Our Story

Our organization began with a desire to address concerns within the Conejo Valley Spanish speaking community regarding opportunities and services offered to our children in the local public schools.

Spanish speaking families, regardless of immigration status, fluency, or income, benefit from having a clear voice in our community. Adelante Comunidad Conejo is working to build a strong voice for Latino families here in the Conejo Valley.

We elected our first officers on August 28, 2018. Lilian nee Mendoza Teran was the first president of Adelante Comunidad Conejo. Our efforts began with two primary areas of focus; Education and Community Awareness. A delegation of Adelante members met with the Conejo Valley Unified School District leadership regarding concerns about services being offered and the flow of information to and from Spanish speaking families in the district.

In its first year, Adelante Comunidad Conejo accomplished so much more than we ever imagined was possible.

Hosted a Tardeada Familiar, which included keynote speakers, breakout sessions, food, music and opportunities for outreach by local entities including City of Thousand Oaks, County of Ventura, Conejo Recreation and Park District and Conejo Valley Unified School District. Close to 200 people attended and we had 40 community service vendors including a highlight visit by our local firefighters!

Sent officers to meet with the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District. This became a regular monthly meeting which resulted in productive discussions where concerns were raised and addressed.
Joined community partners to support latino families including the staging of an “emergency” quinceanera, volunteer and fundraising support for the local high school Latino Scholarship Banquet, mentoring support for a deportation housing crisis, and an amazing Fiesta Navidena attended by hundreds of happy families.
Participated in community meetings with the goal of increasing understanding of community interests and building awareness of Adelante’s work.
In summer of 2019, Adelante completed the process to become a 501c3 non-profit public benefit corporation.
We continued to meet monthly in space provided by the United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks.

2020 brought many changes to Adelante Comunidad Conjo. We began the year focused on advocacy and networking, meeting with school district officials and listening to members of our community. Then the COVID19 pandemic arrived and everything changed.

When public schools closed in mid March, calls from confused and frightened parents began. School lunches were being offered at a number of CVUSD sites but federal rules required children to appear at the lunch pick up. It was cold and raining. Moms were afraid to take children out into the pandemic. Many lacked mid-day transportation. Adelante leadership reached out to the CVUSD to find a way for families who could not come to the distribution sites to receive food. We worked with Child Nutrition, who sought regulatory flexibility, and we were given permission to deliver meals to these families. Little did we know that this step would lead us on an amazing journey into the world of food insecurity.

The first day we delivered school meals to two families. Our organization president, Lilian Teran, heard their stories of reduced work hours and empty shelves at the markets. We returned with food we purchased ourselves.
By the end of week 1, two families had become 8, then 28. A team of volunteers were delivering school lunches and bags of groceries. We were sorting and bagging in the trunks of our cars, often in the pouring rain.
United Methodist Church’s food pantry had closed due to COVID19 and we asked for and received permission to use their kitchen to pack school lunches and assemble bags of groceries.
28 families became 64, 64 became 128. We used our contacts to spread the word that we needed donations, shoppers, and delivery drivers. Our volunteers worked 5 days each week. We used social media to ask friends to look for and buy toilet paper, rice, beans, milk. Items that had never been scarce became impossible for our families to find.
Along the way, we made many new friends including apartment manager Cali and his wife Amy at Shadows Apartments. They first offered to distribute lunches to the 84 families who were getting CVUSD lunches from us and then opened their COVID19 closed community room as a food pantry. Now we were pantry operators!
During the summer of 2020, we were approved as a FoodShare affiliate and were also welcomed into the FoodForwardLA family. The number of families we were able to help and the products we were able to provide was greatly expanded. Along with that came the need for more volunteers. A lot more volunteers.
We offered Saturday drive through fresh produce and food pop-up pantries each week.
From summer of 2020 to summer 2021, we have distributed fresh produce, meat, chicken, cheeses, milk, eggs, and dry goods to about 200 families each week.
But that’s not all….

As schools reopened remotely, Spanish speaking parents were intimidated by the technology, confused about devices, and unable to get help after they got home from work. (remember, many were still working in essential jobs) Adelante leadership worked with the CVUSD to convey concerns and develop solutions.

Friends working in retail marketing connected us with opportunities to receive housewares including furniture, bedding, and kitchenware. We have given out thousands of dollars of homegoods to Conejo Valley families. What a joy! And there’s more….

We partnered with the Ventura County Health Department to reach Spanish speaking residents with vaccination opportunities. And it worked! We used our trust capital to encourage folks to say yes to vaccinations who were not comfortable getting vaccinated at places they didn’t know. We offered prizes, Spanish speaking help, and food.

Bringing local Latino voices into important community conversations

Open Air Free Marketplace Volunteers celebrating the fixed up restrooms!

President Lynda Karl and Vice-president Carole Shelton

Lynda Karl

President

Lynda Massuh Karl was born and raised in Guayaquil – Ecuador. She has 5 sisters and 5 brothers. She is a married, mother of 6 children ranging in ages from 7 to 34. Lynda is also a proud grandmother. Her family is the center of her life.

Lynda followed her mother, brother and sister and migrated to the United States in her early 20’s. She left most of her family in South America once she called California home.

Lynda received a college education in Ecuador and despite this felt trapped, not being able to: read street signs, bus schedules or ask for directions upon arrival in the United States. She knew that she must learn English in order to thrive in her new homeland. Lynda worked a number of menial jobs that allowed her to interact with a diverse community while practicing her newly acquired language. Soon thereafter Lynda was able to put the education received in Ecuador and in the United States to use while raising her son, as a single mother.

Lynda met and married her husband and they started raising their children together. While their oldest children were in high school, they decided to add to their family. The birth of their first son would change their lives forever, he was born medically fragile. He requires round-the-clock care which prompted Lynda to leave employment outside the home. For the last 16 years, she had to learn an entirely new normal; the language she worked diligently to acquire, did not seem to be the same language her new reality needed. Once again, she needed to revamp herself.

Since 2013, she has worked at a Family Resource Center that provides support to families like hers. Through her work, she met other families and, eventually, became involved in advocacy for individuals with disabilities. Advocating for the needs of her own child, she learned about families who, because of their language barriers were kept from receiving services to which they were entitled. It was then that she became interested in lending her voice to those who were not ready to speak for themselves…at least not yet!

Carole Shelton

Vice-President

Carole Shelton was born in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, California. She has four older siblings and one younger sibling. After growing up in Highland Park, she moved to Thousand Oaks in the fifth grade.

Carole and her family were close and spent all of their free time traveling and camping in their motorhome. Her mother was born in Mexico City, Mexico and her father was born in California. Her parents enjoyed Latino culture and that was an important part of her upbringing. Moving to Thousand Oaks was a culture shock but a necessary move due to the unrest beginning in Los Angeles at that time. She takes great pride in the accomplishments of her civic and social justice minded family.

Carole entered the public-school system as a bilingual student whose first language was Spanish. She did not have barriers to education but did experience the bias of low expectations despite being a GATE identified student. She also experienced bigotry for herself when certain boys were not allowed to share her company because she was Mexican.

She got her first job at El Taco de Mexico because she was fluent in both English and Spanish. As a young adult, Carole worked in medical offices that served communities suffering from inequity in accessing healthcare. Carole left this important work when the demands of caring for two children with disabilities became more than a full-time job.

She has now re-discovered her passion for advocacy for those who are experiencing barriers to access of education, healthcare, competitive employment, and full representation in their community, or are held back due to the bigotry of low expectations. She firmly believes that all individuals have the right to access education, work, play, and recreate in their communities.

Carole’s story is still being written and she is proud to have her involvement with Adelante as one of the many chapters.

Mission

It is our mission to bring Conejo Valley Latino voices into important community conversations regarding our schools, city services and recreational opportunities. We advocate for those not yet ready to speak on their own behalf and seek opportunities for Latino families to reach their goals by creating educational and networking opportunities in conjunction with other community stakeholders.

Mission

Nuestra misión es llevar, la voz Latina del Valle del Conejo, a importantes conversaciones comunitarias relacionadas con nuestras escuelas, servicios por parte de la ciudad y oportunidades recreativas. Nosotros abogamos por aquellos que, aún no estan listos a hablar por si mismos y, buscar oportunidades en conjunto con todos los interesados.

Goals

Advocacy - we are prepared to listen to Latino community concerns, bring those concerns forward to local agencies, and speak on behalf of those who are not ready to speak for themselves.

Networking - local community connections are key drivers of change. By attending events, participating in discussions, and meeting other community influencers, we position Latino voices to be heard and seen as respected community voices.

Support - as needs arise, Adelante is prepared to step in to make a difference in the lives of local Latino families. Our efforts range from seeking donations for individual families in crisis, advising and guiding community members who are struggling to interface effectively with local agencies, and hosting gatherings designed to address food security, inform families, encourage pride and build community connections.

Metas

Abogacía – estamos preparados a escuchar las preocupaciones de la comunidad Latina, traer esas preocupaciones frente a las agencias locales y, hablar a nombre de aquellos que aún no se sientan listos a hacerlo por ellos mismos.

Enlace – conexiones locales son clave para lograr cambios. Atendiendo eventos, participando en discusiones y, reuniendonos con quienes influyen a la comunidad, ponemos la voz Latina en posición de ser escuchada, vista y respetada.

Apoyo – A medida que las necesidades se presentan, Adelante esta preparado para llegar y hacer una diferencia en la vida de familias Latinas, locales. Nuestros esfuerzos van desde recaudar donaciones para familias en crisis, una por una; aconsejar y guiar miembros de la comunidad a interactuar efectivamente, con agencias locales; amenizar reunions diseñadas a informar familias, alentar el orgullo y construir conexiones con la comunidad.