On Tuesday December 14, 2021, the County of San Diego Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) adopted the new supervisorial districts map. We are proud to report that the IRC heard our voices and our Latinx community of interest was kept together in a North County district (D5).

The 2021 County of San Diego redistricting process provided us a unique opportunity to learn about county government, to be civically involved and to experience democracy in action. Along with thousands of community members, Universidad Popular stood in front of the County of San Diego IRC, submitted written comments, and called-in to share stories about the places that matter to us, our families, and our neighbors and the values that glue our communities together. We traveled from Fallbrook, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Valley Center, Pauma, Pala, and other North County neighborhoods to participate in every in-person meeting held across the county. 

Message from our Co-Director Arcela Nuñez:

Friends,

It is a fact rarely acknowledged in public discourse that Whites have controlled power within the San Diego County Board of Supervisors since the body was founded in 1850 and the residents and communities they represent have enjoyed the full privileges afforded under representative democracy. This officially nonpartisan body, as required by the Constitution of California, was nonetheless dominated by Republicans until 2020 when Democrats took the majority of the seats. 

Universidad Popular has played an unprecedented, unique, and life-saving role in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic that disproportionately impacted Latinxs, immigrants, limited English speakers, women and working-class families who are overrepresented in essential and frontline economic sectors in San Diego County. Leveraging organizational expertise of legal and political systems and structures, experience navigating government agencies and policies and extensive network across sectors made it possible to organize and coordinate collaborations and partnerships to create a rapid outreach, education, and vaccination response system that has reached nearly 20,000 community members across North County. 

For the past ten months Universidad Popular has been busy ensuring every community member in our region who wants a COVID-19 vaccine has access to it. We have been leading advocacy efforts with elected and county officials to bring resources into our North County region, conducting community education with our family, friends and neighbors in the hardest hit neighborhoods to empower community members to receive the life-saving vaccine, and co-hosting over one hundred vaccination events across North County and in targeted communities such as San Marcos, Escondido and Pauma Valley.

This work is done in collaboration with our partners including Cal Fire Operation Collaboration, Neighborhood Health, TruCare, MACC Project, The Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, San Marcos Unified School District, the City of San Marcos, the City of Escondido, Escondido Elementary School District, Escondido World Marketplace, Pauma Valley Community Center, Alianza Comunitaria, San Ysidro Health, South Bay Community Services, and San Diego County Health and Human Services. 

¡Felicidades to our Co-Director, Maria Nuñez, for being recognized as the 2021 Attorney of the Year by the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association!. She will be honored at this year’s SDLRLA Scholarship Fund Annual Gala in the company of hundreds of esteemed judges, attorneys, elected city, state and federal officials, and community leaders on November 30, 2021, at The Guild Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Maria is among the strongest leaders in the Latinx community advancing equity and social justice. We are proud of her for all her accomplishments but most of all for her compassion, leadership, and unrelenting advocacy on behalf of our community!

We are still in a pandemic and many of our family members, friends, and neighbors have not had equitable access to vaccines against COVID-19.

So far, 72.7% of San Diego County residents have received at least one dose and 56.1% are fully vaccinated. However, hard to reach communities (Latinx, immigrant, Spanish-speaking with lower access to technology) who live in select neighborhoods in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido, have vaccination rates under 50%. 

Universidad Popular in collaboration with Cal Fire Operation Collaboration, San Diego County, San Marcos Unified School District and Escondido World Marketplace is co-hosting these up-coming vaccination clinics:

Join Universidad Popular for a virtual discussion with San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan and learn about the role of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office and its impact on our everyday lives.

Do you still need your vaccine against COVID-19 or know someone who does? 

We can help you! 

Universidad Popular in collaboration with Cal Fire Operation Collaboration, San Diego County and Escondido World Marketplace is hosting vaccination clinics in Escondido on the following days:

Universidad Popular is firmly committed to ensuring that everyone in our community has access to a vaccine. Continuing to inform, educate and motivate our friends, family, and neighbors to follow safety guidelines and to get vaccinated are important steps in the effort to overcome this pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Latinx, immigrants, frontline essential workers, and many more vulnerable members in our communities.

We are continuously assessing, monitoring, and advocating for equity in COVID-19 relief and recovery strategies. Our team is present in meeting rooms with decision makers and on the ground providing vaccine education to community members in their language. We are growing partnerships and coalitions with county officials to vaccinate hard to reach and vulnerable members of our community including farmworkers to ensure that together we #GetToImmunity

Universidad Popular and the Employee Rights Center invite all our partners to join us for a meeting to learn about COVID-19 Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP),  a statewide educational campaign, with the focus of reaching frontline workers and employers disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 to provide information and resources on COVID-19 safety guidance, vaccination, and workers’ rights.