Staff Spotlight | Alma Diaz
Alma Diaz is a case manager with CRIS’ Victims of Crime Assistance (VOCA) Program.
As a young political science student in her native Oaxaca, Alma dreamed of changing “the system”. Growing up in a state known for its cultural diversity, including sixteen formally registered indigenous communities, Alma witnessed the struggles of the marginalized and wanted them to find their voice. Upon graduation, she began working in the Oaxaca State Congress, helping rural immigrants transitioning to the urban landscape integrate into the political structure, a first step in what she thought would be a long and promising career in her native Mexico working for her people. Her dream was on track.
But life had other plans for her. After a series of unexpected and serious health issues, a young Alma joined family members in the United States to find an answer, one that came in the form of multiple sclerosis. Settling in Ohio in 2014 and stabilizing her health, Alma realized her dream had not died; it had only changed.
Living and working in the family business on the West Side of Columbus, she began outreach in her neighborhood. Word quickly spread and Alma became a go-to resource. Alma began expanding her local advocacy, helping citizens find their voice through education, worker rights, and political involvement–all while continuing to mobilize local support for the vulnerable in Mexico.
As the definition of her people became more inclusive–from Oaxaqueños to Mexicans to Latinos–she found an opportunity to serve them all at CRIS in 2016.
As a caseworker in the Victims of Crime Assistance (VOCA) Program, Alma has advocated for hundreds of the most marginalized survivors in our community to heal and move forward in their lives. She provides confidential, culturally sensitive, and trauma-informed services, regardless of immigration status, while holding her clients’ full humanity, seeing them just as she sees her sons, brothers, sisters, and herself.
Furthering her dream of empowering the disempowered, Alma works tirelessly for survivors of gun violence, hate crimes, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and many others. Her work has also included supporting families of missing persons and victims of notario scams, for whom there is often little support. Alma navigates, and at times challenges, bureaucratic systems at every level to ensure her clients can exercise their rights and access the resources they need, be it housing, food, healthcare, housing, or justice.
And because she had more to give, Alma also founded Alianza 614 Ohio in 2018. Through Alianza, she channels the needs and challenges faced by our growing community in Columbus. She has launched multiple campaigns to keep people healthy, educated, and prepared to fulfill their American dream.
Atop her full caseload at CRIS and her outreach and community events through Alianza, Alma continues to be a mobilizer in her West Side community and the anchor in her large family, which now includes three sons and aged parents. And through her involvement with the New American Leadership Academy as a 2021 alum and friendships in other immigrant communities, Alma’s definition of her people is larger than ever, now including all New Americans. She works to bridge cultural differences and encourage cooperation among all immigrant groups, challenging them to focus on their similar challenges and opportunities–equal pay for women, increased participation in government, entrepreneurship, and more.
Today, Alma continues to defy the doctors who fear she may one day never walk again. “If I end up in a wheelchair,” she recently told me, “I lived each day to the fullest.” So she does it with fearless determination.