By Alejandro Garcia Paz, MD; and John Albert Herrera, Foundation Mixtecos Unidos
In 2022, a woman was struggling to fund her child’s prescription. When Dr. Alejandro Paz heard about her plight, he incorporated the nonprofit Foundation Mixtecos Unidos (FMU).
The goal of the FMU is to establish workers’ cooperatives in Mixteco communities in Tezoatlan, Yucoquimi, Yuconiuti, and Yutatio, Oaxaca, Mexico, creating a model to be replicated. FMU has opened schools in arts, culinary skills, and music, and has helped provide laptop computers. A startup class is pending.
The Founder Dr. Paz
Dr. Paz’s parents were farmworkers who met while picking crops in Washington State. They settled in Escondido and found work providing landscaping services in Rancho Santa Fe.
Dr. Paz was born in Escondido and attended elementary school two blocks from Graybill Medical Group family medical center, where he works today. He completed junior high and his first two years of high school in Escondido schools and graduated from Vista High School after his family moved to Vista.
His credentials include an undergraduate degree from UC San Diego; a teaching credential from Cal State Los Angeles; an undergraduate degree from University of Utah School of Medicine; a Phoenix Baptist Hospital Family Medicine Residency; USPHS Navajo Area Indian Health Service; and a master’s in public health services, among others.
He is currently the president of the Graybill Medical Group and is responsible for outpatient family medicine and contracting with health plans affiliated with Sharp Community Medical Group, among other leadership positions in medicine.
Foundation Mixtecos Unidos: Stoic Philosophy and Meaning
The Foundation is grounded in Stoic philosophy, which encourages individuals to find meaning and reasoning skills in their own lives to do well for world advancement.
Mixteco workers take in revenue through binational sales of ponchos, embroidered dresses, baskets, purses, and sandals. A recently opened bakery sells bread locally. Musical instruments and instruction are being provided, and the children’s band performs at community events. Also, Mixteco and Spanish-language classes are conducted to preserve the indigenous culture and navigate the national language.
Locally, FMU supports our school district students. Vista Unified School District High school tennis, track teams, and cheerleaders have received athletic shoes, attire, and instruments for the mariachi music lessons now embedded in the district curriculum.
A Transition Program provides support, schooling, retraining, and employment securing in the trades as well as assistance for citizens reentering society.
A health plan covers members directly involved in producing revenue-generating goods and services. Long-term brainstorming sessions are ongoing on the feasibility of undertaking a potable water acquisition project and developing Mondragon model worker cooperatives.
The nonprofit partners with other entities such as Rotary, Kiwanis, the Historical Society, Vista Education Foundation, and Vista Chamber of Commerce in a “net weaving” spiderweb support paradigm.
The FMU, which is registered with The U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Department and The Secretaría de Economía, Estado de Oaxaca, Mexico, is led by its board members George Martinez, Aldegunda Martinez, Joel Garcia, Jaime Castaneda, Erika Schliem, Marta Javier, Victor Paz, and John Herrera.
