UndocuMedia: from 2014 — Present

This past April marked 10 years since I became involved in the immigrant rights movement. Since 2010, I have been using my digital, grassroots organizing, coding, and artistic skills to advocate and fight for immigrant rights. I have worked on several important campaigns that have culminated in the passage of life-changing pro-immigration legislation and policies such as the CA Dream Act and DACA.

Ivan and I first met in Feb. 2011 at an immigrant youth retreat hosted by the CA Dream Network. From Feb. 2011 to Sept. 2012, Ivan and I worked together on several campaigns including stopping the deportation of a friend of ours, helped lead and organize the statewide efforts that culminated in the passage of the CA Dream Act, and created some resources that helped immigrant youth apply for DACA.

In June 2014, Ivan and I joined forces to create the UndocuMedia platform. At the time, I wanted to create a for-profit digital company because I was tired of being exploited by the non-profit complex. I wanted to be fairly compensated for my digital, artistic, tech, and organizing work and skills. Creating a digital platform to provide and sell these services made the most sense. I wanted to show other undocumented organizers, web developers, and social media gurus that our labor is valuable, we could create our own media platforms, be our own bosses, and earn a living wage. I wanted to create something similar to a mashup of Buzzfeed/Mitu/NOI but with a powerful social-justice mission at its core.

In mid-2014, when Ivan and I were brainstorming names for our joint venture, Ivan failed to tell me in full disclosure his knowledge of the term “UndocuMedia”. Ivan proposed using the term “UndocuMedia” for our joint venture and even repeated the visions stated by Nancy, Jesus, and Julio in their article (click here to read).

I trusted Ivan when he told me he had gotten permission from Jesus and that it was okay for us to use “undocumedia”. It wasn’t until 2017, when Nancy Meza rightfully called us out (Ivan and me) on Facebook that I became aware of its history. This is when I learned about the original UndocuMedia trainings and workshops, that more people were involved in it, and that Ivan had attended one of the first UndocuMedia trainings. This public shaming by Nancy Meza (well deserved) led to an accountability meeting and restorative justice circle with Nancy, Jesus and Julio in Oct. 2017 led by Imelda Plascencia.

At the Oct. 2017 meeting, we talked about the old and new UndocuMedia teams and philosophies and the need to not lose focus of the original mission and philosophy. I shared my own vision of UndocuMedia and apologized for not doing any research prior to agreeing to use the term “UndocuMedia” as the name of our join venture. At the end of the meeting, Ivan and I agreed to continue carrying the UndocuMedia torch and hold ourselves accountable to the original philosophies of Nancy, Julio and Jesus:

• Speaking for myself: I have had several check-ins with Nancy since the Oct. 2017 meeting.
• Upon realizing that UndocuMedia (the organization) had reached a point of much-needed change, that’s when I reached to Nancy, Julio, and Jesus for support.
• The UndocuMedia platform built by me and Ivan from 2014 to the present grew largely in part by the support of tens of thousands of people. Hence, the platform needs to be returned to undocumented immigrant leaders and the people. Lastly, people like Francisco and Ivan need to understand the aforementioned.

Several weeks ago, I reached and asked Jesus, Nancy, and Julio to be part of a transition team that would help UndocuMedia regain its mission and get back on its feet. They all agreed to join the Board of Directors if the opportunity is presented.

In the coming days I will publish more information about the plans to restructure UndocuMedia, expand the Board of Directors, create an advisory committee, bring about transparency, recruit a talented and diverse team, return the platform to the people, and much more.