Celebrating Gabriela Galicia
Vesper Society links arms with leaders and communities to uplift through service, break down barriers, and elevate community voices. This Women’s History Month we celebrate Gabriela Galicia, executive director of Street Level Health Project, based in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, CA.
Gabriela has worked in different capacities and roles at Street Level Health Project (SLHP) since 2010. The organization is entering an exciting period in its growth and we are delighted to share our conversation with Gabriela.
Can you tell us about your background?
I grew up in Southern California in a predominantly Latino low income, low resourced, immigrant and people of color community. I am the daughter of immigrant parents and am the first in my family to graduate from college. I attended the University of California, Berkeley and received a degree in political science with a minor in ethnic studies and a concentration in Chicano studies. During college, I learned about advocacy and community organizing, and worked on issues affecting the most vulnerable in our society.
How did you become involved with SLHP?
Because of my experience in college, I was hired in 2010 as the Community Connection and Empowerment Coordinator to work closely with the day labor community and then I helped to co-design and co-create our Immigrant Rights and Empowerment Program Manager position. I further developed what is now the street outreach program to the day laborers who are some of the most exploited workers. As part of this work through collaboration with the day laborer community, we founded the Oakland Workers Collective that provides a safe and empowering space for day laborers and low wage workers to receive access to education, temporary job placements and leadership development opportunities. This is the only day laborer program recognized by the AFL-CIO on the west coast.
How is SLHP growing?
Covid-19 hit our community the hardest. Fruitvale was one of the hotspots in 2020 and our staff went into overdrive to support the community. In 2022 we realized we were all working in burn out mode and took steps to rethink how we do our work. This year we are prioritizing sustainability – for the organization and for ourselves. We need to take care and tend to our staff and their well-being so they are able to be in this movement for the long haul, in the same ways they reach out and take care of the community. We are happy to announce that we have grown our board in Fall of 2022. Our board has six new members and we will be planning for our gala event in the fall to celebrate 20 years of SLHP.
Why is SLHP known as the safety net of the safety net?
Many that walk through our doors are recently arrived immigrants, day laborers, uninsured communities who fall through the cracks. This may be the first time they are encountering accessing services in this country and they don’t know how to navigate complex systems like healthcare, social services and others, while still navigating a new country.
Many people don’t know that there is a large Mam community in Oakland. Mam is a Mayan language with several dialects spoken in Guatemala. The Mam community is invisible, there is no official data, and we estimate there are around 20,000 people. We have been working with them for over ten years and have established trusted relationships. We are providing essential services for the Mam community and that is why we are a safety net of the safety net.
What is the role of women at SLHP?
I would say the role of women in SLHP is very present in the fabric of our organization. Currently a majority of the workforce at SLHP are primarily women of color and our leadership team is composed of all women of color which makes us unique and representative of the communities we serve. We work to empower our team to not just be caretakers but innovators, make bold moves to support empowering our communities, and be strong and fierce advocates with and for the communities we serve.
What keeps you going?
I believe that I continue to be at SLHP even as I get close to my thirteen-year anniversary in June because there is a lot of work to be done to continue to support, defend, and empower the communities that we serve. Seeing victories and yet the injustices and inequities that continue to exist within our communities is what keeps my fire going to continue to get up every day to fight and stand with this community that, despite everything, is very resilient.
I am very proud to work at SLHP with the team that I work alongside every day because we are all working from the same mission and we come from lived experience of the same barriers and obstacles that our community faces. While I may have the privilege now of not having to face those barriers and challenges, I always stay grounded on where I came from, my ancestors’ history, and put the community at the center by providing a listening ear and amplifying those invisible voices to become visible.
Vesper Society is proud to walk alongside Gabriela Galicia and SLHP. In doing so we are closer to a vision of a world that protects human dignity and enhances human potential.