’s Degree in Social and Behavioral Science, a subject that he was interested in considering how it was intertwined with the understanding of community and the social, economic, political, and educational disparities present in marginalized communities and communities of color. In recent years, Manny has worked with young people in educational spaces implementing Restorative Justice practices and principles. Currently, As Youth Organizer with NBOP, Manny supports the development of young leaders and their organizing efforts on their respective campuses and communities and coordinates the Latinx Student Congress (LSC). He hopes to continue to grow this network of student-led organizations and young leaders in our community.

Amber brings her experience as a data and climate change scientist to NBOP and uses her skills to support grantwriting, managing the day to day organizational finances, and providing tech support to staff. Her affinity for technology was passed down from her grandmother who was a database programmer in the 1950s for a fruit-packing company in southern Oregon. She is in her element when uplifting the voices of those who have been silenced by oppression, thrives in the rain, and finds inspiration in the power of people in numbers especially women in leadership roles.

Beatrice is a first-generation Mexican-American woman born and raised in Sonoma County to low-income, working-class parents who immigrated to Sonoma County from Northern Mexico. As a lifelong renter, growing up on Section 8 Housing, she personally understands the importance of dignified and affordable housing. Beatrice studied Business Management at Sonoma State University and is trained in Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices. She has been an Organizer with North Bay Organizing Project since 2018 and helped organize the Sonoma County Tenants Union. Beatrice is now the first-ever Director of UndocuFund. She enjoys spending quality time with her niece and nephew and exploring new beaches and towns in Mexico.

Alondra is a first-generation Mexican-American born in Santa Rosa, CA. She and her five sisters were raised with the expectation they would be stay at home moms. However, Alondra had dreams of her own. She was determined to get an education with the hope of spreading awareness about women's rights. Alondra received her Associate's Degree in Administration, graduating with honors and is now the Administrative Assistant at NBOP. Alondra looks forward to learning more about being a community leader to be able to make an impact on women's rights!