Ámbar's first interactions with social justice were with ACT for Women and Girls. After her undergrad at UC Davis, she dedicated her time at the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington D.C.  She then went off to serve a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, where she lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. She continued her educational journey at Marquette University, where she received her Master's degree. She then moved back to California to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher.

Ámbar is actively involved in supporting our youth through programs such as the HEAL Pathway Program, LatinX Student Union, Black Student Union, Future Healthcare Professionals, Young Professional Network for BIPOC, and various other community service projects. 

After graduating from college, De La Rosa returned to his hometown to help his parents in the nonprofit they founded in 1974, dedicated to educating and providing immigration legal services to poor immigrants and students. 

Among his various leadership responsibilities, he is currently the Chief Financial and Operations Officer for OLA RAZA, Inc. President of the Board of Directors at California Rural Legal Assistance, the Vice President of the Board for the Cultural Heritage Foundation, Cofounder and Treasurer for the BOD at the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance, Board Member to Alianza Ecologista, Advisor to Wildplaces and The Urbanist Collective, Co-Director of La Academia Juvenil de Arte y Cultura, Co-Founder and Board Secretary of Veritas Art Center, and finally a Board Member at Arts Visalia. 

Dr. Vázquez grew up in a traditional Mexican family of 11 in Goshen. Lucia, being one of the younger children, spent her summers leafleting grocery store parking lots, while some older siblings were deployed to Michigan and New York Boycotts. Participation in the labor movement gave Lucia her strong sense of responsibility to the community and her record of civic participation. In 2011, a product of a by-district election, she became the first Latina elected to the Visalia Unified School Board, where she served for nine years. 

Dr Vázquez’s Master’s thesis focused on Young Adult Latina Literature, and her doctoral dissertation focused on Educational Resilience in Youth Mariachi. She found that Mariachi youth programs with a positive team culture created an environment that fostered strong social emotional, and other transferable marketable skills, increased family bonds, and created community cultural wealth.

During a peak in the pandemic, with the great need for substitutes in all schools, Dr Vázquez reinstated her substitute teacher certification and spent a good part of 2021 in classrooms. Currently, Dr Vázquez is working as part of the outreach team for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. 

Freddy De La Paz serves as a Board Member for the Cultural Heritage Foundation and has been a member since late 2024. Born to Mexican parents from Jalisco and Zacatecas! 

Freddy is a practicing member of the Visalia Circulo de Hombres and seeks to bring healing to the greater Visalia community.

Hobbies:

-traveling 

-learning more about his Indigenous roots 

-learning more about ancestral wisdom