Five South Bay families are being awarded for their determination and resilience.
On Monday, Santa Clara County Supervisors recognized families from the CalWORKs program, who have received critical services and used them to improve their lives.
Honoree Julia Vasquez was emotional and proud.
She experienced homelessness and incarceration growing up.
Vasquez turned to CalWORKs when she was pregnant with her daughter.
“They helped us with childcare, books transportation any fees I think at the time I was doing medical assisting they paid for my scrubs,” Vasquez said.
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Currently, Vasquez is working for the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry Services.
“I feel like I can be that great example too who maybe got in a lot of trouble – made a bad mistake and has learned from that mistake, grown and moved on and now I want to help others do the same, get back on track with their life,” Vasquez said.
This year’s honorees also include Abdul Khalil and Nafisa Sadat. For years they worked for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan but had to flee the country for their safety.