Nuestra Voz founder Alejandra Cervantes seeks to improve health of Sonoma Valley residents

Alejandra Cervantes leads a simple life so she can afford to do what she truly loves: serve low-income and immigrant families in Sonoma Valley.

Cervantes, who more than 15 years ago founded the nonprofit Nuestra Voz to promote health and wellness among Latinos, lives in a modest trailer in Boyes Hot Springs. She doesn’t own a car. She borrows her brother’s car when she needs to get to meetings.

Running the nonprofit can be a full-time job, but it’s one that doesn’t pay, said Cervantes, who is single and cleans homes part-time to cover the bills. Money isn’t a big deal, though.

“For me, what’s important is that people get over their depression, that students improve their grades,” she said in Spanish.

Through Nuestra Voz, she has connected hundreds of families to mental health services and leadership, fitness and cooking classes, as well as other educational programs.

“It’s in my blood,” Cervantes, 52, said about serving the community.

When moms came to her about wanting to stay fit but were unable to afford a gym membership, Cervantes found volunteers who could teach karate, yoga and Zumba in the community room at Springs Village, a Burbank Housing apartment complex in Agua Caliente.

It’s not easy to find people who are willing to donate their time, Cervantes said. However, she said she’s always looking to make connections to empower the women in the community and their households.

“She never stops. She’s always looking for ways to support (families),” said Maricela Calderón, who teaches the Zumba class.

Calderón’s brother, Armando, teaches karate. The classes draw up to two-dozen children and parents at a time. Maricela Calderón, who first started helping her brother teach karate about a decade ago before rolling out the Zumba class, said many families would not be able to participate in these activities if it weren’t for Cervantes, who also has helped to organize soccer competitions and theater performances that feature both children and parents. Cervantes also oversees the community garden at Larson Park.

“Our community needs it. They need exercise,” Calderón said. “They need support.”

Melva Aurora Bautista Hernandez, 32, started karate and Zumba classes about five years ago, shortly after the birth of her son. She said the classes helped her overcome postpartum depression.

“It’s a space for you to feel good,” she said.

When she’s not tied up in meetings, Cervantes likes to slip into her workout clothes and join the families in the classes. She’s authentic and the residents she serves appreciate that, said Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin, who described Cervantes as a woman “pure of spirit and intent” who understands the needs in the area.

“She’s in there,” Gorin said. “She’s been such an active member of the community, working very hard in the Latino community to provide services and fill a niche that has not been filled by other organizations.”

Assemblyman Bill Dodd, D-Napa, recently named Cervantes “Sonoma County Woman of the Year” for her contributions to the community. Cervantes not only has been instrumental in bringing health and education services to low-income families, she’s also organized for the past eight years the popular Mexican Independence Day celebration, held in the historic Sonoma Plaza each September. She said it’s an important celebration for Latinos in the community.

“It’s part of their culture,” said Cervantes, who moved to Sonoma Valley more than three decades ago from Mexico.

She grew up in Zirahuén, a small village in Michoacán surrounded by pine, oak and madrone forests. Her parents were farmers who harvested beans and corn to feed their 10 children - Cervantes was the oldest.

Besides marriage, there wasn’t much of a future for young women in the town, said Cervantes, who lucked out when she was accepted on scholarship at the age of 12 into a private boarding school a few hours from home. She went on to study accounting at a university in Mexico City.

“I wanted a different world,” she said.

After college, Cervantes returned to Michoacán to be closer to family. However, she struggled to find work in accounting and ended up at a factory making bunk beds and at a department store.

“I could have lived well there, but I wanted to support my family,” she said. So she and a cousin decided to move to Sonoma Valley.

“We didn’t know what would happen here,” Cervantes said.

When she arrived, Cervantes said she started cleaning homes and worked in the vineyards. She also volunteered at Saint Francis Solano Church, where she met individuals like Ligia Booker, founder of La Luz Center, a nonprofit that provides social, health, financial and domestic violence services.

“She was instrumental in the formative years of La Luz,” Booker said.

She said Cervantes volunteered at every event the organization put on, including the Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day celebrations. One year, she organized a contest where mothers made traditional dresses representing their Mexican states, which their daughters then wore at the Mexican Independence Day celebration. The contest was a hit, Booker said.

“We had a mostly-Mexican community that wanted to get involved,” she said.

“She is a tireless worker,” Booker added. “If we had booths, she was the first one who would help us put them up and she would be the last one cleaning up.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com.