In August 2023, Tropical Storm Hilary ripped through Coachella Valley, causing widespread flooding and damage, with the City of Palm Springs recording historic rainfall. In the aftermath, assistance came on many fronts and for many months.
To that end, a Build Coachella Fund grant via Inland Empire Community Foundation became a valuable resource for the nonprofit TODEC. Established in the early 1980s, the organization provides a lifeline for immigrants and their families in the region by offering advocacy, legal services, community organizing, civic engagement, and much more.
“With the grant, we concentrated our efforts in deploying assistance to farm workers that were impacted economically,” said Luz Gallegos, Executive Director of the organization. “During that time, there was a backlash from COVID and then Tropical Storm Hillary washed away our fields in the region. The only safety net that our farm workers have is their jobs. So, when that gets impacted, so do their families, and the economy.”
Gallegos said that the grant allowed TODEC to provide one-time financial assistance for workers who were impacted so they could purchase groceries and the like.
“This is where the greatest impact was,” she added. “We paid it forward.”
TODEC has been doing that ever since its humble beginnings.
More than 40 years ago, Luz Maria and Antonio Ayala were new Americans hoping to build their lives in Perris, Calif. They had worked diligently to organize with the community in Michoacan, Mexico, and eventually with the United Farmworkers and Civil Rights Movement in Los Angeles before moving to the rural Inland Empire to grow their family.
It was at this time that they began seeing a wide range of injustices impacting their neighbors in the Inland Empire—from how they were improperly treated by employers and profiled by police to being ignored by politicians and watched by immigration. The duo founded TODEC to assist fellow recent immigrants with various aspects of American life, including learning English, establishing citizenship, and creating new connections in their new communities.
“We didn’t have so many protections back in the 1980 as we do now as in the state and in the country,” Gallegos said. “Some of the farmers didn’t want to pay their workers so they would just call Border Patrol and they would deport them. My parents founded the organization because they were living those realities along with our community, and it was important to organize and advocate for this farm worker community.”
Elevating their stories and voices became key when sharing information with elected officials.
“Out of that struggle, TODEC was founded,” she said. “Since then, the organization has grown to be a regional hub for immigrants in the Inland Empire, from Blythe and Eastern Riverside County, all the way to the High Desert and San Bernardino County.”
Today, TODEC’s reach is considerable. Civic engagement and voting remain significant initiatives. To that end, TODEC mobilizes locals to vote and be heard at the polls.
Other programs and events stand out, too. TODEC’s Annual Festival Monarca y Feria Educativa, for instance, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, empowering thousands of community members throughout the event, which featured entertainment, advocacy, and valuable connection with community members.
As the group moves deeper into 2025, Gallegos and the team are keeping their eye on shifts occurring in today’s political climate.
“Right now, more than ever, because of the political climate, fear of immigration amongst our farm workers, especially those that are undocumented, has risen,” she said. “We’ve had families report that they have not left their house since election day.”
She noted that some of those apprehensions include fears of raids and immigration patrols.
“That’s why we provide free community education, immigration legal resources, and legal support so that the community members know their constitutional rights,” Gallegos said. “With the constant changes in policies coming from the federal level, we want to make sure that our community is well-equipped and well-informed.”
Learn more at todec.org.
This article originally appeared in the Desert Sun, April 2025.
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