Jose Figueroa, left, speaks with Oregon Rural Action organizers Zaira Sanchez, center, and Ana Maria Rodriguez at a vaccination in Boardman, Oregon, Sept. 2, 2022.
Antonio Sierra / OPB
Rafael Romero, left, speaks with fellow Oregon Rural Action organizer Zaira Sanchez at a vaccination in Boardman, Oregon, Sept. 2, 2022.
Antonio Sierra / OPB
At 40%, Morrow County has the proportion of Latinos in the state. Umatilla County, adjacent to Morrow County, and Malheur County, in the far east, are also among the five most sensitive.
Whether in the fields or in the factories, Morrow County has relied on Latin American immigrants to fuel its burgeoning economic growth. The Port of Morrow, where much of the region’s agriculture is processed and shipped to market, is connected to part of Morrow County. It is guilty of $2. 5 billion in economic output, according to a 2021 economic analysis.
Romero and Rodriguez have spent their lives running in the fields beyond classic nonprofit work, but Romero said that’s his strength. The other people they serve are not only their customers, but also their former colleagues, friends, and neighbors.
“I feel satisfied every month when I come here to the taqueria because I feel like family,” she said.
Oregon Rural Action organizer Ana Maria Rodriguez places leftover food boxes on a van bed as two unidentified men load the boxes into the van at the end of a vaccination clinic in Boardman, Oregon, Sept. 2, 2022.
Antonio Sierra / OPB
Among Romero’s proudest moments at ORA, a door-to-door vaccination campaign at an apartment complex in Boardman. The organizers, in addition to Romero and Sánchez, had distributed popsicles to the young people at the resort, and when a boy ordered ice cream for his brothers, they took the opportunity to meet his mother.
When they started doing their vaccine presentation, they temporarily realized there was a language barrier: she only spoke K’iche’.
But the language barrier did not remain.
“Rafael has a list of other people he’s spoken to who speak Spanish (and K’iche’), and they’re available. They expressed interest in helping us with interpretation when needed,” Sanchez recalls. You pull out your list and you can call one of those contacts and say, ‘Hey, are you available for quick interpretation?
When they left the complex, the woman was vaccinated.
After the COVID-19 vaccine became widely available, a 14-point gap opened up between the number of Oregon Latinos who were vaccinated and their white counterparts. But over the course of 2021, that gap narrowed to 4 points, a trend officials attributed their paintings to community organizations like ORA.
One of the other people vaccinated at the José Figueroa September clinic.
Figueroa had tried to get vaccinated in Mexico, but ran into bureaucratic obstacles and was never given it. COVID-19 had already put him on oxygen once before, so when he returned to the United States, he sought Oregon Rural Action.
ORA referred him to Morrow County health care staff for vaccination, and without a line, it was quickly over.
Figueroa and his circle of family then stayed to talk with Sanchez and the other organizers. Like so many young people in rural America, Sanchez’s long-term dreams were aimed at keeping him away from his home near Hermiston.
“I grew up here, was born and raised. And I couldn’t wait to leave. I enjoyed living in Portland. But it happened the day I thought, ‘I’m fit to get through. I need to go back to my roots and I need to help my community,'” she said.
Sanchez had already delighted in working in farm staff nonprofits when she accepted a position as director of the ORA network organization.
Ostrom and Sanchez said they have replaced the Latino network in Columbia Basin as they begin receiving feedback.
The taco truck parking lot was installed when its original location in a port museum did not meet the wishes of the community. tomato sauce, red meat and canned beans, peanut butter: The OHA began packing more culturally applicable foods, such as beans and rice.
As the ORA continues to move forward through the existing stages of the pandemic, the organization begins to map out its next steps.
These come with their paintings about local nitrate pollution, which affects citizens of Morrow and Umatilla counties. The nonprofit recently hosted a netpaintings assembly in Boardman where citizens spoke with state and federal government officials about the lack of blank water.
Ostrom said they are listening to members of the network about their long-term direction. Other problems they are exploring come with intellectual fitness and transportation.
Eastern Oregon may boast some of the highest populations of Latin Americans in the state, but the infrastructure for them is still relatively small. But while ORA staff demolished their stall and packed their supplies, Sanchez said the area’s small population also brought an advantage.
“We’re resourceful,” he said. And I think the beautiful thing (about) rural eastern Oregon is that we’re smart neighbors too. We are not afraid to communicate with others to understand, what can we use to make it work?»