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Community organizer dedicates life to social justice

November 2, 2007

Every week day Emilio Vaca kisses his wife and 3-month-old daughter good-bye and leaves his in-laws home in Kings Beach to go to work as an educator, organizer and community volunteer. More often than not, he doesn’t make it home until sometime after dinner.Emilio Vaca at Tahoe Women's Services meeting

Finding strength, energy and support in his family and the feeling of reward that he gets from helping the Tahoe community, Vaca dedicates himself to causes ranging from domestic violence to affordable housing. In his struggle to make the Tahoe community better, Vaca is also struggling to simply create a place for himself and his family.

Vaca, 28, has lived at Tahoe since transferring to Sierra Nevada College in 2003 and becoming the first Latino male to attend the school. After a slow transition to the Incline Village culture, Vaca’s work in the Tahoe community began in earnest when he became student body president.

“I went from helping to organize the largest community college student protest in Sacramento,” Vaca said, “to taking kind of a back seat (at Sierra Nevada College). Once I was elected student body president, I began feeling more satisfied with my political involvement and that’s when things really started working up again.”

He volunteers as a facilitator for a youth organization, sitting on the boards of various planning agencies and organizing community meetings about affordable housing.

Vaca spends his days and evenings working at Tahoe Women’s Services as the prevention project manager.

“We do all the education at the community schools about domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse,” Vaca said.

Out of a staff of 24, Vaca is the only male working for the nonprofit organization.

“Sometimes it can be just a little overwhelming,” Vaca said with a laugh. “But it’s great. I consider it a blessing and a humbling experience to work with 23 women.”

In addition to working in local schools, Vaca volunteers with an organization called Creciendos Unidos (Growing Together) and Creating Alternatives, a group that works to educate Tahoe youth about drugs and alcohol.


“We’ve sponsored several events that are alcohol free for our youth to come and hang out at. We’re trying to promote a healthy environment,” Vaca said.

Vaca also represents Tahoe Women’s Services in the struggle to create affordable housing for Tahoe’s working class.

“I sit on the board of the Workforce Housing Association of Truckee Tahoe,” Vaca said. “But Tahoe Women’s Services is also involved in the push for affordable housing. We have a safe house, and a lot of our clients are there for two months. In those two months they’re required to look for a job and get their feet back on the ground. But after two months they have nowhere to live because there’s nothing affordable.

“How do you even define affordable when the median house price is $500,000?” Vaca asked. “I’m truly fortunate that my wife’s parents have room for us to stay in their home while we search for a place to live.”

Vaca also sits on the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association board, another position that allows him to work to create low-cost housing.

“The NLTRA paid for the publication of a scientific survey we just conducted in Kings Beach to see how the community feels about affordable housing,” Vaca said.

“We’re really trying to make it a community effort. We got the county to give money too because they’re going to use a lot of that study for future housing developments too.”

Though he represents the Latino community by sitting on the boards of many different associations, including the community planning committee for the TRPA, Vaca maintains that he is not a spokesman for all Latinos.

“I was invited to a stakeholders meeting and I (wanted them to) define stakeholder,” Vaca said. “I don’t own a home, I don’t own a business, I’m a stakeholder in protecting my family but nothing else. I don’t want to be the token Latino that (agencies) use to check the Latino community off their list (of people to talk to). Just because I’m Latino doesn’t mean I speak for all Latinos.

“One of my big goals is to create a Latino Chamber of Commerce (for Tahoe). If I’m able to do that then we could bring a section of the community to the table to provide input. (That way) maybe in a year or two it won’t be me sitting at the table representing the community but it will actually be community member(s) representing (themselves). That’s the ultimate goal.”

Despite all of his efforts and all of the time that he contributes to the community, Vaca said, he doesn’t get weighed down by it all.

“My wife asks me every day, ‘Do you feel overwhelmed, overworked?’ No, I don’t because it’s really rewarding to know that I’m able to help shape policies and projects that are going to benefit the long-term welfare of our children and community.”

In his endeavor to create a place for himself and his family, Vaca is also striving to start his own consulting business, which would serve to help members of the community organize their own causes.

In the end, it’s Vaca’s family that matters most to him and keeps him going.

“I’m really glad that I have a supportive wife and family, otherwise I don’t know how I could still be involved in all the things that I am doing,” Vaca said. “My wife and my family are supportive of what I’m doing, of what we believe in.”

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Written by Allan Warren · Filed Under Nuestro Tahoe, People 

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