Directions to 1900 Fruitvale Avenue, Suite 2A
Unity Council
Arabella Martinez founded the Spanish Speaking Unity Council (commonly called the Unity Council) in 1964 to improve the quality of life in Oakland’s Fruitvale District. This nonprofit community development organization achieves this by supporting small businesses, youth empowerment programs, community events, parents and seniors, housing and financial assistance programs, and a Head Start preschool. Unity Council serves over 8,000 families, including seniors, immigrants, asylum seekers, and communities of color. During Arabella’s long, productive tenure (1964-2005), she served as the organization’s first chief executive officer, spearheaded the $100 million Fruitvale Transit Village project, and raised over $200 million in support of the Unity Council, the transit village, and open space initiatives. Today the Unity Council serves over 8,000 families, including seniors, immigrants, asylum seekers, and communities of color.
Karely Ordaz, the Unity Council chief of staff, is helping carry on the tradition of service that Arabella Martinez began. She serves as the strategic advisor to the Unity Council’s CEO Chris Iglesias, fundraises, and guides the organization’s policy and advocacy goals related to social equity. A recent graduate of UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Karely has worked in educational, government, and nonprofit settings, bringing to the Unity Council a broad range of skills. Before coming to the Unity Council three years ago, she worked in San Francisco at Hamilton Families, a nonprofit organization working to move families out of homelessness. She also worked in the Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s office, and in Councilman Noel Gallo’s office.
Joining the Unity Council staff was like a homecoming for Karely who grew up in Fruitvale, which she describes as a “go-to place for newcomers.” The community nurtured her and her family when they arrived here from Mexico when she was four years old. The family lived across the street from the organization. The Unity Council and the programs they support assisted the family with free health care at La Clinica, bilingual education at Hawthorne Elementary, food, and clothing. It was grassroots activism that inspired Arabella Martinez to start the Unity Council and that same spirit of community empowerment and responsibility that inspires Karely, and what drew her to public policy. She wants to have a positive impact on what happened to her community.
The Unity Council is an “anchor organization” in the Fruitvale, home to Oakland’s largest Latino/a/x community, that works collaboratively with other service providers, nonprofit organizations, and local artists. The organization has worked with the Black Cultural Zone as a “thought partner” offering financial and administrative support. Resilient Fruitvale Collaborative is a group of 19 local organizations to work together to prepare for disasters such as the deadly Ghost Ship fire, the COVID pandemic, and other unforeseen crises. Housing is a common concern of all Unity Council’s partners, dealing with unaffordability and access to housing. (The Unity Council has purchased the Ghost Ship property and plans to build housing on the site.)
During the COVID pandemic, Unity Council collaborated with Favianna.com Studios to create a documentary series, “Real Fruitvale,” that featured stories of local entrepreneurs, agencies, health providers, and changemakers that support the community. The Unity Council held mass COVID testing days for the community which was disproportionately affected by the disease.
Karely cites crime and public safety as big issues currently impacting the Fruitvale community today. The Unity Council “facilitates conversations between policymakers and stakeholders,” and has invested heavily in security at the Fruitvale Transit Village, a major community hub for residents, shoppers, and commuters.
Karely has begun a stint on the seven-member City of Oakland’s Police Commission which oversees Oakland Police Department’s investigative and auditing practices. She joined the commission, she says, because she felt that it was important for that body to have her perspective as a woman, an immigrant, an East Oaklander, and a person who didn’t come from money. Having community members take part in the policymaking process can help Oakland reach a greater level of social and economic equity.
Listen to an interview with Karely Ordaz, Unity Council chief of staff: