By Roxsy Lin. Peninsula 360 Press
Two years ago, the daughter of a Mixtec father in Santa Maria — identified here as Daniel, a pseudonym used for privacy — began cutting her arms with pencil sharpener blades. The self-harm followed a period of bullying of the 11-year-old fifth grader at school.
"It was hard for me because I couldn't work in peace. I was always worried about what was happening," said Daniel, speaking in Spanish.
He went to his daughter’s school seeking help, and the family was referred to an outside therapist who provided timely support, an outcome Daniel described as positive and meaningful. But community members say this type of response is not common, pointing to a shortage of mental health professionals in the city, where waiting lists for services can stretch for months.
“When schools refer children or parents to get support [therapy], that referral is very helpful, but if you go on your own, it’s really hard to get that support,” said Francisco Lozano, president of the Mixtec Parents’ Advisory Committee in Santa Maria, speaking in Spanish.
Santa Maria is part of Santa Barbara County, which faces a critical shortage of mental health professionals,driven in part by low wages and compensation rates, a lack of permanent teletherapy programs and insurers that do not consistently provide mental health parity, among other challenges.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of injury and death in the county..
Araceli Fernandez, program supervisor for the Stop the Hate at One Community Action (OCA), a nonprofit providing services to victims of hate incidents in Santa Maria, has closely watched this pattern develop.
Many Mixtec youth in the community, she said, feel a sense of shame about being Mixtec, a response shaped by discrimination that they’ve witnessed their parents and peers face due to their identity.
As a result, she said, these youth distance themselves from their heritage to protect themselves from mistreatment in mainstream culture. They may avoid speaking their native language, for instance, choosing instead to speak only English to feel broader social acceptance.
However, this creates friction within families, Fernandez said, especially when parents primarily speak Mixtec or Spanish and their children refuse to engage in those languages. These conflicts can also affect younger siblings, who may absorb the tension without fully understanding it.
She described this cycle of cultural rejection and its impact on family dynamics as one of the community's most significant concerns.
In 2023, One Community Action launched its Stop the Hate program offering confidential, multilingual services — in Mixtec, Triqui, Zapotec, Spanish and English — to victims of hate incidents in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County.
“We didn’t have anything like this here in Santa María or in Santa Barbara County … and the reason many people in our community never reported incidents like this is that there was no resolution to those cases. They never received any help,” said Aurelia Sanchez, OCA victim witness advocate and member of the Mixtec community, speaking in Spanish. “No one was going to do anything about it.”
Stop the Hate is organized around three components: prevention, intervention and direct services.
Sanchez noted that there is no age requirement, as anyone who identifies as a victim or survivor qualifies for support.
The intervention and prevention components include culturally competent workshops that address topics including discrimination and domestic violence, with space for participants to share their experiences and voice what changes in their community they would like to see.
Sanchez emphasized that in the current political climate, the prevention work now also includes family preparedness planning — helping participants think through what to do if a family member is detained or deported, and how to protect children or partners who might be separated from their family.
Meanwhile, the direct service component focuses on one-on-one support for clients who identify as victims or survivors and have already connected with the program, helping them navigate and access resources like emergency shelter, legal protections such as restraining orders, mental health services, financial assistance or food and clothing depending on need.
The program also offers small emergency funds, including a winter grant for families facing unemployment during difficult seasonal conditions.
Since its launch, Stop the Hate has served 128 people, 68% of whom identify as Mixtec.
Sanchez also raised concerns that strict school policies can unintentionally target and shame students from low-income backgrounds, particularly when they are singled out in front of peers for not having required supplies.
Placing newly arrived students or English learners in separate classes — often with less-experienced teachers and fewer resources — can also leave those students feeling invisible and disengaged from school, she explained: These students can feel “forgotten” as more experienced teachers are assigned to higher-performing groups, reinforcing a sense of exclusion.
She added that this separation can cause students to withdraw, question the value of attending school and feel they are not receiving adequate support. As a result, some are labeled as troublemakers, further marginalizing them.
Over time, these dynamics push many youth to reject their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, which they have come to associate with stigma and limited opportunities, Sanchez said.
“[This program] is a voice for them, to let them know that what they're going through isn't normal, it's not something they should keep quiet about, but rather something they need to speak out about,” she continued. “Things aren't going to change if we don't do anything about it, if we don't report it, if we don't speak up, if we don't take action.”
Peninsula 360 contacted the Santa Maria Bonita School District on multiple occasions to request comment on the support services available for families experiencing bullying. In each instance, the district did not make an official available for an interview and did not provide a response.
Funding for Stop the Hate — along with many similar statewide initiatives that received support from the program — face an uncertain future. California's Stop the Hate initiative has invested $250 million over nearly five years in community organizations providing prevention, intervention and victim services statewide.
But Governor Newsom’s proposed 2026–27 budget does not include renewal funding. Without legislative action, the program will expire on June 30, 2026.
Californians who want to weigh in on the funding decision can call their California representatives. To find contact information for local representatives, visit findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
Get Support After Hate:
California vs Hate is a non-emergency, multilingual hotline and online portal offering confidential support for hate crimes and incidents. Victims and witnesses can get help anonymously by calling 833-8-NO-HATE (833-866-4283), Monday to Friday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. PT, or online at any time. Anonymous. Confidential. No Police. No ICE.
This story was produced in collaboration with California vs Hate. Join them for the first-ever CA Civil Rights Summit on May 11, 2026. Register and find more information at www.cavshate.org/summit.
You may be interested in: Condado de Santa Clara busca financiar a ‘promotores de la salud’ latinos
