In March 2020, just a day before the pandemic lockdown, I accompanied my mom to her USCIS Adjustment of Status Interview in Fresno. I was terrified. Although I had just graduated with a Bachelor's in Political Science and was applying to law school, I had no legal knowledge. My family navigated this process without an attorney because we couldn't afford one, and my parents struggled to trust anyone who couldn't communicate with them in Spanish. As we walked into the building

“Estoy muy orgullosa de ti, mija” That is what my mother told me when she found out that in kindergarten, I had a proficient score in English. I arrived to the United States when I was two- years old. I grew up only speaking, watching Spanish TV, listening to Spanish music, and reading Spanish books, my world was Spanish but as soon as I entered Kindergarten I learned English and excelled. My mother was so proud and from then on I made sure to always make her proud. When I

"In 1963, my father brought my two brothers and I to the United States. He had been working in Southern California for about 10 years and had received a letter of support from his employer to bring his family over. He had been working primarily in the Indio Valley and Oxnard, CA area, but settled in Sanger, CA when we joined him. My brothers and I received our green cards in 1965, and we attended Sanger Unified schools. In November of 1971, I enlisted in the United States Arm

The work of past civil rights leaders and unsung heroes has laid the foundation for what Education and Leadership Foundation sets out to do every day – create communities where everyone has a safe, decent place to live, work, and raise a family. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. defined this as the Beloved Community: a community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate. Dr. King popularized this concept during his lifetime of activism, but he always acknow