Dear friends,

Exciting news here at Monument Impact. We’re thrilled to announce the date for our 6th Annual Gala: September 7, 2023! Sponsorship opportunities and tribute ads are available–click here to get started.

This month we continue our advocacy work on behalf of tenants. We joined partners including ACCE, EBASE, FAME and Tenants Together to meet with Sen. Glazer’s team in Sacramento, and ask him to support SB 567, which will close loopholes for landlords to get around tenant protections. We asked him to support other pro-tenant and pro-affordable housing bills as well.

Monument Impact’s own José Cordon was invited by one of our generous funders, Latino Community Foundation, to participate in a conversation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Brookings Institution. Through his poetry, José helped to highlight the need for equitable distribution of pandemic recovery funds to support the recovery and prosperity of the Latinx community members like those we serve. Thanks to Latino Community Foundation for including José, as well as for its support of our Guaranteed Income pilot that now has a name: “ELEVATE Concord: Monument Impact’s Family Economic Equity Pilot.”

Closer to home, We were horrified by the news of racism and homophobia in the Antioch police force. Monument Impact centers DEI values and non-discrimination in everything we do. As such, we condemn these offensive text messages. The tenants and other community members we serve in Antioch are largely people of color, including Black residents. That’s just one reason why we spoke out to demand meaningful reform, and will continue to support partners working to help realize it so all can live free of discrimination in Antioch.

In the second half of the month, our team was hard at work pushing for the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors to commit to $5 million in tenant legal services. Since spring 2022, Contra Costa County has experienced nearly a quadruple increase in the number of eviction filings–the highest among all Bay Area counties. Meanwhile, just 7% of tenants have legal representation to face this life-disrupting event, while 86% of landlords do. Our supporters and staff wrote letters to their supervisors, and showed up to public comment on April 25. We’ll hear in the coming weeks and months the result of this push for funded legal services.

Your attendance and generous sponsorship at the gala will help us continue this work. Check out below for more details, and thank you for your support! 

In community,

Judith Ortiz, Executive Director

Save the Date for our annual Stronger Together GALA

Thursday, September 7th, 2023

Hilton Concord

This year will mark our 6th annual Gala, celebrating over 22 years of serving the low-income, immigrant and refugee community and we want you to be part of it: Sponsorship Opportunities and Tribute Ads Available.

Proceeds from Stronger Together will support our programs and help us serve even more low-income families in the Monument Corridor and East Contra Costa County. For any other questions or inquiries on this event, please contact Cindy Campos, Communications and Development Manager, at Cindy@monumentimpact.org or (925) 682-8248 Ext. 2230.

Maria Espinoza worked for a cleaning company for over ten years before she was laid off, leaving her with no job or means to support her family.

She aimed to move forward by taking this opportunity to do something better for herself and her family. Maria then took it upon herself to start cleaning homes independently; she created business cards and outreached daily to promote her cleaning service. After attending a community resource event, she learned about Monument Impact's Emerging Business Program and became aware of formalizing a business. She quickly made an appointment and met with our Business Coach. 

We're happy to report that Espinoza's House Cleaning was established and has been in business since October 2017. Maria is proud to be her own boss and, most importantly, can provide for her family financially.



If you are looking for cleaning services, call our emerging business support client Maria at (925) 323-7992. And if you are a Concord or Antioch resident wanting to start your own business, please contact Edith Guillen at edith@monumentimpact.org or at 925-682-8248 ext. 2105 for more information.

Meet Madi Blackmon, our Healthy Community Intern, supporting our Monument Moves program by promoting and developing a needs assessment. 

Madi is a senior at Oregon State University working towards her bachelor’s degree in Public Health with minors in Spanish and Human Development and Family Sciences.  

Before joining us as an intern at Monument Impact, she worked as an administrative and after-school program assistant at St. Agnes School in Concord.



We were lucky to have Madi recommended to us by one of our funders and partner, John Muir Health. 

“I was inspired to be a part of Monument Impact because I felt I could bring my skills and ideas to the program to help them further support the needs of the community”- Madi

Members of our Day Labor program and staff joined for a Day of Action!

This month, on April 13th, Members of our day labor program and staff joined The Safety Net for All coalition at the State Capitol to call on CA lawmakers to support SB227. Undocumented workers contribute to CA in many ways, and SB227 would fund an unemployment benefits program for undocumented workers in California. 

This month, our Healthy community team wrapped up its Contra Costa Cares program outreach and pre-enrollment fairs. Helping connect over 10,000 community members to much-needed primary health care services and successfully enrolling over 500 people in Contra Costa Cares.

Contra Costa CARES is a FREE health care program for uninsured adults between the ages of 26 and 49 living in Contra Costa County, regardless of legal status. 

The program was initiated in late September of 2022 and wrapped up this month, April 2023. Monument Impact’s promotores reached over 10,000 individuals with information on Contra Costa Cares. They successfully registered over 500 people through our registration fairs held in our Concord and Antioch offices.

“To hear a community member say ‘finally we are seen; there is someone who cares for people like us’ motivated me to keep reaching and connecting as many people as possible to this much-needed service; our community needs us but is scared to ask for help. Putting someone out there like them gives them someone they trust and rely on.” -Isabel, Healthy Community Promoter