Arcenio López
Executive Director
Executive Director
Arcenio J. López is a Ñuu Savi leader from Oaxaca, México. When he arrived in Oxnard in 2003, Arcenio worked as a farmworker in the strawberry fields. In 2006, Arcenio was hired as MICOP’s first Community Organizer and promoted as the first indigenous Executive Director in 2014. Arcenio received his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Accounting from Cal Lutheran University in 2019. To learn more about Arcenio's Fellowship project and collaboration with the Center for Health Journalism, go to: "Elevating voices not often heard in mainstream media."
Three of my relatives, all Mixteco farmworkers in California, died of COVID-19 last year. As we mourn, we wonder if diabetes played a role in their deaths.
"Alimentar a Estados Unidos es esencial y quienes hacen ese trabajo también deben ser tratados como esenciales", asegura este líder comunitario mixteco que perdió a tres familiares diabéticos, después de que se contagiaron con el virus.
"Nadie estaba preparado para poder ofrecer información correcta a nuestra comunidad sobre este virus de una manera eficaz y verdadera en nuestros idiomas: mixteco, zapoteco, purépecha, entre otros", explica en primera persona un líder comunitario.
This story as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2021 California Fellowship.
Have we ever bothered to ask who has been harvesting our food during the pandemic? Or whether these workers have been treated fairly with adequate equipment to keep them safe from COVID-19 while working?