How is it still so hard to get clean drinking water in America?

Betty Marquez will be exploring issues of environmental racism in southeast Los Angeles and its effects on the area’s residents. Having been raised in Bell, California with little access to the outdoors, she is passionate about claiming space for women of color through her hiking, backpacking, and traveling adventures. She is currently a teaching assistant at an elementary school where she interacts with brilliant first graders on a daily basis. Betty holds a degree in feminist studies from UC Santa Barbara.

Esperanza Mendez is a blogger and community advocate in Coachella, CA.

Jacob Patterson is a Queer activist with a passion for social justice, gender equality, and storytelling through digital media. Hailing from rural Crescent City, California, she returned to Del Norte County and Adjacent Tribal Lands after exploring her love for travel and volunteer work abroad. Since her return, she has begun community organizing, focusing on outreach work with youth, particularly women, girls, and members of the LGBTQ community. Currently a Youth Leader with the Opportunity Youth Initiative, she is working towards addressing youth disengagement in education and the local workforce. Jacob serves on Coastal Connections Youth Center Council, and facilitates a local community group, Gender Talk, with the mission of providing education, information, and support to all on issues of social disparities—work that takes form in weekly radio broadcasts, print publications, and video productions. Reporting interests for Jacob include equitable sex education, body autonomy, the BLM movement, indigenous peoples’ rights, domestic violence prevention, immigration reform, universal health care access, and creating safe spaces for Femme, Queer, and Trans bodies. When Jacob is not working on a campaign or out smashing the patriarchy, she is at home playing with her three dogs.

Kody Stoebig is a Visalia native who currently works with The kNOw, a youth media organization in Fresno, California. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fresno Pacific University where she earned a degree in communication and served as the editor of her school newspaper, the Syrinx. Kody’s work at The kNOw has centered strongly around youth development and community health. She has a passion for social justice and for giving others a platform to share their stories. As a fellow, she would like to focus on “stories surrounding gender issues and the unfair stigma those with mental health issues face in our society.”

Michelle Zenarosa is the project coordinator and co-editor of the Rise Up: Be Heard journalism fellowship at Fusion.