Founded by Mónica Ramírez in 2020 and launched in 2022, Raizado Festival is a project of Justice for Migrant Women. It was conceived in response to the erasure and undervaluing of Latine lives, especially in times of crisis. Raizado is committed to shifting the national narrative by centering truth, celebration, and the radical act of community. This year’s event will once again spotlight the cultural force of the Latine community by uplifting its truth, culture, and power, and feature many other allies who are similarly committed to increasing authentic representation, opportunities, and investment in the more than 65.2 million people who identify as Latine in the United States. Rooted, as always, in Justice for Migrant Women’s commitment to celebrating and empowering the excellence of the Latine community, the four-day Festival will include inspiring flash talks, engaging panels, intimate conversations and networking lounges, cultural art exhibitions, live music, film screenings, traditional cuisine, and much more, with some of the most thought-provoking leaders, changemakers, cultural icons, and creators in the Latine community.

Raizado was born out of pain and founded by Mónica Ramírez. In Fall 2020, a report was published that revealed that over 10,000 farmworkers in California died in three months due to COVID-19.

This signaled complete systemic failure and the need for urgent action to change the way that Latine people are viewed and treated by society so that a tragedy like this never occurs again. Mónica knew it required a bold move to shift the narrative so that people would not be so undervalued as to be left unprotected in a crisis again. It was also necessary to challenge the misconception that Latine people divert jobs, opportunities, and resources by highlighting the truth: Latine people, including the thousands of farmworkers across our nation, enrich our society by contributing resources, creating jobs, sharing cultural wealth, generating opportunities, and offering countless other valuable gifts to our communities.

Raizado Festival became the answer. Ramirez understood that to create what she calls a “record-scratching moment” that would capture widespread attention and achieve a much-needed culture shift, the festival had to be built in a place of significance. It had to be established in a location that is highly regarded and one that would capture public attention.

Justice for Migrant Women is a national non-profit organization in the United States that builds, organizes, and amplifies the power of rural and migrant women through education, advocacy, public awareness, and narrative change work. Founded by Mónica Ramírez, Justice for Migrant Women’s mission is to champion migrant and rural women’s right to live and work with dignity and without fear of sexual violence.

Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author, and activist. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and Raizado Festival. Mónica also co-founded Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Poderistas, and The Latinx House. Mónica has received numerous awards, including the James Beard Leadership Award honoree, Harvard Kennedy School’s first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Concordia Global Summit Leadership Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, and the Smithsonian’s Ingenuity Award. She was named to Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful and to TIME Magazine’s TIME100 Next.