Celebrating Hispanic Heritage and Leaders

We’re celebrating Hispanic heritage and leadership with our new bus wrap. See what it looks like and the incredible people who inspired it:

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Making the bus

The inspiration behind the bus

Dr. Mayra Gómez

As an administrator, she has held the positions of assistant principal at Reynolds High School and Federal Programs Coordinator at Centennial School District. She earned a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Curriculum Development from Lewis and Clark College in the spring of 2017. She has been the Director of College and Career Readiness in WestLinn Wilsonville School District. Currently, she is the Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction in North Clackamas School District. Her passion is empowering and encouraging marginalized youth to pursue a higher education, empower their communities and serve as mentors to younger generations.

Pedro Moreno

Moreno has been a coordinator of the “Lideres Verdes” program for the past nine years. The mission of this program is to inform the public about local sources of air pollution and to rally the community to shape environmental solutions. Learn more

Teresa Campos

Campos has worked as Capacitation Coordinator at the Multnomah County Health Department for over 20 years. She is a proud advocate of community health workers.

Juan Carlos González

González serves on the Metro Council representing District 4, which includes parts of north and west Washington County, Oregon. Born in Forest Grove, raised in Cornelius and now living in Beaverton, Juan Carlos is a first generation Mexican-American passionate about equitable community development, environmental justice and grassroots initiatives. Juan Carlos was elected to serve on the Metro Council in 2018 and became the youngest and first elected Latinx Metro Councilor in history. González also serves on the UnidosUS Board of Directors. UnidosUS, formerly the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), is the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Learn more

Ignolia Duyck

As community outreach manager for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center in Cornelius, Duyck works with Washington and Yamhill Counties Community Based Organizations and other community agencies to keep underserved and underrepresented communities to get access to affordable and quality health care. Learn more

Ricki Ruiz

Ruiz has served the Gresham community as a community organizer and services coordinator. He now serves on the Oregon House of Representatives from the 50th district. Learn more

Serena Cruz

Cruz is the first Latina ever elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. A Lewis and Clark College alum, she went on to earn a Master’s in Public Policy at Harvard University and law degree from UC Berkeley. She has worked for local elected officials in Portland and is now the Multnomah County Chief Operating Officer and Director of County Management. Learn more

Carmen Rubio

Rubio is a local politician and Portland City Commissioner since January 2021. She has been actively engaged in critical issues while working as a policy advisor for several Portland elected officials. She has also served as executive director of the Latino Network, a local organization serving Portland’s Latino community. Learn more

Darleen Ortega

Ortega has served as a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals since 2003 and is the first woman of color and the only Latina to serve as an appellate judge in Oregon. Before becoming a judge, she practiced law for 14 years, focusing her practice on all types of civil litigation at the trial and appellate levels. In her time on the bench, she has distinguished herself as a court leader on issues of juvenile dependency and on efforts to address the structural inequities that affect operation of the legal system. Judge Ortega teaches Access to Justice at the University of Oregon School of Law’s Portland campus. She is also a frequent speaker on topics related to equity, privilege, combatting structural and internalized racism and oppression, and learning to recognize and value the perspectives of people at the margins.

Joaquin Lopez

Lopez is a performing artist and counselor whose work is grounded in personal transformation, self-expression, and Latino Queer identity. He holds a passion for producing cultural events that honor Latin American heritage and Latino Gay culture. In June of 2019, he released UNIVERSO, an electro-pop album that pays homage to his coming-of-age as a gay man. Learn more