At the urging of Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA) leaders in Monterey County, the County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the creation of Esperanza Care 2.0—a county healthcare program for undocumented adults, launching with 500 people and a commitment to expand.

Energy crackled as 110 COPA leaders from 28 institutions, including Bishop Lucinda Ashby of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, filled the room for an honest, wide-ranging conversation with California Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas.

Maria Elena Manzo, Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA) Leader, and Founder and Executive Director of Mujeres en Acción, was announced as this year’s recipient of the Siembra Latinos Fund’s Alfred Diaz-Infante Award.

After California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed to drop undocumented immigrants from the state health insurance rolls, 120 California IAF leaders and allies traveled to the capitol by bus and persuaded legislators to restore access to the program.

“Immigrants pay taxes. They work in our communities with no safety nets," said COPA (Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action) Leader Mary Litel Walsh. “We came hundreds of miles from all over the state...took time off of work and away from our families to be here today. Why?

Because we need our legislators to fight for us.

Maria Elena Manzo (to the right of Pope Francis) with the Pontiff and the 2024 W/SW IAF Vatican delegation. Maria wrote this article.

[Originally published by Monterey County Now]

Last August, I had the opportunity to travel to Rome and visit Pope Francis. I joined a delegation of 18 leaders and organizers from across the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, the organizing network to which Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA) belongs. This was the third meeting our group had with Pope Francis between 2022 and 2024, each a 90-minute conversation at his residence at the Casa Santa Marta. At each encounter, he demonstrated humor and humility as he listened attentively to our organizing stories and engaged us in conversation.

In 2023, leaders from COPA congregations, schools, and nonprofits spoke with over 400 families, hearing dozens of stories about families that had paid thousands of dollars in unnecessary application fees just to apply to live in an apartment. Sometimes, families learned later that the apartments they had applied for didn’t even exist.

In response, COPA leaders reached out to member institutions, building a powerful constituency across Central California. Leaders at Holy Cross engaged leaders at Temple Beth El and Mujeres en Acción, who in turn reached out to other institutions as the team grew. All in all, 13 institutions joined the process and, together, built a relationship with Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin.

[Excerpt]

"In many of our faith traditions, the idea of covenant provides a template for understanding the way COPA thinks about our work. This means going above and beyond the social contract that establishes the state, government, and laws that bind us … by widening our circles of attachment across income, social, cultural, religious, and racial divides – and creating moral commitments to one another, with shared values and ideals that compel us to work together, despite our differences, for the common good....

[Excerpt]

"They've developed a process of attentive listening over the years, talking to people about their lives and identifying the needs of a particular group," said [Bishop Mark] Seitz. "When we were trying to create a process for the synod, it occurred to me it was exactly the approach they'd long taken."

[Originally published by Luis Arreguín in Voices of Monterey Bay]

Every Wednesday for the last month, members of COPA Castroville have been gathering outside Our Lady of Refuge Catholic church for a noble cause. They are helping community members apply for the rental assistance program authorized by the U.S. government that provides relief for the economic struggles families have experienced because of COVID-19.