It is with honor and gratitude that we announce, Familias en Acción is the recipient of a $2 million gift from the Yield Giving Open Call, an initiative created by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
In 2023, our Development team completed a multi-step application and peer-review process to apply for this funding opportunity. From a pool of over 6,000 applicants, we were one of 361 organizations across the country, and one of only three organizations in Oregon to receive an award.
This transformational gift will enable us to continue to deliver on our mission of strengthening the health and well-being of Latino families and communities in Oregon. It will allow us to sustain and expand programming statewide in Oregon, directly benefiting members of our community.
We want to thank all of our staff, board, community members, partners, and donors for helping us to get to this point. This award would not have been possible without everyone’s dedication to and belief in our health equity work.
Thank you for your continued support, partnership, and words of encouragement. This is the power of community.
Familias en Acción is honored to be selected as this year’s recipient of the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association’s (OHBA)La Voz Latina Award. Community Health Worker and long-standing member of the Familias team, Zoraya Uder, accepted the award on Familias’ behalf during OHBA’s 20th Anniversary Dinner on July 22, 2022.
The La Voz Latina Award recognizes organizations for their exceptional provision of legal or non-legal direct service to Oregon’s Latinx community and seeks to uplift organizations that enhance opportunities for the Latinx community of Oregon by:
Empowering members of the Latinx community;
Providing free or low-cost services to underprivileged members of the Latinx community;
Creating and expanding opportunities for Latinx youth;
Advocating for causes that positively impact vulnerable members of the Latinx Community.
Thank you, OHBA, for this honorable award. We are both humbled and excited to be this year’s recipient and to continue providing resources to Latino/x/e communities in Oregon.
Pictured (left to right): Zoraya Uder, Jacqueline Alarcón and Octavio Uder at the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association’s 20th Anniversary Dinner.
Paul J. De Muniz Professionalism Award
Familias is also incredibly proud to announce that our board member, Jacqueline Alarcón, was the recipient of this year’s Paul J. De Muniz Professionalism Award at the OHBA Anniversary Dinner. This award honors individuals who are carrying on Paul J. De Muniz’s legacy – he became the first Latino Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court in 2006 and was also the first Latino member of the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners. He was the first Hispanic person to be elected to the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Judge Alarcón was recently appointed to the Multnomah Circuit Court, and has over a decade of legal experience representing clients throughout the Portland metropolitan area. Jacqueline is the current Board President of the Multnomah Bar Association and former Board President of Adelante Mujeres and the Oregon Women Lawyers Association. As part of the Latinx community, she has first-hand knowledge of the importance of health issues affecting Latino/e/x communities.
We could not be prouder of our staff, board, and community for all of the work we are doing to help Latino/x/es thrive. We thank the Oregon Hispanic Bar Association for this recognition and look forward to continuing to empower Latino/x/e communities.
Familias en Acción, through our Abuela, Mamá y Yo Community Council visited the Capitol last Thursday April 11. We participated in the Oregon Hunger Response Day, because we consider this a priority for the Latino Community and we need to learn more, to be informed and be capable of sharing this in our communities. We all know that Latino families struggle to access healthy nutritious food, sometimes because of lack of transportation and or food deserts, sometimes because of fear that we might be targeted if we apply for food assistance services, etc.
The goal of our Community Council is to learn more about health and food policy and become advocates for our families’ health.
Familias en Acción supporting the work of The Oregon Food Bank to end hunger by: ensuring access to affordable housing, securing funding for food banks, increasing SNAP match dollars at farmers markets and rural grocery stores across the state, raising the age for WIC to 6 and many others.
During a full day training our AMY Community Council attended workshops on Advocacy, learned about Double-up bucks, access to SNAP, Oregon Hunger Response Fund and more. After a full morning of trainings, we all walked to the Capitol and we were able express our voice, needs and share why it’s important to end hunger in the Latino community to legislators.
