Ramirez seeks to start new vineyard worker service

When the governing boards of La Luz Center and Vineyard Workers Services voted to consolidate the two organizations, Kenneth Ramirez, who served as executive director of VWS for the last two years, became concerned that vineyard workers might not get the aid they need.

"We were providing attention to this really specific workforce. We have our specific approach, and we've been very successful in gaining the trust of that community," Ramirez said. "How you do that as a program under another nonprofit, I don't know." Officials at La Luz said the concerns were unfounded, and that all the programs and services that VWS launched would remain in place, under the direction of Outreach Manager Mario Castillo and Volunteer Coordinator Maricarmen Reyes-Larios.

"We have no intention of changing any programs," said Stephen Dale, who was named executive director when the two organizations merged. Ramirez was asked to stay on as a director of VWS programs, but turned the offer down. He instead hopes to launch his own nonprofit organization that would aid vineyard workers by expanding on many of the programs he helped launch at VWS.

"That's all I'm in this for, to continue this effort," he said. "For me, either I get a job doing this here or I get a job doing this somewhere else, but I'm invested in this community."

Ramirez is still in the very beginning stages of planning his new endeavor, but he hopes that it will go even further in helping migrant laborers than VWS was able to. He wants to find a way to support both the solitary migratory workers who arrive for a season and the families who come here in search of a better life. "I'd really like to look into some permanent housing," Ramirez said. "We need to address both the single males and the families."

The VWS sets up camps each summer to house workers during the harvest season. The camps are costly to set up, and over the years the trailers housing the workers have become increasingly run down and will require additional funds to repair. Ramirez said he hopes it will be more effective to establish permanent housing that could be utilized year-round, assuming he can find someone to donate the land.

Dale said he didn't have any response to Ramirez' plans to start his own nonprofit, but that he is for anything that will make the community a better place.

"If he's doing the same thing, and it's good for the community, all the power to him," Dale said. "There's a lot of things he has to do. He has to find the money."

For now, Ramirez said he is focused on establishing his nonprofit tax designation and finding the seed money to get the program up and going.

He said he expects he'll need to raise about $20,000 to start the organization, but that he is already working with several potential backers interested in supporting his efforts.

"I'm willing to work with anyone to promote this," Ramirez said. "I'm going to try this. It may work out, it may not, but I'm going to do it because I believe in it."