This month, FRESC would like to honor one of the We Organize Westminster community leaders, Mañanin Ruiz. FRESC organizers first met Mañanin while door knocking in Westminster, Colorado and were immediately greeted with her kind smile and contagious energy. Since then Mañanin has quickly blossomed into an incredibly determined community leader. Mañanin often works six days per week and still makes advocating for WOW community group and her neighbors a priority. In the past few months, Mañanin has planned and participated in research meetings with local housing experts as well as city staff, asking important and tough questions regarding upcoming housing developments to get answers for herself and her fellow community members. This month, Mañanin and nine other WOW members attended a Westminster City Council meeting to accept a proclamation that highlighted the work that WOW has done to work towards affordable housing and responsible development. This was a memorable night because it was the first time in the history of the city that a proclamation was written and presented in Spanish. Mañanin expressed her passion for her community of South Westminster and shared with Telemundo reporters the importance of having a voice in decisions that are being made around housing developments. You can see her interview with Telemundo here . When asked about the importance of having a voice in decisions that are being made, Mañanin stated, “What we want is to have a voice in the future in order to have housing that we all can afford.” We are so honored to have met Mañanin join the We Organize Westminster campaign and are thrilled to continue working with her for more justice in our communities.

Mañanin Ruiz, We Organize Westminster Community Leader