Multifaith-based organization Sacramento ACT names new executive director
Tere Flores Onofre was a baby when her mother and father began crossing the Mexican-American border in search of farmwork, leaving her in the care of her four sisters as the parents went back and forth for weeks at a time.
Raised in a small town in Puebla, Mexico, her parents grew sugar cane to support a family that struggled financially.
In 1996, when the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act was signed into law by then President Bill Clinton, a window of opportunity opened for her, her parents and her sisters to settle in America.
Flores Onofre was 8 when her family relocated to California but said the observations she made during the transition shaped the issues she’s sought to address in her 20-year-long career as a community organizer and new role as executive director for Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT).
Working at Sacramento ACT from 2016 to 2022 before returning last February, Flores Onofre transitioned from interim executive director to permanent executive director earlier this month. The multifaith-based organization represents 56 congregations and more than 60,000 families to combat regional inequities and provide opportunities to various communities.
“Seeing all of these systemic injustices at a very young age, I started to question, ‘Why do these things happen?’ and ‘What can I do about it?’” Flores Onofre said. “Coming into my faith around the same time, I felt a deeper calling to do something. That’s how I got involved in organizing when I was 16 and seeing our campaigns work.”
As a child, Flores Onofre’s hometown was predominantly composed of Catholics. Faith has always been important to her, and because her town revolved around the church, she thought everyone in the world was Catholic, she recalled.
When she moved to the U.S. and began attending youth ministries at a new church, she began wrestling with how the suffering she saw in her community contradicted the messages taught in the Bible.
Her priest encouraged her and her peers to look at social justice as a way to further their faith.
“I think organizing has allowed me to see that there are so many people of faith that are part of the change,” Flores Onofre said. “And being part of Sacramento ACT, an interfaith organization, has helped me deepen my own faith, to be in community with people who come from all different walks of life.”
Her first campaign worked to get the city of Oakley to fund youth activities through the parks and recreation department in 2004. Initially, response from the city was limited, but after hosting an event in support of the allocations that had a turnout of more than 200 people, Onofre and her cohort won $150,000 for youth programming.
The experience boosted her confidence and deepened her appreciation of conducting one-on-one conversations with affected individuals to further a cause.
Since then, Flores Onofre has worked with other faith-based organizations such as Faith in Action and the Laudato Si’ Movement..
Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director of Faith in Action, first met Onofre in 2012 and was taken aback by her passion and strategic desire to bring power to her community and loved ones. While working for the organization, Flores Onofre often traveled across the country, working with Mormons in Utah to get Sen. Orrin Hatch’s support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill and Michiganians during the Flint water crisis.
Royster recalled her animate Catholic teachings and love of Pope Francis’s vision for the church and the prophetic role to hold the government accountable.
“She was a rock star at Faith in Action,” Royster said. “I’m continuing to look forward to working with her in the days ahead, and I’m sure she’s going to help (Sacramento ACT) grow and prosper, especially in this moment of authoritarianism and fascism that we’re living in.”
Sheri Rickman Patrick, board chair for Sacramento ACT, said that out of all of the candidates for the position, Flores Onofre’s natural career progression, morals and intentionality when it came to community involvement were what set her apart.
“I think that her strong faith is her ‘why?’” Patrick said. “That’s why she does what she does and why she can do it so well. She never loses sight of the ‘why.’”
Flores Onofre is most looking forward to strengthening and expanding the organization’s partnerships across the region. Top of mind are issues pertaining to homelessness, education and ensuring immigrants and marginalized communities are protected and empowered.
She also hopes to push her work across denominational and political lines and dispel any preconceived notions about what it means to be faith-based.
“I think we have an opportunity to reclaim the narrative on faith and what faith means,” Flores Onofre said. “Even though we’re interfaith, Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, and that’s the work we’re trying to do: see the people around us and love them as much as we love ourselves.”
