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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 $430 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.
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.
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.
araceli Beltran
Water & Sanitation Technician II
Victor Gonzalez
President
Martha Barragán
Vice President
Joe Ceja
Treasurer
Morelia Baltazar
Secretary
Monica Vazquez
Alejandro Espinoza
American Express
Bank of America Foundation
California Department of Food and Agriculture
California State Water Resources Control Board
Common Counsel Foundation
The California Wellness Foundation
The California Endowment
The Houston Family Foundation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation
Weingart Foundation
Wells Fargo Foundation
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.
Pueblo Unido CDC responds to the needs and concerns of underrepresented rural communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley through actively engaging and fostering collaborative efforts among residents and other stakeholders to find viable solutions, leverage critical resources, and bring new opportunities to improve the quality of life for its residents.
