Valencia Community Action Network: Engaging and empowering communities

Quality of life and advocacy are at the heart of Valencia Community Action Network — a nonprofit organization based in Meadow Lake that’s dedicated to enacting positive change for local communities, especially those who reside in the unincorporated areas of Valencia County.

“Quality of life to us is anything that brings us happiness and helps us enjoy our lives more,” said VCAN program coordinator Celestino Landavazo. “We do work all over, but we try to work mainly in the county and unincorporated areas because that’s where the most need is.”

VCAN’s mission is to “co-create opportunities for community-based action and empowerment that celebrates and benefits our diverse and gifted people.”

The group of volunteers accomplish this by hosting a variety of events and initiatives that engage and benefit the community.

In the past, this has taken the form of everything from organizing trash pick-ups, hosting health fairs and vaccine clinics, making contacts in Valencia County for the census and more.

VCAN emphasizes the importance of multigenerational engagement as they have plenty of opportunities for youth, but they also look out for senior citizens in the community.

“We try to do something for the seniors around Valentine’s Day,” said Landavazo. “We give them little gifts and socks to keep their feet warm. We also partnered with Teeniors to bring technology (education) to the seniors.”

One of the main focus areas as of late has been food distribution, which VCAN volunteers began in 2021.

“We have two distributions now, one in Meadow Lake and one in El Cerro Mission and we’re expanding to one in Belen and one in Los Lunas,” said Landavazo. “We started off serving 75 families and, right now, we’re serving over 250 families a month, and we’re planning on expanding that to 500 here in the next few months.”

Given inflation and the rising cost of groceries, Landavazo said they are also focusing on informing the community of the benefits of growing their own food.

“We’re partnering with United Way and School of Dreams Academy to build (community) gardens at SODA,” he said.

Last month, Landavazo said VCAN secured funding to begin a food rescue program. This involves working with local farmers or others who have an overabundance of produce to help harvest it and give out to the community for free.

“We want to invite community members out to these farms and orchards that want to learn or want to pick some fresh fruit and have an open air classroom on things like how to take care of these trees if they would want to get one of their own,” Landavazo said.

Another big project of VCAN is hosting weekly Textile Thursday meet-ups for the community at the Meadow Lake Community Center from 4-8 p.m. VCAN members provide free textile materials and lessons that community members of all ages can enjoy and experiment with and it also serves as a catalyst for connection.

“It helps not only our mental health, but it also helps us build community because we get to talk about issues that are happening in our community,” he said.

Youth mentorship is also an important pillar in VCAN, especially knowing there is not a lot for youth to do in unincorporated areas of the county. Landavazo said connecting youth with positive outlets is important for their safety and well-being.

Youth can be involved in VCAN on any level they want, and their input is always welcome and encouraged. Youth have helped VCAN come up with ideas for events and projects, and they can even secure paid internships that help them develop valuable life skills, such as leadership.

“We used to ask them, ‘What do you want in your community?’ But now, instead of asking them, we ask them to show us what you want, and we’ll help you get there,” Landavazo said. “So it’s putting them in the leadership role, coming up with these ideas and helping them implement those ideas that they come up with instead of us trying to translate those to what we think they want.”

VCAN intern Valeria Cervantes, 22, has learned a lot through being a part of VCAN and said it has helped her grow as a person.

“I love to learn about other people, and it’s amazing to get to know your community,” she said.

Landavazo’s 18 year-old son, Alejandro, has been involved with VCAN since the beginning as one of the founding members.

He said youth involvement in VCAN, and in the community in general, is important.

“It’s not always a good idea to have older adults deciding for you because in the end, youth know what they want and know what affects their peers,” Alejandro said. “I think for youth to get involved is so important because the youth are the future.”

Alejandro said the many issues affecting society and youth can seem like a daunting challenge to try and address and impact, but seeing what VCAN has already been able to achieve has empowered him and helped him to realize that we all can make a difference within the community.

For example, Alejandro noted VCAN’s advocacy for the Meadow Lake Community Center has definitely gone a long way.

“Most people in Meadow Lake, at the time, really only saw it as a senior center because the only thing it was really being used for was senior lunches,” Alejandro said. “We started to make community members aware of it, then we started advocating with the county to be able to have it staffed and open to the public. A lot more people see it as a community center now because of the events we held and because we have Textile Thursday there every week.”

Landavazo encourages people to be involved in their community because positive change within any community takes awareness and many people working together toward a shared goal to make it a reality. He invites anyone interested in VCAN to “attend one of our events, and come have fun with us.”

To learn more about VCAN and see their upcoming events, visit their website valenciacan.org and Facebook page. Contact information can be found on both sites if you wish to get in touch or get involved.