Centro de Unidad Popular Benito Juárez, Inc., aka Unidad Popular Benito Juárez (CUPBJ) is a California Corporation organized exclusively for one or more of the charitable and educational purposes in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

 

Unidad Popular Benito Juárez was established in the year 2000 by a group of indigenous Mixteco due to the lack of information, assistance and services to the Indigenous immigrants living and working in the Central Valley.

 

Unidad Popular Benito Juarez is organization that operates under the “Nothing about us without us” ethos, meaning that almost all workers and leadership at the organization are composed of members of the communities that they serve. The organization primarily serves rural, Indigenous, low-income, frontline immigrant farmworkers and provides language translation services, education on housing and workers’ rights, immigration assistance, and other culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate services that ensure basic human needs like food and clothing, are met. 

 

Just in the past 4 years, Unidad Popular Benito Juarez has grown so much, expanding its work in the Central Valley, and opening 3 office, headquarter in Lamont, Poplar and the office in Madera. Unidad Popular Benito Juarez services primarily rural community members across the Valley in California which spans over 20,000 square miles and also serves as hub for cultural preservation and expression as evidenced by its annual Guelaguetza festival which showcases Indigenous arts, dances, music, and foodways. 

 

The mission of Unidad Popular Benito Juarez is to advocate for the health, housing, and basic human rights of indigenous and low-income families.  We provide unparalleled assistance to the most vulnerable and low-income families that are discriminated or marginalized due to their language, culture, and traditions.  For which Unidad Popular set up a volunteer support system for more immigrants arriving in the Central Valley.

 

The vision of Unidad Popular Benito Juárez is to improve the daily life of our Indigenous brothers and sisters abroad. Overcoming barriers and that our future generations will have a dignified life and with respect.
 

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“In California, farmworkers in general and particularly the poorest ones, the indigenous, are undercounted by all the official census takers.[1]  The inability to gather information about the indigenous population has led to widespread unawareness of this community’s needs; and, in some cases, service providers may even be unaware of the community’s existence. 

 

The language barriers and the unique cultural traits of the population make it critical that special customized programs be designed and implemented to accommodate the significant differences with other Mexican immigrants and the substantially greater barriers to access that the indigenous population faces.  Under current conditions, the service providers, who more often than not would like to render the highest level of service possible, are being asked to accommodate a population that they do not know or understand.”

 

Unidad Popular Benito Juárez has over two decades working closely and directly with the Indigenous Community in the Central Valley in rescuing and preserving our traditions and culture as well in teaching the kids and teens the importance to rescue their heritage roots. Also, during the course of the year we conduct door to door canvassing, tabling, and educational workshops and meeting specially to our Indigenous, low-income, frontline immigrant farmworkers.  

 

Our volunteers, stafft and directors and years of experience facilitates the work that we do in the community.  Our events consist on bringing back some of the traditional events held in the State of Oaxaca to California with the concept of “Desde Oaxaca para California”.  Unidad Popular Benito Juárez does not only bring assistance from other agencies and business but also members of the community who value its concept of “Rescantando nuestra Tradición y Cultura Indígena” (Rescuing our Indigenous Culture and Traditions). 
 

Besides our Education forums, Unidad Popular Benito Juárez host and collaborate Culture and Traditional events such as:
 

1. Building Healthy Community (BHC), Participation and Collaboration

2. Copa Benito Juárez (Benito Juárez Tournament), 2nd Week of April

3. Census 2010 Partnership Program for Kern County

4. Guelaguetza in Oxnard Cal, Last Sunday of March

5. Día de los niños (April 30)

6. Scholarship Program for Students in CC, CSU, CS (NEW)

7. Festival Mixteco, Sunday closes to June 24th (End in 2008)

8. Guelaguetza Bakersfield, Cal.  2nd Week of October

9. Binational Health Week Of  Kern County

10. Dia de los Muerto, last week of October

 

Our goal is to have participation from the Indigenous Community in our many cultural events that in their home was commonly organized year by year for hundreds of years. 

 

[1] See I. Jacobs and E. Kissam, “Census 2000 Undercount of Immigrants and Farmworkers in rural California Communities,’ report for the California Endowment, 2002 and S. Gabbard, E. Kissam and P. Martin, “The impact of Migrant Travel Patterns on the Undercount of Hispanic Farmwokers”, Bureau of the Census, 1993