Meet HECHO's New Coordinators!

HECHO hired two new staff people to expand upon our work in Arizona and Colorado. Meet our new field coordinators below:

Dana Orozco

Dana Orozco is the Arizona Field Coordinator for HECHO. Dana is a born and raised Arizonan and a first-generation college graduate coming from a Latinx family that immigrated from Sonora, Mexico. She completed her Bachelors of science in Conservation Biology and Ecology as well as Anthropology at Arizona State University, where she focused her passion for education on environmental justice, specifically within Hispanic/Latinx and Indigenous communities. Because of her ancestral connection to the Sonoran Desert, Dana believes in the importance of BIPOC folks having safe access to and stewardship of their ancestral and public lands, especially communities impacted by colonial land displacement. As someone who is passionate about community health, she believes that environmental policies should provide accessibility and equity to contribute to healthier communities for current and future generations. 
Prior to working with HECHO, Dana worked at the Arizona Center for Nature Conservation for three years providing educational programs to guests related to wildlife conservation. She also worked at Native American Connections with their youth TREE program, where she developed a deeper knowledge of public health and housing accessibility within BIPOC and LGBTQ communities.

Through her environmental and social work experience, Dana understands the overlap in environmental and community health within Hispanic and Latinx communities.  As a Latina who identifies as LGBTQ, Dana hopes to implement change within her community to be more inclusive to folks with intersecting identities. Through advocacy and empowerment, Dana is honored to be a part of the effort to ensure that public lands are protected and accessible to all.

Breanna Gonzalez

Breanna González is the Colorado Field Coordinator for HECHO. Breanna is passionate about her own journey reconnecting and making equitable space within the outdoors as a Latina in the US. Growing up in the greater Los Angeles, California area, she never heard Latinx/Hispanics in the same conversation with conservation and environmental issues. Upon growing into her hobbies of hiking, climbing, and policy advocacy, she found a love and necessity to celebrate and empower her fellow Latinxs to recreate outdoors proudly. Breanna now lives in Denver, Colorado, with many years of experience in community development and education for Latinxs in Latin America and the American West.