specialized team of doctors, nurse practitioners, diabetes educators, dieticians, social workers, and psychologists. this multi-disciplinary approach allows us to help kids not only with their diabetes management, but it also allows us to address any rare or complex health care issues. i'm janelle wang with nbc bay area. when the ground shakes, it's a reminder to update your earthquake emergency plan and we can help. just go to nbayarea.com or download our app. there you'll find valuable resources like quake alerts, what to put in your go bag, and more. plus, check out our real time earthquake trackcker for a map of recent local seismic activity. we live in earthquake country, so stay earthquake ready with damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo, and today a new program called prósperos has launched on your "comunidad del valle."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ damian: and we begin with the monthly visit by the consulate of mexico in san jose. with me is ambassador alejandra bologna. she's the consul general of san jose. and welcome to the show, ambassador. alejandra bologna: thank you so much for having me. damian: yeah, thank you. give us a brief update on the maybe anxiety in your office from people who come in [speaking foreign language] that people feel maybe coming in in the last few weeks. alejandra: yes. well, we have seen an increase of people that wants to get their birth certificates or a dual citizen, and that is very important because of--it--in case of any deportation.

families need to be prepared. not to be afraid but just to be prepared, and that's why we recommend parents to have afamie family can know what's going to happen, who will be in charge if they have minors. it's important to know that they can--the person that will be in charge can call to the consulate because if they have dual citizen we can also help to--future reunification with the family or with a member that parent want to--or feel comfortable to be with. and also, it's important to have their documents with them, passport or matricula or birth certificate, so they are prepared, but--just in case.

that's why we are recommending to people, and that's why we are seeing more people requesting our services. damian: because we can't pretend that it won't happen to us. we can't cover our eyes and hope that does--that something doesn't happen, right? we have to be proactive and make sure that everything is in order in case the worst happens. alejandra: yes, of course. and, for example, in case of children, schools have a document, it's like a power, that they can give to a person to pick them up or with certain authority not--never the whole--disposition of the whole rights for the kids; but yes, that they can pick them up at school or other things that will help just in case if they are detained and the kids will not go to the child's program service. damian: yeah, but--so it's important, and you're mentioning that, to get that paperwork in order.

your office can help maybe guide them in that direction, but they got to do it now. alejandra: yes, of course. and if they have any concern, any situation, we will have a week--the first week of march, next week, we will have fair--information fair with lawyers that are--or attorneys that are in the program of pale that are going to be here at the consulate. so if--you can call the protection department. you can come to the protection department. if you have any concerns, you can assist without appointment and we will give the information. damian: all right. well, there's the website on your screen for the consulate of mexico here in san jose. there are--they are on enzo drive. we're going to talk about something called consular notification in our next segment here on "comunidad del valle," so stay with us. ♪♪♪

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she's the consul general of mexico here in san jose. and there's something called consular notification, ambassador. can you expand on that? alejandra: yes, of course. it's the right that our nationals have to--in case of any authority that detain them, they can--with the notification--consular notification request to be called the consulate in case if they are detained. so that gave us the opportunity to have an interview with them and to know what is their vulnerability, they have a special situation, they have kids that are at school or any case, and also if they have some concerns about their ill--or health. so that's quite important, our community to know that they have the right to request to call the consulate in case of any detention; not just migration detentions, also if there are

some criminal issue or it's something like dui. anything, they can request the consular notification. damian: and the app--the consular app is helpful, right? that way they can register, they're--you--the consulate will know who to notify, who the emergency contacts are. alejandra: yes. in that app, it's important because they put the name of the person that they want to be in contact in case of a need. they have also information about the rights, about the programs that we have at the consulate; but what is important is also a phone number that in case that they request to call to that number, then will be connect to the information center that it's working 24 hours, 7 days a week. it's called ciam, and the phone number of ciam is 520-623-7874.

it's a call center that receives from--everywhere from the united states the calls, and it's available 7 days a week 24 hours. so it's--immediately the center will communicate to the consulate that has the jurisdiction for the [inaudible] happen, and we can in that way have a campaign or know more about the situation of our nationals and try to help them-- damian: and your office is not open 24/7, but it feels some days like it is, right? you've been working so many hours, especially since this year. alejandra: well, yes, we are very busy. we have been very busy. we have numbers--protection phone number, and we have been in different cities trying to inform our community; giving these measures not to be afraid, be prepared, and try to do their

lives as any day but just to be prepared. damian: i've seen the facebook lives and the instagram lives doing a great job of getting that message out. any final thoughts, ambassador? alejandra: well, just remember our community about appointments for passport, [speaking foreign language]. those appointments are--the best way to do them is whatsapp at the call center. it's [speaking foreign language]. that it's 1-424-309-0009. it's the best way, and a recommendation is please not go through these websites or phone numbers or calls or people that is selling the appointments. it's something that they can do. it's easier. tuesday after 9:30, it--the appointments go very fast, but they can get them. and the important message is if they share important information

in these times, it's going to be very risky for them. damian: yeah. well, we will mention that every time you're on 'cause that's a very important message. thank you very much, ambassador alejandra bologna, the consul general of mexico in san jose. thank you. alejandra: thank you. damian: we're going to show you that website once again. they are on enzo drive in san jose, the consulate of mexico in san jose. there's their website for more information. up next, a program called prósperos. stay with us.

salvador chavez is spearheading the program. he joins us now he on "comunidad del valle." great story about your dad and the--his banking--his way of banking. tell us that story, if you don't mind. salvador chavez: yeah, thank you very much, first of all, for inviting me.

so my dad came to this country as an immigrant. he came from durango, mexico, and his--when he came to this country, he was a farmworker. he worked in fresno, california. but at the end of every week, my dad would take his paycheck and cash it at the local store and then send money home to my mom via western union. so those two services that he used took 15% of his earnings in fees. my mom would actually have to pay 1% to pick up the money in durango, mexico. and then when he went back to the farm where he was living, he'd store the money under his mattress because he didn't have access to a bank account and his coworkers would end up stealing that money from him every week. so it was a very difficult life for my dad, and that's because he didn't have access to affordable financial services. you know, one thing i just failed to mention in the other interview, which i'll just tell you, is my dad progressed.

he went into construction up in truckee, california. but if he ever needed to get a loan, he'd have to pay, you know, 10% a week just for that loan, and it's like a $1--2,000 loan and that's, again, because he didn't have access to financial services. now, in salinas today, the going rate for a loan is about 7% a week for people that don't have access to financial services. so what we're trying to do here at prósperos is just support the latino community, eliminate all these fees and give them access to safe, affordable financial services. damian: and what you're basically offering in a nutshell is a way to open bank accounts and, for lack of a better term, zelle or venmo your family members in mexico at no cost. salvador: yeah. what we do is we provide them with a bank account with a mastercard. they--we give them a second mastercard that they send to

their family member back home, and through our mobile app, which is prósperos on their apple iphone or their google phone, they can actually send money to their family member and it arrives in 5 seconds. and this bank is a fdic bank account so it's, you know, insured up to $250,000 and that's very safe and secure. damian: 'cause you want to make sure if you're sending your weekly or monthly earnings to families back in latin america and it's a $500 do--you know, i don't want to say donation but a gift to your family, you don't want to be paying $550, $600. you want to make sure they get the $500 at no cost to you. salvador: correct. and that's the advantage that we have. the way that we make money is on the card that they use. so every time they use that card at any local merchant like safeway, a walmart, a target, we actually get a percentage of

that transaction fee, and that's how we monetize this business. but what's really nice about our service, what we see users really like is when they send the money to their family member, given that their other family member has a card in the other country, they actually see how the family member is spending the money. now, when they're going to the other remittance services like western union, wise, remitly, you know, a variety of them, those are cash pickups. so they have no idea how that money is being spent. damian: and, again, these cards are--they're--they work in both sides of the border and--maybe in three sides, but this is a way to get them to have a little financial education at the same time. salvador: correct. correct. it provides them with financial education. we're even anticipating to turn on some credit scoring because what they're doing is they're paying for that monthly bill automatically, you know, on the card. it's a secured-charge card that's secured by the amount of money that's in the card, and every time that gets paid off at

the end of the month it goes towards their credit score. damian: because you were frustrated with those fees that you've seen family members make, and this is one way to change that. salvador: yes, it's hard-earned money and--you know, especially now, you know, this service is more critical because now they don't have to risk going to these stores, given, you know, what immigration is like in our country today. they can do this from the convenience of their own home. they can download the app. it takes about 4 minutes to open an account. it takes about 7 to 10 days to get that mastercard. once they have that card, they can start depositing their checks through mobile check deposit. they can also do direct deposit, but mobile check deposit is what we normally see. have access to the funds the same day. they can go use their card wherever they want. but they can do that from the convenience of their own home. damian: that's great. well, we're going to show you their website for more information. this is called prósperos. they are locally centered here, and there is the website on

the screen. we'll be back and talk about this great program for those who might need it here on "comunidad del valle." stay with us.

special program called prósperos. chava chavez is spearheading that effort. and i remember my cousins, chava, going--getting their checks at the end of the 2 weeks and then going to the liquor store to cash them, but they would have to buy about $25, $30 worth of stuff from that store in order to cash it; stuff that maybe they don't need, but they had to do it. salvador: correct. correct. these fees are not great for our community because it's hard-earned money. you know, we started this with a partnership with alas, and we've learned a lot about the community back then but also my own upbringing. i knew that this problem existed, and these individuals should not have to pay these fees. i--we believe that everybody should have access to free, affordable financial services here in the united states

regardless of their immigration status. and as i mentioned, it's very easy to open up an account with prósperos. damian: well--and then being affiliated with alas gives you a lot of leverage because, you know, people are guarded with their money as they should be. there is--there has to be a trust between prósperos and the clientele. and so talk, if you will, about that trust that--it might take them a while before they say, "okay, this is a reliable resource for me." salvador: yeah. well, we started with alas back in half moon bay before we started branching out, but they really helped us, you know, speak with the community and tell them about our service. their own members at alas started opening accounts just to show how easy it was, and i--what people do--i call it the cha--in spanish it's called la cadena, the chain. people will watch what other people do and if they see that it works for another individual that they trust then they will

start to trust the service. but at the end of the day, you know, once they deposit their check and they have access to those funds, they can easily go to a store and spend that money on a card or they can go to an atm and withdraw the money; and that's where you really see the aha moment for them, is that they didn't have to go to a check-cashing store and actually have access to cash and they're seeing that it's more safe and secure to carry a card versus carrying money. so there is some education there; but as they see their other community members do it, then they start trusting the service and they start using it. damian: and then their credit score improves. they're able to obtain those other bigger loans for cars or homes maybe in the future. i mean, it's--that's where it starts. salvador: yeah. and we're planning to start turning on our credit-scoring mechanism so that these individuals can actually have access to their credit score but also as--you know, the card automatically gets paid off every month through our system

and that can actually be a benefit to them because it goes towards their credit score, and many of these individuals don't have credit scores and they need that to actually get a loan for like a car or eventually a house and for everyday. damian: how satisfying is it for you, chava, to be able to do this for them? salvador: it's very satisfying. it's something that i've always thought about. i love giving back to this latino community and just giving what i witnessed from my own upbringing in terms of my dad and my--you know, my cousins and my family and the struggles they had with having access to financial services. i'm just very, very happy that we get to provide this affordable service to the latino community. damian: yeah, and then--especially because you hear all the car sales advertised with, "come get your car. all you need is an itn or your metrico. you get a car." yeah, but what percent are you paying? this way this is a way to get a little stable. chava, thank you very much. very classy with the nacho moya painting behind you.

thank you for what you're doing for our people who might need that little extra help. salvador: yeah, thank you, damian, for having me. damian: thank you very much, salvado chavez with the prósperos program. we're going to show you that website again for more information. there it is on the screen. you can log on and--it's a financial platform that really seems to be taking off. well, if you want to get a hold of us here on "comunidad del valle," you can follow me on instagram. my handle is @newsdamiantrujillo. there is also my email address if you have any show suggestions, criticisms, critiques, or whatnot. we'll take them all there at that email address. we thank you for sharing a part of your sunday with us once again. we're going to leave you, again, with the rapid response network. they were on the show just a couple of weeks ago. we're talking about the work that they're doing to protecting the immigrants all across the bay area. we'll see you back here next week. damian: the rapid response network in santa clara county, they are on the lookout for ice in our communities. with me is engels garcia. he is the executive director of human agenda.

engels, welcome to "comuni" engels garcia: thank you so much, damian, for the invitation, and i'm happy to be here. damian: thank you for being here. first of all, tell us about human agenda. who are you guys? engels: human agenda is a nonprofit organization based in san jose. we have four main programs, and one of them is legal services. so we do provide removal defense to the santa clara county residents. damian: so you have a pulse on what's happening out there on the streets a week into the inaugurationon, a weeknto the new presidency. what is the sense, what is the feeling out on the streets, engels? engels: well, unfortunately a lot of people are in fear, right? as in 2 weeks ago, we--there were rumors of ice and fortunately we had a team in place to actually corroborate whether or not ice is in the county, and at the time we were able to confirm that there was no ice activity in the county but there was a sheriff operation. so, unfortunately, that's--that was just 2 weeks ago, but we did notice that we had hundreds of calls that we were not able to actually take, but we were able to corroborate that there was no

ice activity. damian: so what happened was the sheriff's office was conducting a routine warrant--they're serving a warrant for a convicted felon for weapons or whatnot, but people--bystanders who saw it thought it was ice and so they sounded the alarm. we expect to get more of that, right, in the coming days, weeks, months. engels: yes. and i think that's why it's imperative that the community knows how to distinguish that not all ice no law--not all law enforcement activities means ice, but it will be important for the community to call us to confirm and see if that's actually true or not. yes. damian: we're going to put up the hotline at the end. we have three segments with you. at the end of each segment, we're going to put up the hotline for people to call the rapid response network. but who makes up, engels, the rapid response network? engels: well, it's basically a mix of community leaders but mostly also fr community-based organizations, and currently we have, i believe, six organizations working on them.

right now human agenda is part of the legal team within the rapid response network. we have latinos unidos por una nueva america, which is another community-based organizations. we have catholic charities, pangea legal services, caras from south county. we have amigos de guadalupe, who is the fiscal sponsor, and also we're working with the mexican consulate to actually be part of our team as well. damian: and so when somebody calls that hotline, it goes to all--or one person sends a text to all of you, say, who can verify what kind of activity is happening out there? engels: right. they can call the phone number, right? and then we have a team in place to actually want to send responders to confirm whether or not ice is in the activity to basically all--to send people to the places that the people are basically saying that ice is. we have a team called rapid responders, yes. damian: and you can't stop the ice operations, right? if they have a legitimate warrant for an arrest of

somebody, you--it's a warrant. it's signed by a judge. you can't stop it. you're just there to make sure that civil rights are not violated. engels: exactly. basically, the work is to take notes and to film. that's all. they cannot intervene in any of those operations. damian: and i think more important than anything, engels, is letting the rest of the community know, "okay, this was a legitimate ice call. no, this is a false ice call." that way it puts people at ease because even a simple text or a facebook post or instagram that ice is in the neighborhood, it sends shock waves throughout the entire neighborhood. engels: yes, exactly. that's why we need a lot of volunteers to help us be the eyes of the rrn in the community so that we can sta--issue statements and what--to confirm whether or not ice is in our community. yes. so that's why the rapid responders are super critical for--within the team. damian: okay, i want to talk about the training that these rapid response network volunteers go through in our next segment, if you don't mind.

but, again, we're going to show you that number right now. this is a number that goes into the rapid response network. there is the number on the screen: 408-290-1144. and they speak several different languages there. again, human agenda is one of the organizations that's part of this, but they spearhead a lot of these-- ♪♪♪ male: [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language]

female: we see it, the direction of the sun. that who is far, that who is near, the giver of life like-- [speaking foreign language] ♪♪♪

ng] narrator: adventure is fuel for life, from its highs-- a little rock and roll, baby.