On August 10, ninety community members gathered at the Sanger Community Center to form the newest chapter of the Vecinos Unidos (Neighbors United.)
The community meeting in Sanger was the result of a campaign of 20 house meetings. DHF Organizer Stephanie Canales met with small groups of friends and neighbors to discuss issues of concern in Sanger.
Executive Director, Camila Chavez and President Dolores Huerta, gave a presentation demonstrating how through these local groups DHF has been able to mobilize community members in low-income neighborhoods to transform their communities by winning huge policy and electoral victories in the areas of infrastructure, education, healthcare, and civic engagement.
Among the improvements that the group plans to work on are creating more social and cultural activities, expanding employment opportunities, and increasing services such as drug rehab and mental health services.
Long -time community activist Willie Lopez attended the event and seemed hopeful. He commented, “The meeting was very successful. Now we need to move quickly to take action on the issues that we have identified”.
The newly formed education and civic engagement committees are already actively engaging the Sanger City Council and Sanger School District to pursue their collective priorities.
