Community To Community
Rosalinda Guillen – Executive Director
Rosalinda Guillen is a widely recognized farm worker and rural justice leader. The oldest of eight she was born in Texas and spent her first decade in Coahuila Mexico. Her family emigrated to LaConner, Washington in 1960 and she began working as a farm worker in the fields in Skagit County at the age of ten. Ms. Guillen has worked within the labor movement with Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers of America and has represented farm workers in ongoing dialogues of immigration issues, labor rights, trade agreements, and strengthening the food sovereignty movement. She works to build a broader base of support for rural communities and sustainable agriculture policies that ensure equity and healthy communities for farm workers. rosalindag@qwestoffice.net
Erin Thompson – Director of Food Sovereignty Programs
Erin Thompson grew up in the beautiful Puyallup Valley and is currently the Director of food Sovereignty Programs at Community to Community Development. She is currently working with C2C’s farmworker leaders on several projects including Cocinas Sanas (Healthy Kitchens), Raices Culturales Bi-lingual Youth mentoring program, the development of CoCoSa- a Culturally Appropriate Cooperative DevelopmentCenter and an organic training farm for worker- owned cooperatives. She also coordinates the food Justice of a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, she continues to research and incorporate local and global strategies for systemic change such as the Principles of a Solidarity Economic, the World Forum Process, ecofeminism, and community organizing in her work in Whatcom County and beyond. erinc2c@qwestoffice.net
Angelica Villa-Cocinas Sanas/Promotora Coordinator
Angelica Villa was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and has lived in the United States since 1988. Angelica wanted a better life and more opportunities for her and her family. Angelica heard about Community to Community through her son Joaquin, who joined the C2C team as part of his senior project. Now, Angelica is an AmeriCorps Volunteer working as a promotora in the Cocinas Sanas / Healthy Kitchen Project. Cocinas Sanas promotes good nutrition through healthy eating. Angelica has seen many of the injustices done to Latin families and she sees this as a way to empower Latin women and families by teaching them there are other ways to prepare food. Angelica enjoys talking to the women at the Cocinas Sanas workshops and especially likes using ingredients that the women have used but she likes to put a healthy spin to them; such as using cucumber and oatmeal to make flavored water. Angelica is a single mom with four children who enjoys dancing, watching movies, running and doing zumba. cocinassanas1@qwestoffice.net
Liliana Macias-Cocinas Sanas/Promotora Coordinator
Liliana Macias is originally from Tecalitlán Jalisco in Mexico. She arrived in the United States in 1999, with the hope of saving money to finish University.
Liliana stayed in Yakima, WA for a period of 2 years working in the packaging of apples and cherries. She moved to Bellingham in 2004. In 2006 she met Community to Community and has been involved ever since, starting with the formation of the Cooperative Las Margaritas. Today she runs the Cocinas Sanas / Healthy Kitchens project through AmeriCorps. The Cocinas Sanas workshops help the Latino community by educating women about nutrition to help fight diabetes and obesity which are risks in the Latin community. Liliana has two children; Angie who participates in the Raices Culturales Youth Mentoring Project and Jeremías who is too young to participate but will be involved in the future. In her spare time Liliana likes to do crafts, paint and take walks with her children.
Maria Cortes-Zamora - Raices Culturales Project Director
Maria Isabel Cortes-Zamora comes from a Colombian working-class family. Her life experience has been framed by a constant struggle for social justice, in which education has been central. In search of better opportunities she, her partner, and her four year old daughter moved to the United States in 2000. While living in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area María Isabel volunteered for The Latino Media Collective, a radio show where she had the opportunity to meet and hear the stories of men and women, who had migrated from the global south in search of the so-called American dream. After moving to Bellingham she returned to her studies, and in 2010 graduated with a major in History from Western Washington University. Soon after graduating she decided to volunteer at C2C to support our work with immigrant children, and she now coordinates the Raíces Culturales Youth Mentoring Project. Currently, María Isabel is pursuing a Masters In Teaching from WWU, and is committed to use education as a way to empower underrepresented, at-risk, and low-income groups in society. raices-culturales@qwestoffice.net
Maria-Gracia Pantigoso-Lira – 2011/2012 Intern
Maria Gracia is a junior majoring in Human Services at Western Washington University and minoring in Spanish and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). Her family moved from Peru to Seattle when she was twelve and so immigration is a subject that is deeply rooted in her and her family. Last summer she had the opportunity to work with the Agape Service Project and through the summer she served migrant workers and their families by helping to organize a food bank and going to the migrant camps to play with the children. Because of these factors and many others she has a great heart for service and justice. She loves teaching and kids as well as arts and crafts. Maria Gracia has been a member of the C2C team since Fall of 2010 and this year returns as part of the Students in Service Program at WWU. She provides valuable administrative support to the Executive Director and to the Cocinas Sanas Project. Maria also provides support to immigrant families through assisting individuals needing information on social services, interpretation and basic civil rights. maria.pantigoso@hotmail.com
Malora Christensen – 2011/2012 Intern
Malora Christensen is currently C2C’s Project Movement Intern and finishing up her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Washington. Malora was raised in rural North Idaho but has spent the better part of the last ten years on the west side of the Cascades. Malora is passionate about growing ‘real’ food, health, social justice, alternative economics, immigration reform, history, racial equity and the dismantling of racism and white privilege. Malora is thrilled to be at C2C; she currently supports media relations, event planning, logistics, program support, grant writing and fundraising. malorac2c@qwestoffice.net
