Partner Spotlight

Listos California partner Catholic Charities of Yolo-Solano (CCYOS) is driven by a mission of providing assistance and creating hope in their communities at large. They offer a broad range of services to low income and vulnerable residents, implementing a guiding framework that targets the promotion of human dignity and the advancement of social justice. The success of their disaster preparedness and disaster response work lies in their commitment to see each individual they interact with as a whole person with complex and overlapping strengths and challenges. CCYOS is a prime example of the important community partnerships and work the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) strives to support through the Listos California program.

From migrant farm worker communities in remote rural areas in the north of Yolo County, to large numbers of people experiencing homelessness in Vallejo and other areas, to a large population of refugees in the West Sacramento area, the CCYOS Disaster Services staff have a lot of people to reach and a lot of ground to cover.

To maximize resources, Jorge Savala and Daniel Soria, who make up the Disaster Services team at CCYOS, work very intentionally to seek out trusted community members and organizations and build relationships for the long term. They know the impact of their combined efforts is stronger than it would be in isolation, and that everyone benefits–especially the residents of the counties they are serving. Jorge and Daniel both have strong backgrounds in community organizing which clearly informs their work with CCYOS.  

“We’re not just handing out Disaster Ready Guides or other information and ticking off numbers until we’ve hit our mark,” said Jorge. “We’re constantly building relationships–with community members as well as with other community organizations. We’re talking to people, hearing their stories, finding out what is going on in their lives, and getting them connected with trusted resources that can help them. Then we talk about disaster preparedness as another important way they can look after themselves and their families.”

Jorge knows firsthand the importance of having an emergency plan. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, he was at home at 5:04 PM on October 18, 1989.  “I was home. I was the older kid watching the younger one when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit. I had no idea what to do besides ‘duck and cover’.  My parents were migrant farmworkers working a good hour and a half away.”  Now, when he talks with migrant farmworkers, this experience underscores how important it is for families and communities to know what to do to keep themselves and each other safe.

But the Disaster Services Program at CCYOS is about much more than preparedness. The focus on building long-term recovery strategies and community resilience is being achieved through a graceful weave of important intentions: building relationships and long-term partnerships; treating each interaction with a community member or partner as an opportunity to build trust; and keeping their sights set on community resilience and compassionate engagement.

The relationships that Jorge and Daniel had been intentionally developing with trusted service providers in their community were an important part of their community’s response during the recent winter storms. Since there isn’t an established recovery agency or a Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster (VOAD) in Yolo County, Jorge explains how CCYOS took on a central organizing role: “We were the ones sharing real-time information. We were the ones listening to the Listos California CBO briefings throughout the month and sharing the information we received. We were the ones using the Cal OES and Listos California winter storm resources and materials to help our partner organizations and community members know what to do, identifying and sharing sandbag locations, posting road closures, and convening Storm Update sessions attended by about 15 different organizations. The relationships that we had been cultivating and building became a central part of our community’s response to the storms: we really came together to respond.”

As the storms quieted down and the recovery process proceeded, they convened another meeting, this time to invite partner organizations to work with them on a large-scale event to welcome migrant farmworkers to the community at the start of the season. Planning is now underway for the April event with strong participation from community organizations such as the local migrant centers, food banks, school districts, non-profits, government offices, public libraries, and more. CCYOS’s intentionality and attention to relationship-building laid the groundwork for what has become a powerful on-going commitment.