MixtecoIndigena Community Organizing Project

Direct assistance: micop operates a monthly food and basic needs distribution through its Community meeting program. The organization provides one-time financial assistance support to families in crisis and has a rental support program. Each year the organization coordinates collections and distributions of school materials in august.

Immigration legal services: mila provides various immigration legal services to the indigenous migrant Community, such as assistance with daca and citizenship applications, support for unaccompanied minors in sijs cases, and petitions for advance parole, among others.

Community empowerment: micop enhances the capacity of the indigenous migrant population for self-leadership through intensive trainings provided to the Community. Micop also empowers the Community by training Community members to be disc jockeys (djs) on micop's Community radio station, currently broadcasting via the internet. The djs provide informational and culturally relevant programming in mixteco, zapoteco, purepecha, english and spanish. Micop's Community Organizing works with the Community to help them advocate for their own needs. We also hold Community meetings, which are attended by an average of 250 families and each month, where speakers talk about relevant information to the Community. Training of internal leaders has provided a staff that is 85% indigenous origin and a board of directors with 40% indigenous membership.

Indigenous language rights and justice: micop fosters long-term Community development through increasing the ability of public, private and nonprofit providers to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to this Community. Micop will address the social, education and humanitarian needs of indigenous immigrant youth and families through pilot programs to demonstrate how Community needs can be met and assist other entities to provide direct programs and services.

Outreach and access to services: micop increases access to medical, mental health and social services for the indigenous migrant population of ventura county. Our outreach workers work in three local school districts to ensure that indigenous migrant children are healthy and ready to enter kindergarten with their peers. Micop operates outreach using the outreach worker model to prevent domestic violence, teach about reproductive health and increase knowledge about available services, including county healthcare safety net programs. We have staff on site to enroll our families in medi-cal and have expanded our work to include supportive services for families with children who are disabled. Micop provides immigration legal & education services for indigenous families in ventura and santa barbara county.

Education and literacy: micop provides literacy and adult education to Community members who wish to continue their primary and secondary education. Because the majority of indigenous migrants living in ventura county are young families with small children, micop offers pact classes that teach the basics of infant care and early childhood learning. The classes are designed to accommodate low-literacy learners with a linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate curriculum. Micop's tequio youth group promotes indigenous pride and encourages academic achievement and continuing on to higher education. Micop provides annual scholarships to tequio students to help further their education. Micop also offers wellness classes to support the mental health needs of our Community through our living with love program and our connecting with my peers program.