The Dolores Huerta Foundation is a 501 (c)3 organization on a mission to inspire and organize communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice. DHF organizes at the grassroots level developing natural leaders with hands-on training through collective action working to establish Vecinos Unidos (Neighbors United) chapters in some of the most disenfranchised regions of California. In its 15 years DHF has formed chapters in Lost Hills and Cutler-Orosi, with currently active Vecinos Unidos groups in Arvin, Lamont, Weedpatch, Greenfield, and Bakersfield (Kern County) Tulare, Lindsay, and Woodlake (Tulare County) and Caruthers, Sanger and Parlier (Fresno County).
Our social justice grassroots organizing work is focused on Education, Health and Safety, LGBTQIA+, Equality and Civic Engagement. DHF is committed to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline through student and parent training for meaningful engagement and advocacy. DHF works to create healthy, accepting supportive environments for LGBTQIA+ youth and family members by building support networks and safer school climates. Through our integrative voter and Census outreach and education, DHF has been instrumental in passing progressive local and statewide legislation to increase funding for public services.
ABOUT DOLORES HUERTA: Dolores Clara Fernandez was born on April 10, 1930 in Dawson, a small mining town in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Her father Juan Fernández, a farm worker and miner by trade, was a union activist who ran for political office and won a seat in the New Mexico legislature in 1938. Dolores spent most of her childhood and early adult life in Stockton, California where she and her two brothers moved with their mother, following her parents’ divorce.
According to Dolores, her mother’s independence and entrepreneurial spirit was one of the primary reasons she became a feminist. Dolores’ mother Alicia was known for her kindness and compassion towards others. Alicia encouraged the cultural diversity that was a natural part of Dolores’ upbringing in Stockton. The agricultural community where they lived was made up of Mexican, Filipino, African-American, Japanese and Chinese working families.
Dolores found her calling as an organizer while serving in the leadership of the Stockton Community Service Organization (CSO). During this time, she founded the Agricultural Workers Association, set up voter registration drives and pressed local governments for barrio improvements. In 1955 CSO founder Fred Ross, Sr. introduced her to CSO Executive Director César E. Chávez, a likeminded colleague. The two soon discovered that they shared a common vision of organizing farm workers, an idea that was not in line with the CSO’s mission.
As a result, César and Dolores resigned from the CSO, and launched the National Farm Workers Association in the spring of 1962.
To learn more about the foundation, go to: https://doloreshuerta.org/
