Partner Spotlight

Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project, or MICOP, supports, organizes, and empowers Indigenous migrant communities in California’s central coast. Since their founding in 2001, MICOP has grown to offer more than 20 programs across Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, including immigration services, youth development, language justice, health and labor advocacy and more. As a Listos California partner, MICOP uses its grant to integrate disaster preparedness, response, and recovery education and advocacy into the broad array of services they provide to meet the many different needs their communities face.

MICOP Organizing Manager Fernando Martinez and his outreach team work to build community awareness of natural disaster risks in the area. Sharing some of the many creative ways MICOP reaches out to get everyone disaster ready, Fernando said, “We go to the panaderias around 4 a.m. during the week when workers are there to get something before work or picking up bread for their families. On Sundays we go to the laundromats which are great places to talk about natural disasters because people have time! Also swap meets and flea markets are places where we often meet up with people on weekends. And a couple of nights a week we do “visitas caseras” or house meetings, finding people in their homes and passing on our messages and materials.”

In addition to meeting people in person, MICOP has very successful Facebook Live programming that streams twice a month, helping the community stay informed about the latest news, resources and events. Through this channel, they provided current and time-sensitive updates and guidance during the winter and spring storms that impacted many parts of California, and recently held a session highlighting earthquake preparedness and response.  Offering these programs in Spanish with translation into Mixteco provides a crucial service to people throughout California and beyond. Some of these sessions have reached more than 50,000 people. Fernando also notes the importance of their partner Radio Indígena 94.1, based in Ventura County, which is another important way MICOP is able to reach a broader audience with disaster and other critical information in Mixteco.

Fernando wants to see programs in place that acknowledge the unequal impact disasters have on farmworkers, and ensure that they are protected–not abandoned–after a disaster.  “Farmworkers work on the actual land where these natural disasters occur, so their work is disrupted not only during the actual disaster but often for months afterwards, as has happened this year with the flooding of the fields and all of the crop damage. Their housing is also often impacted. They need long-term financial support to recover, and quality protection from the toxins that remain when they return to work, for example appropriate masks to protect them from the ashes after a fire.”

Fernando adds: “This is my community. My parents work in the agricultural fields and I grew up doing that. If I’m in a position now to help ensure that the safety and basic needs of my community are met, I’m going to keep pushing for that.”