Ricardo Almodovar, January 10, 2022

MARY FOLTZ: I am going to hit record. My name is Mary Foltz, and I'm here with

Ricardo Almodovar about his life and experience in LGBTQ organizations in the

Lehigh Valley and beyond. This interview is a part of the Lehigh Valley LGBT

Community Oral History Project. Our project has funding currently from ACLS, and

we are meeting today at Trexler Library at Muhlenberg College on February 10,

2022. So Ricardo, thank you so much for being here with me today.

RICARDO ALMODOVAR: Thanks for having me.

MF: And I want to start by asking you, could you please state your full name and

spell it for me?

RA: Yeah. My name is Ricardo Almodovar, R-I-C-A-R-D-O 00:01:00 A-L-M-O-D-O-V-A-R.

MF: Thank you. And will you please share your birthdate?

RA: Yeah. My birthday is November 15, 1989.

MF: And before we started this interview, you signed a consent form, but I just

want to review the consent questions. Do you consent to this interview today?

RA: Yes.

MF: Do you consent to having this interview transcribed, digitized, and made

publicly available online in searchable format?

RA: Yes.

MF: Do you consent to the LGBT Archive using your interview for educational

purposes in other formats? That could be websites, articles, films, presentations?

RA: Yes.

MF: And do you understand that you will have 30 days after the electronic

delivery of the transcript to review the interview, to identify parts that you

want to delete, or you could withdraw the full interview from the project.

RA: Yes.

MF: Great. Okay, we've got the business out of the way, so I'm going to start

our interview with this 00:02:00question. Will you tell me a little bit about your childhood?

RA: Yeah, sure. So I come from a relatively big family, with a Puerto Rican

background. My parents moved to Lancaster in the mid-80s. I was born and raised

in Lancaster, and I have four brothers. So my mom was in charge of taking care

of the household and, at the time, four rambunctious boys. And so I grew up in

the city, and it was more of an urban POC working-class community.

I was always, you know, curious -- a curious child. And I first came into

contact with, I guess, the outside world, or with people that think differently

than me when I joined our 00:03:00concert band. And so I built a strong relationship

with our director and learned to play not just one but several instruments, but

I initially started out with the trombone. And so that's what kind of started

my, I guess, engagement in community beyond just my academic life, and beyond

what I had to deal with at home.

So yeah, I joined the concert band in elementary school in fourth grade. I

picked up the trombone and my director, or the band director, was confident that

I would, you know, be a great performer, so she signed me up to play my first

solo ever, and I did. And that really impacted my life in a way that I never

thought 00:04:00 would.

And so it made me want to dig deeper into the music field and, granted, I'm no

musician. I still perform to this day, interestingly enough, and I'll talk about

that a little later. But it's what opened me up to meet more people, gain

different perspectives in life, and open my eyes to a whole different world.

Music, if you think about it, is almost like a whole other language, and being

able to exercise that part of my brain and that part of my mind and making these

connections helped me further on in my life.

So I come from very humble beginnings. My parents moved, like I said, to Puerto

Rico in the mid-80s, and we bounced around from apartment to house and back

again. My very first year of life, actually lived in a shelter, and I'm a

product of the social services and public school system in Lancaster. Who knows

where I would 00:05:00be or where my family would be were those services not provided or

that support system not present.

And so I always keep that in the back of my mind when I'm doing this work or

when I'm doing any work, really, in general. And I share that because you never

know what's going to happen in your life, and despite some hardship, that there

are ways to move forward in your life. And so I went to multiple middle schools,

multiple elementary schools, in my early life, and that's how I was able to make

connections and meet people, and I still have some of those connections to this day.

And I come from a very close-knit family as well. We still have strong

relationships, not just with my siblings, not just with my brothers, but also

with our 00:06:00greater extended family -- aunts, uncles, my dad has 14 siblings, my

mom has four. So my family, most of them live in Lancaster. Some of them live on

the island, but we have family members from all over the U.S. But after

graduation, or rather, continuing my studies in the school district of

Lancaster, I felt like I needed to do something with my life. I knew college was

calling me, but I didn't know how that would look like.

So after I graduated high school, I actually took two years off and started to

work. Built some work experience, made some connections, but then after two

years and the lack of upward social mobility and living paycheck to paycheck, I

was like, "I need to go back to school. I need to do something with my 00:07:00 life."

And so I started off at Harrisburg Area Community College, where I earned my

associate degree in social science. I continued and transferred to Millersville

University and earned my bachelor's degree as a dual major in international

studies and Spanish language.

But throughout my college career, I joined so many organizations, from the

environmental science club, the student government organization, CALOR which is

our Latinx student group on campus. But all of that, I guess, originated from my

involvement even in, you know, elementary school, middle school, and high

school, being part of so many music groups. Anything band-related, you name it,

I did it, I'm a band geek. A proud band geek. I played in the concert band, jazz

band, wind ensemble, pit orchestra, county band.

But I think what impacted me the most, or what I enjoyed the most, is our

marching 00:08:00band. And so I enjoy marching down parades. I enjoy halftime shows

during football games. And sadly, you know, marching band in college was too

much of a commitment for me at the time, working two, sometimes three jobs just

to support myself. I decided I wanted to continue my music ambition, and so

instead of joining Millersville's marching band, I joined the New York City's

Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band. And we performed for gay pride

parades all over the east coast, and I made so many connections with folks, not

just in New York City, but the general area.

We performed for Capital Pride in D.C., Providence Pride in Rhode Island, which

is the only one at night. We have neon lights and glow lights and all of the

things. It's so much 00:09:00fun. But I think, you know, music has played a huge part in

my life, and in my career, and I'm glad that I'm still able to continue that,

even, you know, despite my busy schedule. Pride month, as you all know, is June,

right? [laughs] So June is a very busy month for me. So I could dedicate maybe

half of May and all of June to perform for all of these different gay events

through the gay band, and then every now and then maybe go to a football game at

Millersville University. But I'm a huge music supporter. The arts are so

important to student life and professional and personal development, and it's

played a huge part in my life.

So music has helped open so many doors for me, and helped me develop the many

skills and abilities I have to connect with people. And so that's how I got 00:10:00involved with so many student groups, and why I wanted to meet so many people

and build relationships, not just with all of the different student groups on

the different campuses that I'm involved with, but with also, you know,

professors and administrators.

I always tell folks, "You never know who you're going to rub elbows with, right,

you never know who's going to be your next coworker, your next supervisor, your

next boss, even," so I always try to be nice, I always try to be kind, and I

always try to at least build some type of relationship and keep in touch with

folks, even though we may not be in, you know, a direct -- even though I might

not be in their direct vicinity.

So after college, after graduating from Millersville University in 2016, I moved

to the Lehigh Valley. I obtained my first job fresh out of college, and I worked

for Make the 00:11:00Road Pennsylvania. I was able to start their base with our director

and several other folks, and we finally opened an office in the Lehigh Valley,

in August of 2017, I believe. But we were sharing offices with SCIU prior to

that, which is one of our strongest partners. SCIU is Service Employees

International Union. Healthcare PA.

I've learned fairly quickly that we can't do this work in isolation, and that we

rely on partnerships and on relationships. And as I emphasized earlier, we need

to make sure we build those relationships because you never know what help or

support you may need down the road. And so some of these folks at SCIU have

actually met throughout my college career. With the different events that we've

helped organize and the different conferences and summits that I was able to

participate, and so at Make the Road, that first year we were doing a ton of

civic engagement 00:12:00 work.

We led weekly action committee meetings where we not just provided civic

education opportunities, we would share an article or a video on what's going on

in this country, particularly in Latinx and immigrant communities, but we were

able to open up a discussion to talk about how people feel about what's going on

in this country, and then close off by how we can take action. And during that

meeting, we'd also share a meal. We'd also sing songs, and it's very

community-focused. And we wanted to build community through food, through music,

and through community organizing. And we were successful in doing so in the

Lehigh Valley and in Allentown, being the third-largest city in the state.

There's so much potential in this area, and we saw it, and we saw potential in

our people. And we were 00:13:00confident that we would be able to do big things in

Allentown and beyond. And so like I said, in 2017, we opened up our office in

what people would call, "The Hood," where a large number of folks are POC, or

people of color. We were very intentional about where we wanted to base our

headquarters here in Allentown, and so we were on Eighth Street, right outside

of the downtown area, and that's where we not just met for these meetings but we

also were able to onboard several canvassers during different campaigns.

And so I'm proud to say that, in 2018, during the midterm elections, we had a

Make the Road action, the largest canvassing operation of the 00:14:00year, and we

knocked on over 200,000 doors and we were able to sway the votes significantly.

Granted, our candidate didn't win, but we were able to build relationships with

folks, not just in Allentown, but in the general Lehigh Valley and make those

connections beyond that campaign. And let folks know that we have the power to

change the political landscape in Pennsylvania, and it just takes time. It takes effort.

And we may not always win everything, but if we don't try, then we've already

lost. And our work basically is us extending that invitation to folks to join in

their own movement, to join in their own liberation. And how we did that is

through community organizing, through door knocking, through 00:15:00canvassing, through

text banking, and generally building relationships with folks. If people don't

trust you, it's so hard to bring them on board, it's so hard to get them

involved. And it makes it that much harder to implement campaigns or to push for

certain policies that benefit all of us.

And I've learned throughout the years that systemic oppression requires systemic

change, and we want to organize and mobilize community members to talk to their

legislators to push for policies that will benefit us all, particularly around

immigration. Particularly around, you know, environmental justice. And, you 00:16:00know, events, for instance -- and that's evidence that some of the events that

we've organized -- I remember, and I've been arrested a few times, I remember

the first time I got arrested was right after the 2020 elections, right before

Trump was inaugurated, we wanted to push Tom Wolf to close down Berks Detention

Center, which incarcerates families, including children -- immigrant families,

including children, and in Leesport, our neighboring county, in Berks, right,

and so we took over the intersection, literally in front of the Capitol Building

in Harrisburg.

And so we had a number of us that represented the different families

incarcerated in Berks Detention Center. And we locked 00:17:00arms and they chained us,

and we had a sit down, and we demanded that Wolf close down the detention

center. And we were successful in that we pushed the administration to revoke

their license, the Berks Detention Center license, but during the appeal

process, they were still able to function, sadly.

And so I remember it was a cold winter, because it was in December, literally

right after the November elections, and despite the cold, we had folks that were

passionate about creating change and supporting immigrants, undocumented or not,

to the point where, you know, we decided to put our lives and our safety on the

line, and so that was the first time I -- what is the term? That was the first

time 00:18:00I engaged in an act of civil disobedience. And then the second time was for DACA.

So the day after the Trump Administration rescinded DACA, a number of us decided

that, you know, we need to disrupt business as usual, because 200,000 lives were

disrupted because of -- because we don't have those protections for DACA. The

folks that are unfamiliar with DACA, it's the Deferred Actions for Childhood

Arrivals that protects undocumented youth from deportation, and it allows young

folks to work, to drive, and go to school in this country without that fear, and

gives folks that piece of mind. And so after it was rescinded, those 200,000

folks were now at 00:19:00risk. And so we went to several Congressional offices and we

occupied them. We said, "Y'all are representing us and we want immigrants to be protected."

And so after hours of, you know, pleading to the administrators, to their staff,

and requesting a meeting with, at the time, a Congressperson -- his name escapes

me. We decided to just occupy, and so there were four of us in the Lehigh

Valley, and there were actions throughout the state, and we just sang songs. And

songs were like, you know -- oh. "We shall not/We shall not be 00:20:00moved," and then

we just kept singing that over and over again. And then, "El pueblo/unido/jams

ser vencido," or in English, "The people/United/Will never be divided," or

some people would say, "Defeated," but that's another conversation. And so after

occupying the Congressional office, you know, the police came in and took us

away in handcuffs.

But despite that, I feel making the -- or spreading the word in regards to DACA,

after it being rescinded and getting folks involved and it being livestreamed

and, you know, I would continue putting my life on the line if it meant that

folks would be protected, if it meant that we could make this world a better

place. And so those are just a few examples of some of the actions that we

organized through Make the 00:21:00Road and through some of the work that we've been

doing over the last few years, but it seems like there are constant attacks, not

just against the LGBT community or the immigrant community, but just, you know,

the working class communities.

Folks in general, you know, they were stripping away healthcare from millions of

people, and one of my first actions even before my first arrest in Harrisburg

was a 24-hour occupation of Pat Toomey's office, because 24 million people were

at risk of losing their healthcare back then, and that's why we were there for

24 hours, to represent each of those folks. And o spreading the word on these

issues, you know, we had to come up with different tactics, whether it's an

occupation, right, a Congressional occupation or a sit-in or a march or a rally

or a 00:22:00protest. You know, these aren't just things we think of out of the blue,

it's caused by, you know -- or, rather, it's a strategic escalation on how we

can create that change, you know.

Sometimes we'll start off with a petition or we'll start off with, you know a

meeting with a legislator. But then it goes up and up until, at some point, they

need to hear what we have to say, not just in terms of, like, immigration, but

in terms of like policy and legislation. And so after a year of organizing with

Make the Road Pennsylvania, I was able to we realized that, you know, there are

other communities that are being attacked. And that first year, during Trump's

administration, it seemed like they were targeting LGBTQ+ folks across the

country. They took down the LGBT content from the White House 00:23:00website. They

tried to ban trans folks from serving in the military. They tried to take away

protections from LGBTQ+ folks in the workplace.

Almost every month there was something, and so after having the conversation

with our director at the time and several other folks who were like, "Maybe we

should open up and start a LGBT committee," and so we went to work. And so some

of our colleagues and allies and accomplices, we met and we were like, "How can

we get the queer community together?" And so we had to meet people where they

were, right? And so we were like, "Well, where are they?" Allentown is a huge

city, right? Where can we meet the most amount of queer folks, who are LGBTQ+ people.

I mean, we have the Pride 00:24:00event that happens once a year, but then we also have

the gay bar. We have Stonewall right up the street from where the office was.

And so we organized a group of about ten of us to go to Stonewall, and we

created a Google form to keep track of folks, and so we simply went around, at

the gay bar, before it was like drunk o'clock, before folks started to get

really inebriated, and went out of our way to talk to people, and we simply

asked, "Hey, how do you feel about the trans ban in the military?" And then we

would have a conversation, and then we would follow up with, "How would you feel

about having a LGBT committee or an LGBT group to fight against hate in

Allentown and the Lehigh Valley?"

And 00:25:00so almost everyone we talked to were on board, and so within an hour, hour

and a half, we were able to collect contact information for about 80 people with

a team of about nine or ten of us, simply just having conversations with folks

at a gay bar. [laughs] And so then as the organizer, I followed up with every

single one of them using our Google forms, which is an important tool that we

use, and we collected their phone number, and I was able to -- and their email,

and I was able to make phone calls and texts and sent out emails and inviting

them to our very first committee in 2018 I believe it was. And so at our first

committee, we didn't even have the name of it, for Make the Road, or the name of

the -- we didn't have an official 00:26:00title for the committee itself under Make the Road.

So at that first committee is when we decided, let's think of a few terms. Let's

think of a few titles, and so Amor y Rabia came up and people liked it. We voted

on it and we were like, sure, that works. Amor Y Rabia in Spanish means, "Love

and hate," and that's exactly what we felt like expressed the meaning of the

committee, because in the LGBTQ+ committee, we have a ton of love for each other

and ourselves and our communities, but there's also -- I'm sorry. Not love and

hate. Rabia means, "Anger."

So a lot of us are angry because the system is against us, and a lot of us

suffer so much because of homophobia, transphobia, and overall hate in this

country. And so Amor Y Rabia came 00:27:00about, and we met regularly, Saturday

afternoons at our organizing center here in Allentown, and that's where we were

able to bring some of those components from our action committee, like civic

education and even food and music and we were able to organize different events.

And we wanted it to be also community-focused and to also share and express our

cultures, and the diversity of our membership.

And so we organized different events from open mic nights. We hosted drag shows.

We've hosted even a rainbow Zumba night where we just danced the night away and

worked out some of the stress that we had to deal with on a regular basis. And

then, you 00:28:00know, those were ways to, you know, alleviate stress, just to come

together and organize those events, and also develop community leadership.

You know, as the community organizer, I didn't feel that I should be the main

face or the spotlight for these events, so we were very intentional on building

other folks up and giving them an opportunity to, you know, be the MC for the

event, or to perform at this event. Or to create a flier or to spread the word,

and to really pass on the lessons that we learned as an organization to regular

community members, and, you know, I've always learned, we want to organize

ourselves out of a job, right? We want other folks to become organizers and

provide those tools and resources so they can rise up as well.

And so some of those folks are still active to this day and are still working

with Make the Road 00:29:00Pennsylvania. Some of them have moved on. Some of them are

continuing their education, and some of those folks I still stay in touch with.

But at the core of it is to, you know, organize and mobilize LGBTQ+ folks of

color in Allentown and the Lehigh Valley, and to combat homophobia, bigotry, and

overall hate. And we did that by, you know, simply existing and organizing and

mobilizing, and when there was an attack against our community, whether it's the

trans ban in the military or other issues, we were able to stand up and organize events.

For instance, we had one of the largest LGBTQ+ rallies or marches in Allentown's

history right 00:30:00after the Trump trans ban, and we met up at our organizing center

here in Allentown, and we were able to recruit speakers to talk about the

importance of the LGBTQ+ folks or the LGBTQ+ community. And, you know, raise

awareness on queer justice and queer history and we can't sit idly by when

they're trying to -- when certain folks are trying to erase us out of existence.

When they don't want us to, you know, serve in the military, and if they don't

want us to, you know, survive, you know, I learned throughout my organizing

career, it seems like there are certain folks that don't want certain

communities, particularly marginalized communities, to exist or, you know, 00:31:00 they

want to enslave us, or they want us gone. You know, so Make the Road gave us

that space, that safe and brave space, to have those conversations, to learn and

to grow, but to also bring in other folks to participate in their own liberation

and their own movement.

And so after being at Make the Road for a number of years, and passing the torch

onto the next community organizer, and he's still there to this day, Armando

Jimenez, and I decided, or rather, an opportunity came up to do this work in my

hometown. There's no place like home, like Dorothy says, right?

So in 2019 I came across an opportunity to work for CASA Pennsylvania, and both

CASA Pennsylvania and Make the Road Pennsylvania are partner 00:32:00organizations, and

they do a lot of social justice work and Latinx immigrant and Spanish-speaking

communities in Allentown, Reading, Philadelphia -- or, rather, make the Road is

in Allentown, Reading, and Philadelphia, whereas CASA Pennsylvania is based in

Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, Lebanon, and Chester Counties. Another thing that

CASA does in addition to community organizing and social justice work, because

they provide services like green card renewals, DACA renewals, civic engagement

work, and even tax prep.

So working with CASA and some of the AmeriCorps VISTAs that provided those

services helped with organizing community members in Lancaster. And with having

strong roots in the Red Rose City, I was able to start the 00:33:00base, and not only

was I able to open up the office in Allentown for Make the Road years prior, but

I was also able to help open up the office for CASA Pennsylvania in Lancaster in

2019 my first year working for them.

And so very similar to Make the Road, we organized regular meetings. We had, you

know, popular education opportunities, where we would share resources or

articles or videos on what's going on in government or in politics. And we were

also able to coordinate efforts with some of our other partner organizations,

including Make the Road, and we were able to mobilize for different events and

for different reasons.

And so what's great about community organizing or 00:34:00what's great about

partnerships is you can make things much larger, right? And so in some of those

events, like, you know, Shut Down Berks or fighting against the trans ban in the

military, you know, we were able to communicate with each other. And so

oftentimes, if there was an event that impacted folks in the Lehigh Valley or

folks that were affected -- particularly around what Make the Road was doing or

like what CASA was doing, and if we needed to go to Harrisburg, for instance, to

lobby, or if there was a statewide action, we would coordinate efforts.

But then if there were any national or federal-level public policy work that we

wanted to engage in, then we would also coordinate efforts and we would take

buses to go to Washington, D.C., for instance. And as I mentioned, you know, in

order to do this work, we have to have 00:35:00strong people-focused relationships, and

so with CASA and Make the Road being part of the Center of Popular Democracy,

which is a national network that focuses on social justice work and providing

those resources and those connections, you know, has helped with pushing for

immigration reform, has helped with mobilizing folks and registering voters and

getting them out to the polls and providing translation for voter guides or for

ballots or many other items that were necessary for non-English speakers.

And so after community organizing for years and years, through Make the Road

Pennsylvania and CASA 00:36:00Pennsylvania, I felt I needed a break. And so I took a few

months to just breathe, to recoup, and I decided -- or, rather, an opportunity

came up to continue my organizing work digitally, and so the Democratic National

Committee was recruiting digital organizing fellows for about a five- or

six-month fellowship program. I was like, you know what, that seems interesting.

I don't have to be there permanently, and who knows who I might be able to meet,

and so I was able to spread the word regarding government and politics through

the Democratic Party and working with the state Democratic Party and the county

and the city of Lancaster, and meeting some of the political 00:37:00operatives in

Lancaster and throughout the state.

And mind you, most of the work that I've been doing is nonpartisan, but if you

really dig deep into this country and in our lives, everything about us is

political. From the schools we go to the roads we drive on, to the homes we live

in, to the type of education we receive, everything about our lives is

political. And as a, I would say, political operative myself working with the

DNC, I'm also a strong critic of the Democratic Party. It just so happens that

one party decides to, you know -- or, rather, let me rephrase that. It just so

happens that certain 00:38:00political parties support certain things over others. It's

only -- how would I word it? Not to sound political or anything. [laughs]

There's a fine line, right?

At the end of the day, you know, we want to fight for full justice, you know? I

always look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? And, you know, how can we --

or, rather, people shouldn't just survive, you know, the lowest rung, right?

Food, clothing, housing, you know, if all of those things were guaranteed to us,

how much folks could do in their lives? We want folks to not just survive but we

want folks to thrive. And I always think about that when I'm doing this work,

and so after my short fellowship with the Democratic National 00:39:00Committee, I came

across an opportunity to work for the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center as

an organizing associate.

And so they offered me a six-month contract, and after working for them for six

months, they extended it to a full year. And during my year at PBPC, I worked

specifically under the We the People Pennsylvania campaign, which was created in

2018 to make state government work for all of us. And through We the People

Pennsylvania, it's essentially -- or, rather, We the People Pennsylvania is

essentially three initiatives. Number one, it's a coalition of state

legislators. Number two, it's a coalition of nonprofit, nonpartisan partners.

And number three, it's an actual campaign.

So it's a roadmap for Pennsylvania to move forward for fair housing, fair

funding for education, clean air, clean 00:40:00water, and all of those folks, the

legislators and the community organizations and community members alike, helped

draft that roadmap or helped draft that campaign. And through our statewide

coalition, and some of those partners were my former employees, including Make

the Road and CASA Pennsylvania, I'm still able to continue our working

relationship with them.

But, you know, also work through other initiatives, which include language

access in Pennsylvania. And so I was able to meet with several issue-based

advocacy groups, like the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition,

and some of their partners, and we worked to develop a language access plan at

the state level. And I continue some of that language access work to this day.

And so our hope, through the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy 00:41:00Center, is to

organize a campaign launch or a budget summit in multiple languages.

And we were successful in bringing all of our partners together, and one of our

largest events, where we had 500 folks in a Zoom room, I believe, right before

Tom Wolf's budget proposal, to talk about, what is it that we want the

administration to invest in? We want Tom Wolf's -- or we want our state

government to invest in our roads, in our schools, in clean air and clean water.

And through the We the People Pennsylvania campaign, working with legislators in

the Pennsylvania General Assembly, in the House and in the Senate, and through

the roadmap we were able to coordinate all those efforts and get hundreds of

people rallied together to talk about public policy, to talk about the state

budget, and how we can 00:42:00all take action to make this world a better place.

And I'm proud to say that we were able to successfully meet regularly with all

of these folks and create change. One of the things that stands out in my work

through the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and working with my direct

supervisor at the time, was Kadida Kenner, and she's the director of campaigns

for the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, and she is the chair for Why

Courts Matter Pennsylvania, and talking about the judiciary and the state

courts, right? If we learned anything over the last couple years, it's that

courts matter. And, for instance, when the last administration tried to contest

the election results, where did they go? With Commonwealth Courts of Pennsylvania.

We focus so much energy and time on the legislative and executive branches of

our 00:43:00government. What about our three co-equal arm, right? What about the

judiciary? There are many more MDJs -- magisterial district judges -- in

Pennsylvania than there are state legislators. There are 253 Members in the

House and the State Senate, whereas in the lowest court, the magisterial

district judge, courts -- the lower courts, there are well over 450 judges, not

to mention we have the Court of Common Pleas, we have the appellate courts, and

so working with Kadida Kenner, my former supervisor, working with Why Courts

Matter Pennsylvania, which is a campaign of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy

center, in addition to We the People Pennsylvania, and then separately. But

indirectly, working with the 99 Percent, which is also part of the Pennsylvania

Budget and Policy -- which is more a federal issue-based 00:44:00 advocacy.

And Jeff Garris, who runs that campaign and focuses on the American Rescue Plan

funding and how we want to use those billions of dollars for things that we need

the most. Sadly, you know, there are certain legislators that want to use that

funding for a rainy day, and they want to pay back debt that our state

government has incurred. But I don't know what other time it's raining more than

a global pandemic.

And so through the 99 Percent and through the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy

Center, we're able to work at the federal level and at the state level to make

sure that those billions of dollars, through the American Rescue plan, is able

to be used adequately for our communities. And so after completing my year

contract with the 00:45:00Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and working with We the

People Pennsylvania and all of our partners, I applied for a position to be the

Pennsylvania state coordinator for the campus vote project. And I got it.

And I started up, or I completed my contract with PBPC in July of 2021, and so

at this point, what, six, seven months ago, and I started my new role as the

Pennsylvania state coordinator for the Campus Vote Project in August. And if

you're unfamiliar with the Campus Vote Project, it was created in 2012, actually

we're celebrating our ten-year anniversary literally last week. And it's under

the Fair Elections Center. And the Fair Elections Center is a national network

of legal 00:46:00experts focused on litigation, voting reform, and advocacy.

And so I always jokingly tell folks, a lot of my colleagues, a lot of the

lawyers that we work with at the Fair Election Center are sitting behind their

desks just itching to sue somebody, because democracy is always under attack,

and sadly, voter suppression is a real thing in this country. And so we're

working diligently to remove barriers to voting, and through the Campus Vote

Project we're able to do that work on campuses in Pennsylvania and across the country.

So we work in 41 states, 280 campuses, with 3.4 million students enrolled in

those institutions. That's a huge electorate that we're trying to take advantage

of -- or that we're trying to get involved and creating change takes a village.

And so we want students, we want administrators, we want faculty, to talk about

democracy work, to talk about the elections, to talk about what's on the ballot,

and that's exactly what we do at the Campus Vote 00:47:00 Project.

And I basically run three initiatives through CVP. Number one is our democracy

fellowship, which is similar to an internship. I supervise 30 college students

in Pennsylvania doing just that. And they work about ten hours a week learning

about the system, learning and informing and teaching their peers, their faculty

and staff, what's on the ballot and general democracy work.

And so we have 30 in Pennsylvania and hundreds of democracy fellows and

graduates throughout the country. And there are ten -- there are currently ten

of me, well, ten state coordinators across the country, so here in Pennsylvania

it's myself, and then Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and in the south we have

Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, and Arizona.

And so we meet with all of our state coordinators on a weekly 00:48:00basis to discuss

best practices. To just, you know, vent sometimes, and some of my colleagues are

experts in their field. Some of them have master's or even doctoral degrees, and

I hope some of that rubs off on me. [laughs] And the second initiative that I'm

particularly involved with at the Campus Vote Project as the Pennsylvania state

coordinator is our voter-friendly campus program. And this is a national

designation that campuses declare to remove barriers to voting.

And so campuses have to submit a statement of interest. They have to develop an

action plan or a campus plan. And it also allows us to work directly with those

campuses. And this is also in partnership with NASPA, the National Association

of Student Personnel Administrators. And we're able to work more closely with

these campuses through 00:49:00the VFC process. And campuses have to provide elections

materials regardless, through the Higher Education Act.

At the Campus Vote Project, we're able to provide resources, training, and best

practices from across the country. And that's why we're on campuses. And the

third initiative that I'm involved with is our Pennsylvania Youth Voting Summit,

which is the largest in the Commonwealth, where we not only bring college

students together but also high school students involved in our democracy. We

bring in prominent speakers from the Commonwealth.

Last semester, we had it in October, and we had our Secretary of State,

[Veronica] Degraffenreid share on what our state government is doing. She talked

about her story, and the importance of the youth 00:50:00vote. And so we have a very

strong relationship with the Department of State, and in fact, we organized that

Pennsylvania Youth Voting Summit with them in conjunction with Pennsylvania

Youth Vote.

We also work with the Andrew Goodman Foundation. We also work with All In Campus

Democracy Challenge. And several other nonpartisan groups that focus in

organizing youth. And so that's a basic snapshot on some of the work that I've

been doing at the Campus Vote Project and the Fair Elections Center. And through

my life and through my career, I want to bring some of those connections and

hopefully inspire some of my students to do some of this work and continue not

just their education but also to, you know, I always tell 00:51:00folks, Why are you in

school? You're there to learn, to grow, but also to build relationships, to network.

And I always emphasize -- and I can't say it enough to my students. You never

know who's going to be your next coworker or your next supervisor, so use these

opportunities to meet people that are doing this work. And so not only do we

have our statewide cohort of 30 democracy fellows, and we meet regularly, but we

also have a number of professional development opportunities at the national

level. We have a national research and curriculum manager that works diligently

to bring the most up-to-date materials on redistricting, on community

organizing, on voter registration, and so we have discussion blocks where folks

can meet democracy fellows from across the country.

So we have so many opportunities for folks to meet here in Pennsylvania, but

then we also want to open up the doors for 00:52:00folks to meet folks from all over the

country. So that's really what stands us out at the Campus Vote Project, and I'm

so excited to continue this work and use my background and my experience to

essentially inspire young folks to do the same.

So my background is community organizing, civic engagement, and public policy

work. So by day, as I mentioned, I am the Pennsylvania state coordinator for the

Campus Vote Project, and we work to remove barriers to voting on campuses in

Pennsylvania and across the country. And at night, I serve on a number of

nonprofit boards.

I've been part of the Lancaster LGBTQ+ Coalition for about two years now, and so

we work with DEI initiatives -- diversity, equity, and inclusion -- trainings

and workshops, and so we've facilitated a number of discussions for different

businesses and organizations in Lancaster 00:53:00County. One particular is with Two

Dudes Painting Company. So imagine a room full of about 50 or 70 middle-aged,

mostly straight white men talking about rainbows, butterflies, and glitter. So

we broke down what LGBTQ+ means. And the importance of being respectful and

mindful for LGBTQ+ folks, especially as clients, or especially since they're

going to be potentially working with us.

And the other board that I'm involved with is Lancaster Pride. So Lancaster

Pride is a little different from the coalition, although we do regularly

partner. Lancaster Pride's focus is more of an event planning organization. So

we organize 00:54:00our annual Lancaster Pride festival, and our most recent one, for

the first time ever, was our Lancaster Pride Fall Fest in October. And we had

strict COVID restrictions. Sadly, we had to turn a few folks away. But despite

all of that, we had well over 3,000 people join us in a one-day long gay festival.

We took over the Clipper Magazine Stadium. We had about 140 vendors join in,

business, nonprofit partners, to share the work that they're doing. Through

tabling, and we had drag shows on site. And it was just a great day to just be

authentic, to be open, and to just be in the community. And so in Lancaster, we

have two LGBTQ+ nonprofits at Lancaster Pride, and then the Lancaster LGBTQ+ 00:55:00Coalition. And I just so happened to be on both of their boards, and my goal is

to bring them a little closer together, to build relationships, and to make sure

that, you know, we know what each other is doing. So we're not stepping on each

other's toes.

Another board that I'm involved with is the Keystone Business Alliance, which is

central Pennsylvania's LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. And so they support

businesses, not just in Lancaster but also in Harrisburg and Lebanon and York.

Even as far as Gettysburg. And it's membership-based, and we organize monthly

mixers, where we get a bunch of the queer businesses together, and we provide

support. It seems like I'm on a lot of boards, but we only meet once a month on

different days, so that's why I say during the day I do my office 00:56:00hours, 9 to 5,

right, and then in the evening I'm able to jump in on these board meetings.

And then the other gay thing I do, and I do a lot of gay things, but I'm proud

to say that I was an appointed commissioner for the Governor's Advisory

Commission on LGBTQ+ affairs. This commission we don't meet monthly. We rather

meet four times a year. And we are the direct line to the governor's office on

anything LGBTQ+ related.

So we work with the administration at the state level on public policy, on event

planning, and general LGBTQ+ issues. So our commission is made up of about

45-ish people, lawyers, executive directors, nonprofit professionals,

therapists, educators, and we meet to 00:57:00discuss, to talk, to vent, and to move the

needle for LGBTQ+ liberation in Pennsylvania. We're the first and only of its

kind in the country to do this work directly with the administration.

So if you're unfamiliar, you know, or, rather, as you may know, the governor's

administration has several commissions. We have a women's commission. An

Africa-American commission. A Latino commission. And then as I mentioned, this

is the first and only of its kind in the country we have an LGBTQ+ commission

under the Governor's office.

And so working with all of these LGBTQ+ organizations and learning what is going

on, I'm able to, you know, build all these different relationships and also gain

perspectives in life that I otherwise wouldn't have seen or noticed, 00:58:00and, you

know, attending these events like Lancaster Pride, going to some of these

mixers, meeting with the commission, really inspired me to do more. And I would

say has helped me become who I am today, you know. I've always wanted to do

something in the queer community. I don't know if I necessarily want to run my

own nonprofit or business, but I can at least learn what is going on in

Lancaster and throughout the state.

MF: You talked a lot about all of the organizing work you've done. Organizing

around immigration policy. Organizing in Allentown and Lancaster for LGBTQ+

communities. All the boards that you're on. I'm wondering about a kind of

personal history question, which is, when did you want to 00:59:00become active on

behalf of the LGBTQ+ community? Did that start in college, did it start in high

school? When did you decide that was something that you wanted to do, was organizing?

RA: And that's a good question. So I actually came out at the tender age of 16,

but only to two of my very close friends. And then it wasn't until 18 that I

really started to really come out to my family and more friends. And when I

started to embrace my homosexuality. And I didn't know exactly back then how it

would manifest itself in terms of like, you know, my career, community

organizing, or trying to make this world a better place.

But it wasn't until college that I -- or, rather, my first year in college, I

realized we didn't have a queer space. But I found out that we used 01:00:00to, and

that's when I decided to take action for the first time in my life and in my

career to bring the queer community together. And so I got all of the basic

requirements to re-found the allies group at Harrisburg Area Community College

back in -- when was it? 2010 at this point. And I facilitated our meetings and I

eventually became their president.

And so we were able to host, you know, fundraisers and drag shows and coordinate

efforts with the main campus in Harrisburg, and so that's when I began my, I

suppose, organizing experience. And then that's where I met my -- in college I

met my mentor, Adanjess Marn, who eventually became my supervisor, 01:01:00who was

the former state director for Make the Road Pennsylvania. So he really took me

under his wing and he was part of the Human Relations Commission in Lancaster,

and so I met him my first year in college, and he taught me more about queer

history than anyone has in my life.

And so I continued my educational career, and then we grew apart and then after

college he was looking for an organizer, and he hired me on the spot, basically.

Not that we grew apart, but life happens, right? And so, in college, I was

involved with our allies group, and as I mentioned, our environmental science

club. Some government association. And then continued that when I transferred to

Millersville University, and I helped out with their GSA.

And then I continued, you 01:02:00know, being involved with the gay band, the Lesbian

and Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band in New York City, and I started performing

with them since 2014, and I've performed with them every single year since,

other than these last two years with COVID. And so -- gosh. Wow. Looking back,

I've been doing a lot of LGBTQ+ work way back since 2010, and it's 2022.

MF: Do you have a sense of why you've been so interested in political

organizing, both for LGBTQ communities, but also organizing for greater access

to voting, to strengthen our democracy, to get people to participate in

democracy, to be aware of immigration policy that's impacting our communities?

Do you know where that drive comes from? Were politics a big thing in your

family? Were politics 01:03:00just something that you thought, this is where I want to

put my energy for social change?

RA: That's a good question. My family has nothing to do with politics. Nothing

to do even with music. I just, you know, things kind of, you know, I guess the

puzzle kind of came together for me in my life, and as a curious young child, I,

you know, took initiative. And in addition to that, you know, with my parents

struggling to make ends meet, I didn't want to be a further burden in their

lives, having to take care of our large family.

So any excuse I had to, you know, be out of the house, I took, which is why I

was so involved with band, and we had frequent concerts or after-school

practice, and at some point I did do some sports, simply because my older

brothers 01:04:00did. But it was never my passion. I always enjoyed music much more than

football or wrestling or track or anything. Although I did enjoy it, but it was

too much of a commitment for me to join in all of the things, so I had to choose

one or the other, and I chose music.

I chose concert band and marching band and all of the other music groups, and so

that spark, I guess, was created over the years of being -- of having to hide

myself for so long, and learning the harsh reality that a lot of folks go

through this in Lancaster and Allentown and Pennsylvani in situations much

worse than mine, and, you 01:05:00know, I always wanted folks to be their authentic

selves, right, to live fully and, you know, I am lucky enough to -- rather,

because of the support system I have beyond my family with some of my colleagues

and my friends, I was fortunate enough to continue my studies, fortunate enough

to be heavily involved in student groups, and meeting all of these folks, and it

inspired me to learn more about government and politics and voting rights issues.

And it allowed me to not just learn about it but also to share it out with

folks, and I'm able to facilitate discussions around our political structure in

Pennsylvania, and talk about the judiciary, and talk about all the different

facets of our government, 01:06:00and organize lobbying efforts, even. Introduce folks

to their legislators. Create opportunities to build bridges. And as I mentioned

earlier, systemic oppression requires systemic change, and we need policies. We

need laws. We need ordinances that protect all of us, and that we shouldn't just

need to survive. We shouldn't hide. But we also want community members to thrive

and move beyond their current circumstances.

And so through politics, through government, and civic engagement, I'm able to

express myself in a way that I feel will help others take action, since there's

so much at stake, especially right now in Pennsylvania. 2022 is going to be a

wild year with the U.S. Senate race and the gubernatorial 01:07:00race. We want to make

sure that whoever takes those seats, for instance, in addition to the other

elected positions, that they keep LGBTQ+ folks in mind, and they bring us to the

forefront, because when we all rise, or when LGBTQ+ people rise, we all rise.

MF: You've talked a lot about politics and your organizing work in both

Lancaster and Allentown. I think people that listen to our oral history project

in the future might be interested also about the culture. For Latinx community

and LGBTQ communities and their overlapping communities, could you talk a little

bit about the larger kind of cultural spaces of Allentown or Lancaster where you

are refueled in community spaces when you're done working? Maybe you never are

done working, because you are amazing. But 01:08:00where you do find joy and community

and fun in either Allentown or Lancaster where you're living now?

RA: I'm an extrovert, so I am recharged when I'm around people. I'm at my best

when I'm with, you know, particularly in queer spaces, you know? I enjoy going

to drag shows. I enjoy going to queer events. And I want to just be myself -- I

don't want to feel like I'm hiding myself, so as an extrovert, COVID really hit

me. Not too hard, thankfully, you know. Because I was still continuing my

community organizing work, just in a different way. Just through Zoom and behind

the camera, right?

And so my passion comes 01:09:00from, you know, sharing the beauty of humanity with

others and letting them know that, you know, you might have gone through

hardship, but it's not always going to be that way. And you can still, you know,

make great connections with people, and you can still experience life to the

fullest, but, you know, it's okay to not be okay right now, but just don't let

it consume you, and we'll be here when you're ready.

MF: Do you have favorite bars in Allentown and Lancaster? Favorite community

spaces that are like, okay, I have a night off, this is where I'm going? I think

people ten years from now will wonder, "Where did people go in 2022? Where were

the hot spots?"

RA: I don't know if I could say like I have a favorite, because anywhere you go,

as long as you surround yourself in good 01:10:00company, would be a great space.

[laughs] Interestingly enough, I was a much bigger drinker in my earlier 20s,

more so than now in my early 30s, so although I do enjoy going to bars, a lot of

the bars are no longer open. I used to frequent Stonewall. I lived walking

distance from there when I lived in the Lehigh Valley. Tally-Ho in Lancaster

closed down, which is the only gay bar out there. And so we're losing our queer spaces.

But, you know, with being part of the Lancaster LGBTQ+ coalition, Lancaster

Pride, the Keystone Business Alliance, I have all these different opportunities,

all these different events to be in those queer spaces, so I don't necessarily

need to go to a gay bar or a club 01:11:00to meet my, you know, needs or whatever, that

I'm able to also be part of those events, and yeah, I don't have a favorite --

all that to say I don't have a favorite. And it's not just, like, the nightlife

either, you know?

I, you know, with some of the organizations I'm involved with, we want to make

some of these events kid-friendly or make them sober, and for some of our more

seasoned folks, you want to organize -- or some or our elders, we want to

organize jazz events or jazz nights. And even with the faith community, organize

an interfaith service or something like that. There's a lot of healing that

needs to be done between the faith and the LGBTQ+ community, and we need to have

those conversations.

You know, we should have had these not just with the faith and LGBTQ+ 01:12:00 community,

but when it comes to being out, being authentic, and when it comes to social

problems, we should have had a lot of these conversations like yesterday. The

good thing is the next best time to do it is now. And so I hope that I inspire

others to do that, to speak with their relatives, you know? During Thanksgiving

dinner, have that conversation, or, you know, bring your partner to meet your

family. And just, you know, participate in the fullness that is humanity.

MF: You just mentioned two topics I wanted to follow up on. You know, healing

and faith communities, and conversations with our families about who we are and

our authentic selves. Have you personally had challenges within a faith

community, or 01:13:00personally you had stories about coming out to family members that

you wanted to share today?

RA: I'm very lucky that I didn't have to go through much hardship coming out. I

had some resistance from family members. My mom thought it was a phase that I

would get over. But here I am, well over a decade later, I'm still hella gay.

Some of my other relatives thought it was a phase, but I'm still hella gay. And

so I didn't have too much trouble. I think the biggest issue I had is, you know,

with the Church itself.

I was raised Catholic, and so I've gone to -- or, rather, I've seen several

people, and I've tried to ignore folks that have organized anti-gay rallies or

marches, and the church I used to go to as a kid, or that I was raised in, ended

up having an 01:14:00anti-gay protest in front of their church. Literally right before

COVID, interestingly enough, and it just was disgusting for me to find out that

the church that I was raised in, that I was baptized in, I had my first

communion in is -- and I've known they were strongly anti-gay, but for them to

be so clearly anti-gay and outspoken is just, you know, ridiculous to me.

And so I actually, you know, called them out and, you know, they took down all

the posts on social media, for instance, and they haven't done anything like

that since. I think it was mostly new leadership. Their previous priest moved

away, or something happened. But that doesn't justify what they did. [laughs]

And that's not just in the Catholic Church, sadly. It's common in several

churches across the country. And I've been working 01:15:00diligently to build

relationships with pastors. In fact, a lot of my close friends are gay Black

pastors that went to seminary.

In Lancaster, we had the Lancaster Theological Seminary. And a lot of them, a

lot of my friends are recent grads or have preached in local churches, and I've

been learning a lot in regards to the faith community and some of the work that

they're doing to combat homophobia, transphobia, and bigotry in the church. And

I realize it, and they also realize, there's so much healing to do, but that

takes time.

And in fact, one of the things that I'm working to build in Lancaster is an

advisory board for Lancaster Pride, and so we realized that not everyone can be

a board member and meet every single month, but what this advisory board, they

would meet four times a 01:16:00year to help Lancaster Pride in its mission, vision, and

values, and one of those seats is one of faith.

In addition to business economics, in addition to government relations, and so

my official title for Lancaster Pride is their community liaison. To build

relationships with other organizations and to bring people in to Lancaster

Pride. And so with all of the connections that I've developed over the years,

you know, and working with this advisory board, so this will be the first time

we've ever had an advisory board for Lancaster Pride.

We're working to continue our relationship, but also to more institutionalize

some of these changes using some of our partners or with some of our partners

and to spread the word that, you know, queer people exist in Lancaster and we're

not going 01:17:00anywhere. And that there are different ways that people can do that,

and working with the faith community and working with the LGBTQ+ community is

one way that we can make this world a better place.

MF: Have you found an inclusive religious community for yourself, or have you

found a way to -- I guess just found inclusive community that can support your

spiritual self, your full self?

RA: So I would consider myself more spiritual than religious. [laughs] Sadly,

religion really hasn't been my friend, or in some ways maybe, in other ways not

so much. But, you know, I've attended several services for MCC denominations and

for UCC, and they tend to be, you 01:18:00know, more inclusive and affirming. But those

are really, you know, unless I'm going to like a baptism or a wedding where

otherwise I wouldn't have a choice, I would much rather prefer an MCC or a UCC

church. And we have so many, and I've been to the one in Lehigh Valley. Is

Pastor Beth still here?

MF: Yes, yes.

RA: And there are a number in Lancaster as well.

MF: We're about towards the end of our time, but before we conclude, I just want

to give you some space. Is there anything you wanted to share today that you

didn't get a chance to share? Anything that you think, oh, I wish I would have

talked about this?

RA: So if you're here listening to my story, yes, I'm hella involved. I strongly

encourage you to be 01:19:00involved as well. But please don't compare yourself to

others. Don't feel like you haven't done enough. I've had so many people say,

"Wow, you're doing all of this, what am I doing with my life?" But it's okay.

It's okay to take your time. It's okay to learn, to grow, and to be in your own space.

I am just fortunate to have done this for well over a decade, and that I'm able

to build strong relationships that I still keep to this day. And I really hope

that some of my work inspires you to do the same. You know, whether you're ready

or not, you know, we'll be here when you are. So, you know, thank you for

listening and for, you know, being part of this story, and this process, and I

hope that we can continue telling our stories and educating future generations

on what we have been doing, not just here in the Lehigh Valley but beyond.

MF: Thank you so much, Ricardo. I am 01:20:00inspired just sitting here with you. You

are amazing. I'm a fan of yours and I'm grateful for all that you do. Thanks for

being here today.

RA: Oh, thank you. You're too kind. Thank you.