With deep love & gratitude: Celebrating Mónica María Hurtado
We are writing with deep gratitude and love as we celebrate our colleague Mónica María Hurtado through her transition from her role as Voices for Racial Justice’s Policy Director. Móni’s next adventure will be completing her Bush Fellowship, focusing on returning to Indigenous practices and centering popular education in community organizing. Her last day with VRJ will be Thursday, July 31.
In 2001, Móni began her journey as an immigrant, working at a community clinic. She first came to VRJ - then the Organizing Apprenticeship Project - in 2009 through her work to eliminate racial health disparities. A mentor recognized Móni’s passion and frustration, and encouraged her to channel her energy into organizing - so she applied to participate in our community organizer training.
After graduating from OAP, Móni stayed in touch with the organization and persisted in finding a role on our staff, joining as our Racial & Health Equity Organizer in 2014.
Through her leadership and vision over the past 11 years, we have supported countless policies - now laws! - that advance racial justice in Minnesota, connected community and built power across geography and identity, and co-created the Centering Community in Policymaking Framework. Throughout her time at VRJ, Móni has been steadfast in the truth that policy and policymaking spaces are used to legitimize and legalize racism and injustice - and that transforming those systems will in turn transform the realities and futures of Black, brown, and Indigenous communities.
In 2024, Móni was awarded the Bush Fellowship to interrogate and disrupt the ways in which community organizing and policy landscapes in Minnesota replicated and perpetuated colonial practices. As Móni’s colleagues, it’s touching and powerful to watch her continue her legacy of centering lived experience and disrupting the status quo - this time by intentionally reconnecting with her Colombian roots, centering popular education and Indigenous knowledge in her work.
When we ask Móni about the future of racial justice, she describes a vision of multicultural, intergenerational love, care, and joy where we are all able to enjoy happiness and ease. And, she lovingly reminds us through her words and actions that an essential part of getting to that future is embodying and practicing it along the way.
With our beloved community, Móni shares:
“I need to express how much I have enjoyed and appreciated spending most of the last 12 years being part of this great organization. It has been an honor as a leader, as a community organizer, as a latina woman and as human being to be in the struggle with all my wonderful co-workers, partners and allies.
It has been a beautiful journey, not only because it has given me a wonderful community but because I have been transformed in many different ways by each and all of you.”
Join us in wishing Móni the best as she continues to connect communities and transform our movements for racial justice.
