Fanny Guzman Ortiz, Organizer & Housing Activist
Interview with Fanny Guzman Ortiz, a Boyle Heights resident involved in local community efforts to protect the housing rights of local neighbors. Recorded at the Sounds of California: Boyle Heights Festival (October 2021).
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Fanny Guzman is a community leader in East LA who works to protect the housing rights of local neighborhoods that are at risk of gentrification and displacement. While speaking with Margarita, Fanny shares a bit about confronting the hardships of her mental health, enrolling as a student at East Los Angeles College with her daughter, and contributing to the establishment of a community land trust with the organization Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL).
What has your experience been like working with the FCTL collective?
(translated from Spanish)
"I am very proud of the work that we have achieved collectively. Without having money and only having our imaginations and the desire to be inclusive of the changes that are happening, we must be the protagonists and do the work to fight and be able to bring the resources that we need. to follow our vision and mission of reclaiming land and homes so we can keep them affordable for the next seven generations and beyond."
How have you managed to stay grounded throughout the pandemic?
(translated from Spanish)
"The pandemic brought on some strong emotions for me, personally. There are times when I could not function as a human being. But I have learned that things have to change and that I am going to change with this pandemic because what happened before can't keep happening anymore. And that's the resistance between us to grow and adapt from our ancestors. They walk with us and the future guides us." -- Fanny Guzmán Ortiz