MEET THE STAFF

Ofelia Bello, Executive Director

ofeliabello@youthunited.net

Ofelia joined YUCA in 2019 as executive director. Born and raised in East Palo Alto, Ofelia is driven by her roots in this community, her love for the people, and the powerful history that resides in her hometown.

Ofelia loves working and organizing with young people from East Palo Alto and working in coalition with renter leaders who have been fighting for housing justice in this community, for years. Ofelia’s background is in urban planning and public policy, with expertise and specific interest in community development and housing. Ofelia currently sits on the East Palo Alto Planning Commission, chairs the Pahali Community Land Trust board of directors, and is a board member on the California Community Land Trust Network. She is humbled and grateful to join the YUCA family after having volunteered with the organization since finishing her master’s degree.

Ofelia holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara in Sociology, U.S. History and Sociocultural Linguistics and a master’s degree in Urban and Public Affairs from the University of San Francisco.

Kenia Miranda, Director of Operations
kenia.najar@youthunited.net

Kenia Najar Miranda began as a core member with YUCA. She led numerous campaigns and social justice work as young person for 4 years before she went off to college at UC Santa Cruz. During her time at YUCA, she participated in the immigration campaign where her and other young people collected petitions for the California Dream Act, led Know Your Rights Presentations in the community, and sat on coalitions that worked in San Mateo County to stop referring young people and adults to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While a youth organizer at YUCA, Higher Learning Components such as, political education workshops, toxic tours, breaking silences- inspired her to obtain a degree in sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies.

Her passion to resist inequality and injustice comes from growing up in a unique place like East Palo Alto. YUCA and UC Santa Cruz established a revolutionary consciousness that she will carry with her indefinitely.

Kenia is grateful to be back, and thrilled to instill the same passion that was passed down to her in other young people of color. Kenia will be leading as our Social Justice and Equity Program Director, guiding YUCA young people through pressing social justice issues.

Kenia holds a B.A. in Sociology & Latin American and Latino Studies.

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time” - Angela Davis

Cristal Montes, Higher Learning Program Director
cristalm@youthunited.net

Cristal Montes has always had a passion for social justice. In high school she was able to discover her passion for climate change, immigration and being a mental health advocate. Her and her family moved around a lot in her childhood, places like Redwood City, East Side San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Modesto. However, her and her family have been in East Palo Alto since she was 8 years old. She is the oldest of four children, and is close to them as well as her whole family. Growing up in places like she did, made her realize early on that there were huge differences between how she grew up compared to individuals from other neighborhoods. 

Cristal is passionate about being able to share her knowledge with those interested, making a difference in people’s lives and getting to know individuals from different backgrounds. She also has a passion for reading, and you can always find her with a book. She is always eager to talk about the books that she has read, and has a “Bookstagram” where she shares reviews of the books she has read. One of her goals is to strive to destigmatize mental health in BIPOC families like her own Latinx family.

Cristal was the first in her family to graduate from high school. She was also the first one to graduate from college (in a pandemic!), Notre Dame de Namur University, where she received a BA in psychology. She is thrilled to be on this new path as Co-Program Director. She is excited to learn from her colleagues, youth and community members!

Amy Arrellin, Higher Learning Campaign Organizer
amy@youthunited.net

Amy Arrellin is excited to be back at YUCA as our campaign organizer. She was born and raised in East Palo Alto. She began her work with YUCA in 2015 as a youth core member. During her four years at YUCA, Amy worked on affordable housing and environmental justice campaigns. Throughout her time at YUCA, Amy contributed to hosting several Black Lives Matter and affordable housing rallies. As well as contributing to hosting political education meetings, toxic tours, and breaking silences.

In 2018, Amy left YUCA to pursue a bachelor's degree in psychology which she is currently in the process of finishing up. During her time at YUCA, Amy became passionate about community work which led her to volunteer and work with many other nonprofit organizations in East Palo Alto. Amy is excited to be back at YUCA and contribute to helping youth give back to their communities.

Filiberto , Higher Learning Campaign Organizer
fili@youthunited.net

Filiberto joined in 2019 as a core member, and was instantly amazed by the work that was being done at YUCA. He is a lifelong resident of East Palo Alto and has always held some interest in helping out his community. After learning about climate change and environmental injustices in school, he realized that he wanted to do something about it, but he just didn’t know where to start. Until he was introduced to YUCA and now he is going down the pipeline.

While at YUCA he helped lead and plan multiple events including but not limited to a housing art gallery and biennial haunted house. He has given many speeches at a multitude of events like an OPA rally, Earth day Rally and consistently participated in public city council meetings. He has co-published a few projects and articles, and even got to go to conferences in Chicago and Spain.

He graduated from Menlo-Atherton in 2021 and plans to further his education through YUCA and eventually other sources. He is excited to continue his work and leave a lasting impact in the community, and is very hopeful to mentor the next generation of youth to do the same.