Faith in the Valley works to educate communities on their housing rights

As a community organizer with Faith in the Valley, Blanca Ojeda had garnered some experience with immigration rights before she became involved with another of the organization’s objectives—housing and tenants’ rights. Her introduction to that arena was a trial by fire, and started when she responded to a call for help from five residents of a single building who were being evicted.

“When I went to that apartment complex, I learned it was actually more than half (of the residents)—like 25-plus folks—that were actually facing eviction. This was around Christmas-time, 2020, and so most places were already closed down (for the holidays),” she remembers. “It was really hard to even try to get legal aid. Offices were closed. And so I ended up learning that’s a part of a strategy, too, for people not to get support during that time and be put out.”

Ojeda’s housing community organizing work with Faith in the Valley involves working with communities, educating them on their rights as tenants, teaching them how to advocate for themselves, and fostering relationships through community meetings, workshops and leadership development programs. Ojeda is based in Merced and Faith in the Valley is headquartered in Stockton, but the organization works throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

“If we don’t work together, we won’t be as strong in creating the change that we really need to see.”

Blanca Ojeda, Community organizer, Faith in the Valley

“It’s really giving an opportunity for them to do it themselves. It’s not just providing a training where all of the information is already laid out, but it’s also providing a training on how we go about finding that information that we need,” she says. “We’re going to look for this information together and figure it out together.”

Faith in the Valley also works toward systemic changes and develops strategies to push for legislative reforms. They’ve had success advocating for:

• Eviction Protection Programs in Fresno and Bakersfield, which protect tenants from unlawful evictions and provide city-appointed legal representation in eviction court proceedings.
• SB 4, also known as the Home is Sacred campaign, which allows affordable housing to be built on land owned by faith-based organizations.
• SB 567, which closed loopholes around tenant protections and limits rent increases to 10% in a 12-month period.

“We reach out and bring together residents across the region to make that systemic and policy change to advance racial justice,” Ojeda says. “We work with different faith-based congregations, but we also work with different communities and populations. We’re also building leadership within apartment complexes, and that’s been my biggest focus.”

Faith in the Valley finds strength in the collaborative efforts of many different communities of faith.

“What brings us together in faith communities is the dignity and respect for others, the fact that we all believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and deserves to be seen as fully human,” she says. “If we don’t work together, we won’t be as strong in creating the change that we really need to see.”

For more information on Faith in the Valley and how you can get involved, visit faithinthevalley.org.