Home » Voices of ACCE
Font Size A A A Print Email Bookmark

Voices of ACCE

Rosa Madrigal
San Diego ACCE
“We need everyone that supports our fight for immigration reform to contact their member of Congress, and to vote. If we can do that, we will win.”
Jose Paniagua
Chula Vista Resident
Immigration reform is a hot-button issue for ACCE member, José Paniagua, who’s experienced first hand the hardships of current immigration laws since arriving from Mexico two decades ago. As a leader of ACCE, the Chula Vista mechanic has attended immigrant rights marches and demonstrated for legislative reforms.He finds ACCE invaluable as a political resource for the community. “ACCE helps get information out that people need to know. For example, how to become a U.S. citizen, when the next march is, or the next stage in getting reforms passed. A lot of undocumented families are living in this community…. As a member of ACCE, I have learned how to fight for immigration reform in this country.” José, 48, is outspoken on what he sees as self-defeating policies, such as the fact that you need to be documented to apply for a driver’s license – and as a result, countless undocumented immigrants are forced to drive illegally to work to support their families, without a license and without auto insurance. He is paying his fair share of income taxes, he says, but does not receive government services or representation because of his immigration status. “Unfortunately, if you don’t have a Social Security number, you cannot do a lot of things, like get a driver’s license…. We came here to work, to pay taxes, to do everything right. I would like to see opportunities to be better citizens and to do better things for this country.”
Jacqueline Phillips, San Francisco
Jacqueline Phillips, a Water quality technician for the City and County of San Francisco, says ACCE is driving positive change by “empowering the community with a voice.” Her own voice – heard often at San Francisco rallies and protests, is one to contend with, particularly on the foreclosure issue. “Both me and my mother are facing losing our homes right now. But we’re not the only ones,” she says. “The foreclosure issue is a major, major problem for a lot of people now.” Phillips particularly worries about the fate of her 83-year-old mother, who has lived in her San Francisco home since 1962 but is now threatened with eviction. “She brings home $981 a month and her mortgage is more than twice that amount. How in the world did she even qualify?” Aside from predatory loans, there was also “fraudulent paperwork” from an investment group. “We won arbitration in court on the case, but our monies are running out. We were good paying customers. We never missed a payment. It has been a horrible mess. For Phillips, 59, ACCE stands out for its understanding of the members’ needs. “It’s not like other organiza-tions where the organizers are the ones doing all the talking and telling us what we want.” She adds, “It’s one thing to complain but it’s another to help. ACCE has been there the whole time, steering us which way to go... We’ve gone to the banks and held protests and marches and sit-ins,” she says. “We actually closed one bank down – a Wells Fargo branch. The banks are admitting the loans were irresponsible, but basically saying, ‘Too bad!’”
Annie McKinzie, Oakland
Ask Oakland resident and ACCE member Annie McKinzie what she thinks is the most pressing issue facing ordinary Californians today and she won’t hesitate. “It’s the foreclosure crisis, an issue I know something about.” It’s also an issue that McKinzie, 63, a retired insurance agency administrator, has been fighting to change. “Too many people are losing their jobs and their homes in California, but the ripple effects are also terrible,” she says. “We were talking to our City Council in Oakland and said we did not want squatters, drug dealers, or prostitution coming in because of all the abandoned foreclosed homes. I helped to organize a walk-through in East Oakland with some of the Council members. We toured 150 homes in just a few square blocks.” Her story highlights how predatory banking practices have hit home across the state. “Four years ago, my bank wouldn’t even talk to me when I was trying to get my adjustable loan modified to a fixed,” McKinzie recalls. “I must have spoken with 15 different lenders trying to get a modification. Eventually, the mortgage company said they would work with me – but four months later, a sheriff and a real estate agent came to my door. I was given 15 minutes to vacate my home. The sheriff told me, ‘Ma’am, your home has been sold in an auction. Your bank sold it.’ I didn’t even know the house was up for sale. I had no place to go. It was just devastating!” McKinizie is not one to give up. “I’ve told my story in Washington, D.C., to Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee. They wanted to hear from witnesses that lost their homes because of predatory loans,” she says. McKinizie likes the fact that ACCE goes door to door, speaking to the people directly. ACCE advocates around issues that matter,she says. “As long as people are still hurting, ACCE will keep the foreclosure issue out front.”
Alicia Jimenez, South San Francisco
Alicia Jimenez is a multi-tasker to the extreme. A devoted mother, wife, grandmother, and ACCE member, the 60-year-old South San Francisco resident has been instrumental in improving her neighborhood in a variety of ways: Supporting the schools, working with senior citizens, preventing home foreclosures, getting broken sidewalks repaired, and demanding more opportunities for kids, such as building more parks and supporting after school programs. She believes the key to progress is getting more people to speak out – and that’s where ACCE has impacted her neighborhood. As a neighborhood leader of ACCE, she says the strategy is “to build an alliance, so that we are speaking together as one community, not divided.” One of Alicia’s proudest achievements was convincing the city to install six new stop signs to slow speeding drivers, at intersections where she says accidents were just waiting to happen. Not that it happened overnight: “I’ve been asking for stop signs for probably 30 years,” she notes. “Do people have to get killed in car accidents for them to start putting the signs up?” But she remained vigilant. “I even walked the streets with the Chief of Police and the Mayor and City Engineer, to give them a tour…. I’ll go anywhere to fight for what I want, a four-way stop sign, traffic lights, more lighting on the streets, more speed bumps, more crossing guards near the schools, whatever it is!” As a member of ACCE, Alicia raises awareness – and voices – in her neighborhood to help the community get things done. “We have to be heard," she says. "How else does government know what we want?”
Giselle Quezada, San Francisco
All children are supposed to receive equal treatment under the law. But in California, schools are racing to the bottom. The state ranks 44th nationally in per pupil spending and 46th in education spending as a percentage of personal income. Those stats are even more compelling when considering that California’s public schools have the largest number of immigrant “English language learners” and among the highest poverty rates in the country. That’s where San Francisco resident and ACCE member, Giselle Quezada, comes in. An impassioned advocate for California’s kids, she was a spokesperson on behalf of ACCE when the organization became a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the State of California in July to have California’s educational system declared unconstitutional for failing to equally and adequately fund its schools. The suit also alleges that disparities across the state in teacher quality, class sizes, resources, and facilities violate equal protection clauses. “We have to sue. Not only are we losing teachers and seeing class sizes skyrocket, but districts are eliminating librarians, nurses, school psychologists, core courses in art, music, PE (physical education) and electives,” Giselle told the San Francisco Chronicle (“Suit accuses state of unequal school funding,” July 13, 2010). “Support for our schools needs to be kept at the level required for a high-quality education, and not just during good economic times.” Giselle, 57, has also participated in State Capitol rallies and spoken up at City Hall to raise support for a pro-education bill by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, intended to “close the loophole” for commercial property owners under Proposition 13. “If we don’t fight for the future of our young kids, what’s going to happen to them?”
Millicent Hill, Los Angeles
ACCE member Millicent Hill is known endearingly to all who know her as “Mama.” That is because the retired LAUSD teacher of four decades has tirelessly devoted herself to running much-needed after-school youth programs out of her home. A hand-made sign taped on her front gate reads, “Mama Hill’s Help Inc.,” to welcome the public during designated hours. Under her roof, Mama provides about 150 kids aged 5 to 18 each year a safe-haven from the pervasive gang violence, teen pregnancy, parent incarceration, drug abuse, homelessness, and sometimes, just hopelessness in the neighborhood. The kids receive tutoring, counseling, mentoring and job skills – even piano lessons, if they ask, and a nutritious after-school snack. Mama’s work has earned recognition from the likes of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, along with modest funding from the City of Los Angeles. In 2008, due to city funding cuts, Mama Hill needed a loan, but ended up falling victim to a predatory mortgage broker who disappeared after lending her money at a much higher interest rate than promised Before she knew it, her home was on the auction block. That’s when she and her fellow ACCE members took action. They organized a press conference with elected officials on her doorstep and brought news camera crews to the courthouse to try and stop the auction. The strategy paid off, and Mama was able to arrange an alternative rent-to-own situation with her bank that will keep her doors open. Mama Hill has since become a community leader on banking issues, helping organize dozens of her neighbors who have also faced foreclosure. In the summer of 2010, she led ACCE's successful effort to pass the LA Foreclosure Registry Ordinance, which requires banks to register properties in foreclosure with the city or face penalties of up to $1,000 per day per property.
Privacy Policy