Dhoryan Rizo
Program Manager – Director of Advancement & Training
Dhoryan grew up in San Francisco, having migrated to United States as an undocumented migrant along with his family. After barely graduating from high school, and spending three years in Guatemala, Dhoryan and his family moved to East Contra Costa in 2000, where he enrolled at Los Medanos College. This is where he feels his education truly began. He transferred to the University of California, Davis soon after to continue his education. While at UC Davis, Dhoryan co-founded the Migrant Camp Outreach Project (MCOP) which had the goal of providing both students and parents with enriching experiences as well as providing English classes and tutoring.
Dhoryan began his work as an organizer with the San Francisco Day Labor Program where he worked collaboratively with day laborers of color to fight for the right to work and live in the rapidly gentrifying city. Before coming to Village Community Resource Center, Dhoryan worked as a migrant rights organizer and later as an educational equity organizer with Faith in Action, East Bay (previously Oakland Community Organizations-OCO). As an organizer he also managed the East Contra Costa team of the rapid response hotline of Stand Together Contra Costa. As an education organizer he has been able to share his own experience as a “bad” student and his realization that anything was possible as long as the opportunity was available with students and parents. He works towards making this platitude into a reality for students and families in East Contra Costa, through collaborative learning. Dhoryan has also worked with the Ceasefire Project in Contra Costa, and as a census outreach coordinator working with hard-to-reach populations. Dhoryan is currently the Program Manager for the After School Academy at VCRC as well as the organization’s Lead Organizer where he has continued his work in educational equity in East Contra Costa County.