Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena
Oaxaqueño, Inc. (Centro)
Centro is a non-profit organization founded by Frente
Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (hereafter,
FIOB). FIOB is a coalition of organizations, communities
and individuals of indigenous origin from Oaxaca, Mexico.
These include communities and organizations of Mixtecos,
Zapotecos Triqui and Chatinos. Most have had to migrate
temporarily or permanently from their place of origin
(Oaxaca) to other Mexican states and since the 1980’s
to the United States (California, Oregon and Washington).
Centro was establish in 1993 as a 501(c)(3) entity,
to seek funding to implement specific projects for Mexican
indigenous migrant communities living in several area
of the State of California.
The Centro promotes the empowerment of the Oaxacan
indigenous migrants to contribute to the self-development
of these communities based on the principles of equity,
liberty and justice. Our mission is to serve mainly
the indigenous Oaxacan communities without any discrimination
against other communities and people who share our cultural
values. We foster cultural integrity and economic and
social development in Oaxaca, Baja California (Mexico)
and California (U.S) through the promotion of development
of projects on human rights, family health, community
integration, gender equity and through collaboration
with membership of the Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño
Binacional (FIOB) and other partner organizations.
Following are summaries of some of the projects implemented
by Centro in close collaboration with FIOB’s membership
in support of the indigenous communities.
The Consolidation and Institutional Building
of Centro, California. This project has been
key to the success of other Centro projects in identifying
additional funding sources and developing financial
reports. In addition, a series of community rights workshops
have been presented to the indigenous communities to
educate them about human and labor rights at the national
and international level, and the process that it takes
to file a demand against any rights violation.
Furthermore, there has been constant participation
with other community-based organizations working on
behalf of the indigenous and non-indigenous minority
and migrant communities. Publication and distribution
of a bimonthly newsletter "El Tequio" and
maintenance of a website have been made possible under
this project.
The Mexican Indigenous Interpreters Project.
Centro has collaborated with the International Interpretation
Resource Center of the Monterey Institute of Language
Studies and Berlitz International to train indigenous
migrant farmworkers as relay interpreters from their
indigenous languages to Spanish and/or English. Currently
these interpreters have secured access to California
State court systems, where lack of access to native
language interpretation services has led in the past
to several miscarriage of justice cases.
These same interpreters have began to train members
of their local communities concerning their rights to
an interpreter in their native language in schools,
the health care system, governmental agencies and other
entities. At the same time the interpreters themselves
take the responsibility to educate government, private
agencies and the general public regarding indigenous
communities' needs for interpreters in their native
languages. In 1998, Mayans from Guatemalan were incorporated
into the project. Currently, the Mayans interpreters
operate their own project through a newly formed organization,
MAYAVISION.
Proyecto de Salud. This project, funded
by The California Endowment, has five objectives:
1) Identify the main health needs of
Oaxacans residing in Fresno and Madera County and based
on the information gathered design a series of workshops
on health illness prevention,
2) Provide cross-cultural training to
health service providers,
3) Conduct health fairs in conjunction
with local public and health service providers,
4) Conduct basic health screening for
Oaxacan people and
5) Increase the number of Oaxacan patients
that gain access to a continuum health care.
In addition to that, Centro also hosts enrollments
events for Medi-Cal & Healthy Families in order
to help the Oaxacan migrants gain access to these programs.
With the generous support of the California Wellness
Foundation, this project has expanded its activities
to the Los Angeles area.
Civic Participation Project. Thanks
to the funds received from the James Irvine Foundation,
Centro has been able to implement a pilot project that
includes trainings on civic participation issues (such
as organization of schools and local governments, naturalization
procedures and networking with non profit organizations,
among others) and active engagement of around 30 indigenous
immigrants in the civic life of their communities. The
aim of both activities is to develop in the target population
practical and theoretical skills that enable them to
participate more actively in the public space of their
communities.
Capacity Building Project. In order
to consolidate our activities and diversify our funding
source, Hispanics in Philanthropy generously funded
a capacity building project that will allow us to hire
a part-time fund developer to set up a 3-5 year strategic
financial plan and will work to assure that our current
projects continue in the future.
Office Address:
Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena
Oaxaqueño, Inc.
2014 Tulare Street, Suite 223
Fresno, CA 93721
Correspondencia:
P.O. Box 106
Fresno, CA 93707
Contact:
Leoncio Vásquez Santos
lvasquez@sbcglobal.net
Tel: (559) 499-1178
Fax: (559) 268-0408
www.laneta.apc.org/fiob/
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