Hazel Davalos
Co-Executive Director

Hazel Davalos is the Co-Executive Director at the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) leading social, economic and environmental justice work in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The daughter of a Mexican Immigrant mother and an ironworker union member father, Hazel’s family background drew her to a life path of organizing working people around immigrant rights and economic justice issues. She has been organizing since the age of 16 around a wide range of issues affecting undocumented immigrants, farmworkers, bus riders, renters and LGBTQ youth. Before joining CAUSE, Hazel spent six years on the staff of PUEBLO, a sister organization that eventually merged with CAUSE in 2013.One of her most memorable campaigns as an organizer was a fight against an ICE facility proposed to be placed in her hometown of Santa Maria, where her committee of leaders mobilized over 3,000 people to a City Planning Commission meeting in opposition. For eight years Hazel served as CAUSE’s Community Organizing Director, training organizers in base building through the house meeting model inspired by the United Farmworkers. Hazel is on the UCSB Labor Center Advisory Board and also serves on the board for 805 Undocufund, a disaster relief fund for undocumented immigrants, People’s Self-Help Housing, the largest non-profit housing provider on the Central Coast and Powerswitch Action. Hazel graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies. She lives in Santa Maria, CA with her partner and two children and enjoys playing sports, guitar and surfing.