Fishing Without Bait 534: Building Community With Casa San Jose With Monica Ruiz

What does it mean to advocate for a community without speaking over the people who actually make up that community?

That question is at the heart of Part 1 of Jim Ellermeyer’s conversation with Monica Ruiz of Casa San Jose.

Monica is a social worker who has called Pittsburgh home for nearly 20 years. Her work has taken her from helping individuals directly to working on larger systems and policies that affect entire communities.

That path eventually brought her to Casa San Jose.

Monica describes an organization that began with Sister Janice Vanderneck responding to the needs of Pittsburgh’s growing Latino population. What started with only a few people working out of a church basement has grown into an organization of more than 35 staff members connecting people with resources, youth programs, mental health services, advocacy, healthcare resources, and other forms of support.

But Monica explains that one word in Casa San Jose’s mission is especially important: with.

The goal is not simply to decide what another community needs and then act on its behalf. It is to listen to people, respect their individual experiences, and give them a voice in decisions that affect their own lives.

As Monica puts it in the episode, “Because it's their voice. It's what they want. All Latinos are different.”

That idea leads Jim and Monica into a broader conversation about belonging.

Monica talks openly about experiences with racism and people questioning whether she belongs. She also discusses her pride in being both Latina and American and the challenge of responding to narratives that attempt to place different communities against one another.

Sometimes, she says, there is value in having a difficult conversation. Other times, there are people who have already decided they are not going to listen.

Knowing the difference matters.

The conversation also examines access, privilege, representation, and what happens when decisions are made about a community without that community being represented. For Monica, meaningful change requires more than reacting to an immediate problem. It also means challenging the systems that continue creating those problems.

That requires showing up.

It requires listening.

And it requires having a seat at the table.

Those ideas connect directly with the larger purpose of Fishing Without Bait: approaching ourselves and our neighbors with honesty, open-mindedness, willingness, dignity, and compassion.

This is Part 1 of Jim’s conversation with Monica Ruiz of Casa San Jose.

Programming note: We’ll return to the rest of Melissa Carey’s interview in the following weeks.

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