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Voices of La Familia

I didn't start at La Familia out of the goodness of my heart. It was to complete 70 hours of community service after I was arrested...

At first, I hated being a tutor. I just wanted to kick it with my friends and I tried to get out of it by forging completion papers.

After a couple of weeks of working at the After School Tutorial Program, I saw I was actually making a difference in kids' lives.

When I was little, everyone I looked up to was an addict or a dealer. Now I see how important it is for kids to have positive role models, and that makes me want to work even harder to be a better person.


My mom dragged me and my sister to La Familia, literally kicking and screaming. We were fighting all the time...now I go to the young girls' group and I usually go to Late Night Sacramento on Friday nights. Sometimes I even bring my sister...

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He didn't talk very much at first. My son was very traumatized by his brother's death, and I felt a great deal of anger toward the gangs in his neighborhood that his brother had been involved with. When we told him about Youth M.A.D. About Violence Program, it was the first time we saw him get really excited about anything. He's become such an inspiration - organizing trips and getting other kids involved. The program has been a great source of healing for him.


Sometimes I think about who I used to be...so angry all the time and pretending to be something that I wasn't. So much has changed since then. I remember that person and I have to smile, because it seems like a dream.


I got pregnant at a very young age an lost my first baby. When I got pregnant a second time, I was really nervous. I was alone with no family nearby, and I thought maybe I did something wrong the first time to cause the miscarriage. I told my neighbor that I didn't think I could handle being pregnant or taking care of a baby, and she told me about La Familia's Birth and Beyond Program.

When the Home Visitor knocked on my door, I felt like I was taking the first step in being a good mom. I started Parenting and Child Development classes, and counseling, Birth & Beyond also helped me find a really great doctor in my neighborhood.

After my son was born, La Familia helped me enroll in a community college, I participate in the Play and Grow Group now and I serve on the La Familia Parent Advisiory Committee. The work I am doing helps women like me, that feel how I di before my baby was born.

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I lost my husband over a year ago now and I did not know where to turn to I was so lost in my own world. I felt empty and alone, to wake up and not know where you go or what to do. I am 54 years old. I would wake up early but where do I go, what's out there for me? I cam into the LFCC Career Center, the staff was very supportive and caring. I am now working for the state as a seasonal assistant, and I am working to be permanaent soon. I have been working for clse to a year now. I also volunteer at La Familia. I understand how community involvement can make a difference in yor life and help your community.


A lot of people these days in our community are involved in gangs. People hate each other. They can't love each other, they can't even look at each other because they'll want to kill just because they are from different barrios. They have to walk down the street watching thier backs making sure they don't get killed. It's not even safe for the little kids to play outside because somethingmight happen to them just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's very hard these days, I know because I'm going through that and that was my mistake to get involved with gangs. Thanks God I have my parents behind my back and other people that have helped me. I have a job, I help my community and I am glad I have all of this because it keeps me away from that gange related stuff.

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