About Us

About PUCDC

The Eastern Coachella Valley is comprised of four unincorporated rural communities: Thermal, Oasis, Mecca and North Shore. The large majority of residents are agricultural worker families and they represent the local labor force that contributes approximately $700 million a year in agriculture to the region. Farm workers constitute the backbone of our national food system sustainability. But despite their remarkable contribution, these hard working communities live in pervasive poverty lacking decent affordable housing, economic opportunities, and community resilience to climate change.  These challenges to health and economic well being continue to plague our local communities whose residents work the fields.  The mobile home communities are known locally as “Polanco parks,” named for Richard Polanco, a state representative who sponsored 1992 legislation to spur the creation of affordable housing for farmworkers. 

Pueblo Unido Community Development Corporation (PUCDC) is a (501)(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization born from the initiative of community leaders with extensive experience and knowledge of these local issues and concerns in the rural Eastern Coachella Valley. Pueblo Unido CDC has been a leader in social justice change for over 15 years and has helped shape the platform for partner organizations and new developing organizations to continue building on those successes. With the persistence of the organization, the ECV farmworker community has benefited from continued equitable progress towards a brighter future and has paved a path for a healthy and sustainable community in the Eastern Coachella Valley.

Pueblo Unido CDC was founded in 2008 by Sergio Carranza, current Executive Director, and the late Rodolfo Piñon, Co-Founder and first Chair of the Board of Directors. Prior to founding Pueblo Unido, Sergio Carranza was an advocate for social and civil rights in his native country of El Salvador. His involvement with local social justice ministries made him aware of the profound social and economic disparities in the ECV. Soon he realized there was a real need to listen to the community, and concluded he could affect meaningful change by modeling initiatives on a community-driven perspective. Our goal remains the same regardless of our past success: to bring equity into the community and create the best present and future for the families we represent. Through continued partnerships and support from elected officials, government entities, community members and funding partners, we hope to create new opportunities that work at solving social issues that inequitably impact ECV farmworker families, including the severe affordable housing crisis and impacts of climate change.

Community Driven Model

Early in 2009, PUCDC initiated a new model of community work that has, as a primary focus, the support for community driven projects and self-initiative towards building a healthy environment for families and children. PUCDC’s main assets are its strong and well-established community relationships, which constitute a long term commitment to improving the quality of life; technical expertise in proposing viable solutions; and a strong spirit of collaboration with other community based organizations.

PUCDC Landmark Accomplishments Benefiting Polanco Communities

2008

2009

2010

2011

2013

2014

2016

2018

2019

2020–2021

2022

2023–2024

PUCDC has leveraged $63 Million to benefit ECV since 2010

Pueblo Unido Staff

PUCDC staff share the Executive Director’s belief that communities are the best judges of how their lives and livelihoods can be improved and, if provided with adequate resources and information, they can organize themselves to provide for their immediate needs. PUCDC staff (100% Latinx/Hispanic) have also experienced, directly or indirectly, the impacts of systemic racism, inequities in housing, access to financing, jobs, wages, etc. Their lived experience is culturally interwoven with the multigenerational challenges, strong family values, resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and needs for health equity, environmental justice, and relief from pervasive systemic poverty they and/or their families shared with the communities they now serve.

Board of Directors

Monica Vazquez

Secretary

Victor Gonzalez

Vice President

Morelia Baltazar

Member at Large

Alejandro Espinoza

Member at Large

Martha Barragan

President

Joe Ceja

Treasurer

Juan Carlos Sanchez

Member at Large

Staff Members

Sergio Carranza

Executive Director

Bianca Berriozabal

Director of Administrations and Operations

Yaneth Andrade-Magaña

Director of Community Capacity Building

Araceli Beltran

Water & Sanitation Technician II

Monica Mejia

Project Manager

Martin Bautista

Water & Sanitation Technician

Pueblo Unido Staff

PUCDC staff share the Executive Director’s belief that communities are the best judges of how their lives and livelihoods can be improved and, if provided with adequate resources and information, they can organize themselves to provide for their immediate needs. PUCDC staff (100% Latinx/Hispanic) have also experienced, directly or indirectly, the impacts of systemic racism, inequities in housing, access to financing, jobs, wages, etc. Their lived experience is culturally interwoven with the multigenerational challenges, strong family values, resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and needs for health equity, environmental justice, and relief from pervasive systemic poverty they and/or their families shared with the communities they now serve.

Sergio Carranza

Executive Director

Bianca Berriozabal

Director of Administrations and Operations

Yaneth Andrade-Magaña

Director of Community Capacity Building

Martin Bautista

Water & Sanitation Technician

araceli Beltran

Water & Sanitation Technician II

Monica Vazquez

Secretary

Morelia Baltazar

Member at Large

Alejandro Espinoza

Member at Large

Martha Barragan

President

Victor Gonzales

Vice President

Joe Ceja

Treasurer

Pueblo Unido Staff

PUCDC staff share the Executive Director’s belief that communities are the best judges of how their lives and livelihoods can be improved and, if provided with adequate resources and information, they can organize themselves to provide for their immediate needs. PUCDC staff (100% Latinx/Hispanic) have also experienced, directly or indirectly, the impacts of systemic racism, inequities in housing, access to financing, jobs, wages, etc. Their lived experience is culturally interwoven with the multigenerational challenges, strong family values, resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and needs for health equity, environmental justice, and relief from pervasive systemic poverty they and/or their families shared with the communities they now serve.

Sergio Carranza

Executive Director

Bianca Berriozabal

Director of Administrations and Operations

Yaneth Andrade-Magaña

Director of Community Capacity Building

Martin Bautista

Water & Sanitation Technician

araceli Beltran

Water & Sanitation Technician II

Monica Vazquez

Secretary

Morelia Baltazar

Member at Large

Alejandro Espinoza

Member at Large

Martha Barragan

President

Victor Gonzales

Vice President

Joe Ceja

Treasurer

Pueblo Unido CDC Community Funding Partners

Financials

Below are PUCDC’s Audited Financial Statements and Form 990, which are annual financial reports that federally tax-exempt organizations must file with the IRS. It provides information on our mission, programs, and finances. Public Inspection IRC 6104(d) regulations state that an organization must provide copies of its three most recent Form 990s to anyone who requests them, whether in person, by mail, fax, or e-mail. In addition, the reports can also be accessed independently on Guidestar and at the Foundation Center 990 Finder.

Check out Pueblo Unido CDC on Guidestar to see the great work we do for our community.
We want to make sure you have the information you need to confidently support our work with trust and confidence. 

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