We are a culturally-empowered women of color-led community based organization. We are grounded in our fierce love for our Latinx and indigenous communities of the Rogue Valley and we are re-imagining new solutions for our people, Madre Tierra and our future generations.
Our coalition seeks to weave a tapestry of many colors from many directions that will lift our peoples’ hearts up in this recovery, that will center healing, seed hope for our youth, and will give us the strength we need to prepare collectively for the climate challenges that are ahead of us.
Read our latest newsletter - English & Español
Coalición Fortaleza is hiring a Housing Justice and Advocacy Organizer!
Apply by March 31st.
🌿 Climate Survival Youth Fellowship 🌿
We are excited to be launching the first-ever Climate Survival Youth Fellowship, running 5/7/2022 - 6/11/2022, in partnership with People's Hub!
This program is designed to strengthen our powerful young people in the Rogue Valley between the ages of 16-22 to grow their climate leadership! Accepted participants will receive a $1,000 stipend for successful completion of the program!
INFO: bit.ly/PHcsyf22
🌿 Climate Survival Youth Fellowship 🌿
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
For young climate survivors of the #AlmedaFire,
ages 16-22, who want:
• Emergency and emotional preparedness skills
• Knowledge and materials to build an emergency prep kit
• Opportunities to engage in the local Solidarity Economy
rebuilding efforts
• Collective strategies to increase neighborhood resilience
• Community Advocacy and public speaking skills
• $1,000 dollar stipend, certificate of completion
• And more!
The Vision
To see our Latinx & Indigenous community of the Rogue Valley thrive. We work towards a future where the Latinx and Indigenous families in our community can actualize our collective power to shape our destiny and create our own solutions.
Our Pathway to Liberation
For decades our communities have been the economic backbone of the largest economies in the Rogue Valley, yet we have been left out of socioeconomic, environmental and political decisions that impact our everyday lives. In the midst of a global pandemic, on September 8th of 2020 the Almeda Fire scorched over 2,600 homes displacing our historically low-income, Latinx and Indigenous neighborhoods and revealing just how climate vulnerable, economically exploited and politically underrepresented our communities have been. A month after the Almeda Fire we found ourselves in a High School gym at a Northwest Seasonal Workers Association (NSWA) membership meeting with many families who were growing frustrated with the lack of answers from landlords and government officials. We sat there brainstorming solutions to our collective nightmare and in the middle of our meeting, one of our community elders who is now an ancestor, Don Leonso Solis, stood up and asked, “why don’t we just buy our neighborhoods back?”
That day was significant because we all remembered that we have the skills to create our own solutions and that we have each other. We also took power into our own hands and led a community-driven participatory action research project to understand the extent of our loss and damage. It has been the findings and the personal stories of our communities' grief and Spirit of perseverance that have shaped our vision and grounded our work.
We are driven by the hope that we have the power to create something better than what we lost.
The People
We are a Latino/a/x (hispanic/latino)-led, inter-generational coalition of community members, leaders, volunteers, and organizations in the Rogue Valley. We represent a mixed-status, working-class community with deep roots here. We are of many ages, abilities, faiths, and cultural backgrounds. We have decades of experience responding to exploitation, discrimination, environmental injustice, racism, poverty, and housing inequality. We are experts in our fields of supporting the economic liberation of Latino/a/x communities.
What We Do
The Team
Araceli Jimenez (she/ella)
Cultural Leadership Organizer
Celines Garcia (she/ella)
Community Wealth Building Organizer
Diana Ramos Alonzo (she/ella)
Organizational Wellbeing Manager
Diana Ramos Alonzo serves as the Organizational Wellbeing Manager for Coalición Fortaleza. In 2010, Diana emigrated from México along with her family and currently resides in Southern Oregon. She is a proud immigrant, mexicana, woman, and first-generation college graduate. She has served in different leadership roles such as Interim President for the Latino Student Union at SOU, the 20-21 Multicultural Affairs Senator for ASSOU, as well as Social Media Coordinator for Project de la Raíz. Her work is dedicated to the empowerment of the Latinx community, centering advocacy for women and youth. Diana is also a multi-medium artist, her work ranges from sculpture to painting. Her artistry is often inspired by social issues and each piece aims to uplift the voice of the community she represents. She believes that art can be a powerful tool to fight for justice and positive change in her community and in the world. Diana received her Bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in Art from Southern Oregon University.
Erica Alexia Ledesma (she/ella/they)
Executive Director
Jocksana Corona (she/ella)
Housing Justice and Advocacy Organizer
Jocksana was born in Puebla Mexico; her family migrated to the United States when she was 4
years old. Growing up she was the only member of her family who spoke English. This
experience taught her how vulnerable people feel when they are not able to communicate their
needs and concerns. Jocksana spent 10 years as a stay at home mom, and spent many of
those years volunteering as a family advocate at Northwest Seasonal Workers Association &
Talent Elementary. This work paired with her personal experiences inspired her to pursue a
college education. In 2015, she began her journey toward an Associates in Human Services at
Rogue Community College (class of 2018) and then went on to pursue a Bachelors of Science
in Psychology from Southern Oregon University (Class of 2020). In 2021 she got her Certified
Alcohol and Drug Counseling license and is currently working as an addictions counselor in
Southern Oregon. Jocksana shares that growing up undocumented was not easy. After she was
approved for DACA in 2014 she used this privilege to advocate for undocumented families and
mixed status families. Jocksana’s lived experience, which includes many struggles and
triumphs, fuel her desire to help others, especially after the Almeda fire. Many Latinx families
already lacked resources and the Almeda fire has left them even more vulnerable. Jocksana
strives to be a voice for those who are scared to speak up and ask for basic needs. Too often
the Latinx community gets left out of the conversation due to lack of representation. Jocksana is
here to represent those voices.
Consultants
Dani Leonardo (they/she)
Communications Consultant
Board of Directors
Niria Alicia
Teresa Cisneros
Rose Ojeda
Judith Corona
Ana Byers
Updates
Keep an eye out for updates on what we're up to here!
Celebrating El Mercadito - September 12, 2023
The first Latinx and BIPOC people's market in Jackson County
You may be wondering, what exactly is the IDA program?
Together: Become A Volunteer! - February 26, 2023
Want to get involved?
DREAMING TOGETHER: We Don't Lead Alone - December 21, 2022
While reflecting on the year 2022, we celebrate our growth and all that we have been able to accomplish.
Fortaleza two years following the Almeda Fire - September 9, 2022
On the path of recovery and towards a thriving future for all, two years post-Almeda Fire, we find strength, home and resilience in each other and in our community.
What a victory! ¡Una victoria! - July 13, 2022
Coalición Fortaleza and partners closed the purchase of Talent Mobile Estates that will be the first-ever Resident Owned Community of Southern Oregon.
Housing is a Universal Right, not a privilege - May 20, 2022
No matter how much housing continues to be treated as a privilege and commodity, Housing is a human right.
Climate Ready Neighborhoods - March 23rd, 2022
Our goal? To build climate resilient neighborhoods to ensure the survival and perseverance of our future generations.
Nourishing Our Roots in 2022 - January 26th, 2022
We look at how during the winter season the trees return their focus to the roots to tend to their foundation. We remember the moments in 2021 where our roots were fortified and just about every one of those memories involved gathering with our community.
“Why don’t we just buy our neighborhoods back?” - December 14th, 2021
What would you do for the places you love? We’ve sat with this question for the past 13 months and have been moved to tears by the bravery, loyalty, love and commitment that everyone on our team has demonstrated this past year.
We Are Coalición Fortaleza - Introductory Newsletter, November 3rd, 2021
The story of Coalición Fortaleza is simple. We do this work for the love of our land, our people and the future generations of all life.
Español Aqui
Coalición Fortaleza is conducting a survey to gather information that will help strengthen our community-led efforts to restore our neighborhoods, keep our families' needs a priority, and help inform policy makers to understand the impacts of the wildfires on the Latinx/farmworker community in Southern Oregon.
La Coalición will give you a $50 gift card to take this 15-20-minute survey. All of your personal information will be kept confidential. To qualify you must be Latinx.
If you wish to participate, contact Erica:
erica@coalicionfortaleza.org
541-236-5605
In the news
Articles and other media regarding the Fire that swept through our communities in September of 2020 and the recovery since
Articles
Wildfire Took These Families' Homes, Here's Why They Stay - NY Times
September 8th, 2021
Interactive Almeda Fire commemorative walk begins -KTVL
September 8th, 2021
Months into Wildfire Recovery - OPB
February 21, 2021
When Oregon’s Wildfires Swept Through My County, Mutual Aid Brought Us Together - Vogue
December 22, 2020
Urban wildfire: When homes are the fuel for a runaway blaze, how do you rebuild a safer community? - Seattle Times
October 4, 2020
How Southern Oregon Communities are Working to Build Back Better After the Almeda Fire - Medium
September 16th, 2020
Television & Other Media
Brief But Spectacular take on surviving a wildfire - PBS NewsHour
Jocksana is interviewed about her and her family's experience
November 12th, 2021
Remembering the Big Fires One Year Later - iJPR
Erica, Niria, Teresa interviewed with other community members
September 8th, 2021
The Almeda Fire One Year Later - SOPBS Local Focus
Niria is interviewed with other community members
September 7th, 2021
We appreciate your support! Use the button below to donate via PayPal, or you can send your donation in care of:
Mailing Address: Coalición Fortaleza, 1515 S. Oakdale Avenue, Medford OR 97501
Office Location: 122 East Main Street, Medford OR 97501
Thank you for believing in us and enabling us to grow the organizational capacity of Coalición Fortaleza.
Please reach out here with any questions or comments, and you can also sign up for our mailing list just below this form!
If you'd like to stay updated on the work that we're doing, sign up here to receive our newsletters! You can expect no more than one or two emails per month, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 4705, Medford OR 97501
Office Location: 122 East Main Street, Medford OR 97501
Coalición Fortaleza
541-236-5605
admin@coalicionfortaleza.org
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