Who We Are

Mission Statement:
La Iglesia del Pueblo is a community that accompanies, listens, and supports immigrants in New York City in their daily struggle to build a better future for themselves and their families. We seek to meet the physical, material, and spiritual needs of the community and encourage, challenge and empower them to take action together thus becoming agents of their own liberation. To this end we offer Projects of Survival, Liturgical Celebration,  spiritual nurture and growth as well as biblical/theological and political education.

Our Story:
La Iglesia del Pueblo began meeting virtually during the pandemic in September 2020. Currently, La Iglesia del Pueblo is welcoming and ministering to new immigrants, supporting them in their daily struggle to build a better future for themselves and their families.   We are a community founded in the tradition of the Freedom Church of the Poor, with the support of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice. The Freedom Church of the Poor tradition comes from a long history of people bound by common struggle uniting across real and imposed differences to confront the forces that violate life and build a world where all are valued and can thrive.   

Staff:
Arelis Figueroa, Executive Director and Lead Pastor:  Originally from the Dominican Republic, Arelis is a Pastor, educator, substance abuse counselor, activist and community organizer who has worked with marginalized communities in New York City for more than thirty years.  She is the Lead Pastor and Co-founder of La Iglesia del Pueblo, holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Center of Popular Education in Sao Paulo Brazil, (CESEP), with a focus in Latin American Liberation Theology and the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) 10 days Community Organizing Training.

Alba Mota, Program Coordinator: Alba Mota has been an international and local community and humanitarian activist for nearly 20 years. She has also served as a yoga instructor, healer, interpreter and language justice educator for over a decade. Ms. Mota has co-organized and participated in hundreds of cultural and fundraising events, social justice forums and organizes annual spiritual and mindfulness retreats in the United States.  She has coordinated humanitarian delegations to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, Brazil, Peru and Honduras. In 2008, she co-founded the Border Health Mission (BHM), which became Funtosalud International, bringing quality medical care, food and medicine distribution, educational workshops, yoga and permaculture projects to the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She also co-founded the Dominican-Haitian project at Columbia University in New York, successfully organizing two solidarity dialogues on the Haitian/Dominican diasporas in the U.S. Alba also worked directly with indigenous and Afro-indigenous populations in Guatemala and Peru on racial identity, racism and the U.S. economic impact of the Latin American Free Trade Agreement. She is currently working on her latest projects as a yoga and Mindfulness Teacher: A community yoga studio in the South Bronx to provide holistics services and programs.

Cecilia Escolastico, Program Assistant:  Originally from the Dominican Republic, Cecilia is a dynamic and brave woman who has managed to make her way in this great city despite the obstacles. She is the mother of four children and has been living in New York City for thirty years, she has worked mostly as a home attendant and case workers assistance. Cecilia is a cancer survivor and domestic violence survivor and today advocates for women in both of these areas, with the hope to prevent other women going through a similar painful situation.  She joined the Poor People's Campaign in 2022 and there she came into contact with the People's Church and since then she has been offering logistical support in all our activities.

Advisory Board:
Karen Collins is an educator and policy advocate who has worked both locally in New York City and nationally in the USA. She was an elementary public school principal in Mott Haven in the South Bronx, at a school that served students who were 82% Latino/a, 17% African American, 98% poor (free and reduced lunch eligible), 30% special needs, and 32% second language learners. Karen was also an early childhood teacher for over 25 years, was the Director of the Child Advocacy Office at the National Council of Churches USA, which advocated for national childcare policies and supported approximately 2,000 church-housed childcare programs across the country. Karen has edited the magazine of Clergy and Laity Concerned, a national peace and justice organization, and directed the parent cooperative nursery school at the Westside YMCA. She holds a master’s degree from Bankstreet College of Education and a doctorate from Teachers’ College, Columbia University.  Karen works out of a concern for the human rights of all people and her theological commitments.  

Dr. Elizabeth Figueroa is a licensed Clinical Social Worker with a doctorate in social work from Rutgers, Graduate School of Social Work, she is currently in private practice working  predominantly with people of color, young and old, cisgender and LGBTQ. Elizabeth Figueroa  has a long and varied work history and originally worked in the private sector in banking  until she returned to school to pursue her graduate degree, become a social worker and work with people in need of mental health services.  Ms. Figueroa is a graduate of Hunter Graduate School of Social Work and has worked with many nonprofit agencies in New York City and has spent over forty years working with people with HIV/AIDS, was an adjunct instructor and trainer for nineteen years at  Fordham University, Graduate School of Social Work where she was involved in an intensive program that provided education and training to city employees who were a part of HASA. In her multi-faceted  career she has worked for agencies that provide administrative and clinical services to  immigrants, the poor and the elderly. In the interim she was selected among thousands of  applicants to receive a full scholarship and participate in the National Urban fellowship  program where she graduated from Baruch College with a Masters in Public Administration.  Her most recent endeavor in a nonprofit agency and prior to private practice was at Upper Manhattan Mental Health Services in Harlem where Dr. Figueroa was Assistant Director for the  Child and Adolescent Department. There she supervised social workers, interns and clerical  staff and provided psychotherapy to recently arrived Latino immigrant children, adolescents  and their families. 

Carol Fouke-Mpoyo is a journalist who grew up in Freeport, Illinois. She spent most of her career as a news writer for denominational and ecumenical organizations, most notably for the U.S. National Council of Churches and Church World Service, including the CWS Immigration and Refugee Resettlement Program. Her work has taken her across the United States and to multiple countries in South America and Africa. She wrote for the South African Council of Churches in Johannesburg for most of 1992, where she maintains several close friendships. She supports a Pre-K through 12th grade school in Brewerville, Liberia, especially with communications support. Fouke-Mpoyo is an active member of The Riverside Church in New York City (since 1978), where she co-founded the church's Sojourners Ministry with Detained Immigrants in 1999, organizing hundreds of morale-boosting volunteer visits to asylum seekers in immigration detention and assisting a number of new asylees post-release. Currently she co-convenes Riverside's Antiracism Taskforce. In 1997, she married Robert Mpoyo, who is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She speaks English and French along with a very few words of Swahili (and counting). 

Jose Rafael Gonzalez is an activist and community organizer  with a degree in Social Communication who migrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in early 2000s.  He has had a productive career in social services, community organizing and advocacy including working at UNICEF-DR, The Center for Human Promotion and Children International D.R and at the Hermanas Mirabal Cultural Center in Central Harlem where he worked for more than eigth years as a community organizer in the areas of Education and housing. He has worked at the Gregorio Luperón High School as the community liaison and he continues to work in the Education department, as a school aid at Law Public Service High School. He continues his activism and community organizing work through his membership in various groups and organizations such as “Make the Road NY, The NYC  Poor People’s Campaign, and the political organization Patria Para Todos, advocating for social justice both in DR and New York City.    

Zenaida Mendez holds the esteemed position of Director of the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) El Barrio Firehouse Community Media.  She is a social justice activist with an extensive career in public service and community activism. A social justice activist and an avid voice for tolerance, she has been finding solutions and advocating on issues that negatively impact women, and people of African descent for many years. Zenaida has been vocal about the role the media in perpetuating violence against women. She is a regular guest on television, speaking on issues affecting women such as; fueling negative stereotypes, lack of representation in electoral politics, access to high-quality education, affordable childcare, reproductive rights, immigration issues, economic, racial and environmental justice. Ms. Mendez has served on various boards including The West Harlem Environmental Action, Citizen Action of NY, Housing Conservation Coordinators, Committee for Hispanic Families and Children, and the National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence, among others. Her public service experience goes back to Mayor David Dinkins’s New York City Administration, where she served in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs. She also served, for five years- as the legislative assistant to State Representative Charles B. Rangel.  Zenaida Mendez founded the Dominican Women’s Caucus of NYC to ensure the equitable participation of Dominican Women and Latinas in general in NYC’s Civil society.  

Yolanny Rodriguez holds a .B.A. in Sociology from Marymount Manhattan College. Is a community organizer and the director of Teatro Las Tablas, an organization that aims to develop artists and community through the arts in general and theater in particular.  Yolanny directed Eve Ensler's, The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness and funds for a local women’s group for 5 years in Washington Heights.  Yolanny studied theater in El Teatro Popular del Centro de la Cultura de Santiago, Republica Dominicana.  In New York, she has studied Theater of the Oppressed at the Brecht Forum and Performance Anthology with Josefina Baez from which “Mierquina”, a monologue based on Yolanny’s text, has emerged.  Yolanny is a member of the Theater Session of The Dominican Commission of Culture based in New York.  She performed as the lead character of La Fiesta, a piece by Johnny Franco, was a producer and the assistant director of En el Ante Aca, a play by Melida Garcia which toured the Dominican Republic and the NY-NJ festivals and she directed La Esposa y el Maniqui, a comedy by Paula Crequet.  In 2009 Mi Mujer es el Plomero awarded her a nomination to the ACE Award as Best comedic director.

María Terrero is a song writer and performer of Afro Caribbean music, specifically from the Dominican Republic, her country of birth. She has been a Harlem resident  in New York City for most of her life, where she worked as dancer and vocalist  with ensembles like AsáDifé, Yaya  La 21 División and KumbaCarey.  In 2007 María and her life partner Pedro Raposo co founded the music band KumbaCarey which performs traditional rhythms from the Dominican Republic like sarandunga, Gagá, palos and Congo, to name some. The band also has its original compositions fusing traditional and popular music. Maria's songs Espíritu de Agua and Una Canción are part of KumbaCarey’a CD Fruto de Mi Cosecha released in 2017.  Currently Maria focuses her work on delivering workshops and/or residencies to young audiences in elementary and middle school settings. She has served on the  board  of the New York based non profit organization, Dominican Women's Development Center, whose mission is to empower all women and communities to advance gender equality and social justice. She has also served in the Advisory Board of AfroMundo - a non profit organization in Albuquerque New Mexico which utilizes Arts and Humanities to shift dominant narratives, build radical solidarity, and promote the well-being and diversity of Afro-Latinx, Afro-Indigenous, Afro-Asian, and beyond, cultures, histories and identities.