When Policy Threatens Our Communities, Latina Leadership Responds

January 13, 2026

When decisions made in Washington threaten California’s coastline, it is once again Latina leadership and community-rooted advocacy stepping forward to protect what matters most.

This month, Marcela Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, founder and executive director of Azul, stood alongside California leaders and community advocates at the State Capitol to push back against a proposed expansion of offshore oil drilling that would put millions of Californians at risk.

For Latino communities—who make up nearly 40% of California’s population—this is not an abstract policy debate. It is about health, livelihoods, and environmental survival. According to findings from the #AzulPoll, Latino communities overwhelmingly reject offshore drilling, recognizing it for what it is: a policy that concentrates pollution and climate harm in communities of color already carrying an unfair burden.

Azul’s message was clear and unapologetic:
This is not just bad environmental policy — it is environmental injustice.

Expanding offshore drilling along California’s coast would threaten clean air, clean water, and coastal economies, while prioritizing fossil fuel interests over people. Marcela and Azul are calling on federal leaders to remove California from any offshore drilling expansion and to invest instead in a future rooted in justice, sustainability, and community well-being.

This is what leadership looks like in real time.
Not silence. Not compromise at the expense of our communities.
But showing up, speaking out, and demanding better.

At Silicon Valley Latino, we believe stories like this matter — because they remind us that our voices belong in the rooms where decisions are made, and that Latina-led organizations are not waiting for permission to lead.