This summer, Argelia Castellanos is happy to walk through her recently reconstructed home without having to flinch at the sight of pests or dwell on the cracks on her ceiling. On May 27th, 2022, Argelia and her husband, Gerardo, received the keys to their new home, which was completely reconstructed via The City of Woodlake’s Housing Rehabilitation Program. 

“Estamos tan felices,” remarked Argelia. “Nunca en mis 60 años me imaginé tener una casa nueva. ¡Todo está brillante y huele a nuevo!” (“We are so happy. Never in my 60 years did I imagine having a brand-new home. Everything is shiny and smells like new!”)

Through partnerships with cities and counties in the San Joaquin Valley, Self-Help Enterprises’ Rehabilitation Program works with local community leaders to identify housing needs, secure funding, and successfully implement housing repairs for residents. Read More

Community Development (CD) staff are grateful and excited about their recent Project Management training, brought to us by our Board member Dolores Salgado and her colleague at Ardurra, Amy Czajkowski. Dolores and Amy shared their many years of project management and engineering experience with all the CD Specialists and some administrative staff.

Staff learned about important project management concepts from beginning to end, from identifying a project to understanding what’s in those specification books, to bidding and managing construction. CD Specialists are really generalists, and this training added to staff’s broad skillset that makes them such effective community partners in building critical infrastructure. Thank you, Dolores and Amy, for this gift of knowledge! 

After an impressive 11 years of distinguished service to Self-Help Enterprises, Kathy Long-Pence, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SHE, has decided to retire and spend more time with her family. During her years of service, Kathy has contributed a great deal to the success of SHE. Assets went from $65 million to $133million, annual salaries increased from $4 million to over $12 million, and our staffing grew from 75 to 179! Kathy’s incredibly strong work ethic and double bottom line approach leaves SHE in a strong position for future growth. We’ll miss stories of her varied career which started as a forest ranger, her family soccer tradition, and avid support for Fresno State women’s sports. Thank you, Kathy! We wish you all the best in your retirement! 

Maria Gallegos Herrera

Maria Gallegos Herrera has recently been appointed as the USDA’s Rural Development State Director for California by President Biden. Maria previously served as SHE’s Community Development Program Manager, where she helped communities in the San Joaquin Valley implement sustainable water solutions and influence regional water planning. We applaud Maria for her new endeavor! 

Abigail Solis

Abigail Solis is moving on to accept an appointment from the Governor’s office as the new Central California Regional Director of External Affairs. As SHE’s Sustainable Energy Solutions Manager, Abi led projects that helped rural community members access affordable energy and clean transportation infrastructure. We look forward to continued collaboration with Abi in her new role.