Over the years, there have been many ways our members have participated in the improvement of Concord and surrounding cities. From helping a neighbor to volunteering; from advocating for health equity to engaging in the political process to pass policies that stem displacement, every program at Monument Impact encourages civic engagement and elevates the voices of community members, especially those most vulnerable.
Residents are active in giving public comment at City Council meetings in Antioch and Concord, resulting in new policies like Rent Stabilization and Anti-Harassment ordinances in Antioch and Anti-Harassment in Concord.
Get Out the Vote (GOTV): Every two years we register new voters, including high school seniors and community college students. We educate the community about ballot measures.
Internships: We provide paid internships to engage young adults in the political process with training on community organizing and how to use lived experience to advocate for policies that matter to them and their families. Interns also participate in GOTV to encourage their peers to register to vote and educate them on ballot measures and why voting is so important.
Community-Driven Advocacy: Advocacy for park equity, transportation equity, housing and habitability, immigrant rights, and tobacco control in multi-family complexes are few of the successful campaigns shaped by our community’s civic engagement.
As a student at Diablo Valley College, Karen Hernandez joined MI’s internship program, working on disseminating information about immigrant rights to local businesses during a time when ICE was most visible. She eventually was hired to coordinate MI’s community engagement with Stand Together Contra Costa. After graduating from San Francisco State, became our community organizer. She currently serves as senior paralegal with Centro Legal de la Raza and remains civically engaged in Concord where she was raised.
Angie Chaupe and other community members have given public comment at Concord City Council about how hard economic recovery has been for them. They successfully advocated for the use of American Recovery Act Plan funds for our guaranteed income pilot. We were awarded $1.5 million for ELEVATE Concord to provide monthly cash assistance to 120 families over the course of a year.
Angie is an example of a community member who came to Monument Impact for our technology classes, went on to formalize her small business, and then became civically engaged. She most recently has spoken up about the urgent need for rent stabilization in Concord. The high cost of rent is increasing displacement in our city and sharing her lived experience with City Council helps drive new policies.
For more information on how you can become civically engaged in Concord and Antioch, contact our Community Engagement Director, Tony Bravo tony@monumentimpact.org, or Community Organizing Manager, Jennifer Morales jennifer@monumentimpact.org.
