The Women’s Resource Center in Durango supports community members who are facing domestic violence, financial hardship, and housing issues. At a recent reception at the Durango Public Library, ten women from La Plata County were honored for their work to provide resources to underserved people in marginalized communities.
Stella Zhu is a Basic Needs Coordinator at Fort Lewis College where she helps oversee food and housing security initiatives.
“I'm a first-generation immigrant here. So I've had the lived experience of navigating systems and policies that don't serve my needs. I know with the population that we're serving at Fort Lewis College, half, nearly half of our students are first-gen,” she said.
Susan Hakanson, Executive Director at Durango Adult Education Center, also works with students, but different ones.
“We have students from currently 18 different countries. They come to us with backgrounds as varied as having never been in school in their home country to having advanced degrees in their home country. Their stories are as varied as any one of us might imagine,” said Hakanson.
Elvia German-Palacios works for a program called Health Without Barriers through the Colorado State University Extension. She says she was raised by a family of advocates.
“Back then, my English wasn't as good as it is now. But I was never too afraid to speak the language that I had to support those who needed it the most. I have always had a heart for activism, social justice, and social change,” said German-Palacios.
At the event, the Durango Poet Laureate, Esther Belin, read a poem honoring another woman – her mother.
The poem is featured in Belin’s book: “From the Belly of My Beauty.”
“My mother comes from the land of enchantment, now also the land of poverty, drugs, illiteracy, and confusion. My mother, like many Japanese during World War Two, was relocated off the rez to a federally run boarding school in Riverside, California, USA. My mother resides angelic among the yellow brown haze, indigenous and immigrant smog in Los Angeles. skyscraping progress pushing her home,” read Belin.
The Women’s Resource Center will continue to host events throughout the month to celebrate these community organizers.
