RWYH 16

Episode 16 Transcript

The Intersection of Language, Identity, and Collective Healing (ft. Laura LeCave)

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

Laura LeCave:
There's a lot of intersectionalities that my past experiences have helped me develop with creating safe spaces for folks. 

Aimee Hanna:
Welcome to Remember Why You're Here, a podcast created by the Center for Innovation and Resources, where we host conversations with experts in the field about what started their journey to do work around abuse and healing. CIR a small nonprofit with big goals. We organize events aimed to fulfill our vision that all professionals who serve children, families, and communities will have the knowledge, skills and training to act in a holistic and culturally responsive manner. To see more of what we do, visit cirinc.org. 

Crystal Cardenas:
Laura LeCave is a passionate social activist and advocate for equity and diversity dedicated to fostering inclusive environments and amplifying marginalized voices. With a foundation in early childhood education and a deep commitment to community empowerment, she seamlessly integrates her advocacy efforts with a love for photography. Laura is fluent in three languages and is the bilingual and bicultural programs manager at Positive Images. She spearheads vital initiatives that encompass mental health support, advocacy and education.

Hi, Laura. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited to have you on.

Laura LeCave:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to talk to you all and share stories.

Crystal Cardenas:
I just want to start by saying I am super impressed that you are trilingual. So tell us the three languages you speak.

Laura LeCave:
I speak Spanish, which is my first language. English is my second, but it was the hardest language. And French, actually, was easier than English.

Crystal Cardenas:
So let's start by having you tell us a little bit about your professional journey and how you got to where you are and the work that you're doing now.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, so I moved to the States in 2006. Actually I was a foster youth in Colombia, so I came adopted internationally through an agency called Kids Safe Miracles when I was 16. I was the first youth being adopted here in the US through this program. So it's a program that brings kids from Africa, Russia and Colombia and now they bring kids from more diverse countries. And I got here in 2006. My family's in San Jose.

I was adopted at 16 and a half and then my parents are very American.

[CHUCKLES]

So they're like, well, you got to go to school. I'm like, I barely know any English. They send me to a school where you learn English intensely and then I went to a regular American high school. The part that was hardest assimilating. And so being a foster youth, coming adopted with my little sister and then going to all these English speaking spaces, it was so hard. And so then I went to college at Sonoma State. I knew English-ish, but I wrote my essays in Spanish, and then I had help to translate a lot of them in English. I graduated, so I made it.

Crystal Cardenas:
Good for you.

Laura LeCave:
Thanks. And so the reason I got into this work is because as a queer, bilingual person, there was no spaces for folks of color, especially because being queer and brown, apparently doesn't go together. So [CHUCKLES] all the queer spaces have been very white, not very accessible. And I didn't come out until I was like in my early 20s, maybe 19, 20, 20 years old. But I came to Positive Images a lot and it was not very accessible.

So I did a lot of volunteer work there, just kind of working with folks, with families and families who had youth who coming out, but they were Latinas. So I did some volunteer work there, but it was never accessible for people of color. And so here I am.

Crystal Cardenas:
I love that. And I just want to say my mom came when she was-- from Mexico, she came, I think, when she was 14, 15, and she tried to go to school for a little bit, high school, and she dropped out. She just felt so excluded from everyone there that it was easier for her to go work in a packing house or work in the fields because her people were there and her community was there. So I definitely commend you for getting past that because you're right, it is-- it's very isolating and people are not warm or welcoming.

Laura LeCave:
It's hard because even now, still, I love my parents. They tried their hardest, my adopted parents. I mean, I was 16, so being adopted as a foster when you're at that age, it's kind of harder because I understand everything.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
When my parents came to pick us up in Colombia-- I say I'm from Bogota, Colombia, but I'm from outside Bogota, which is like a little pueblito, a little-- when they came to pick us up it was funny because all the families who were adopting had all these babies and we were like the eldest. And so my parents were in the newspaper and everything in San Jose and in Colombia, which was cool because it motivated folks to actually help the youth because I feel like they always kind of see us like this criminalized people and they forget that we're also humans.

And so my parents are great. And also I still have my bicultural side of things. Even with my wife, she's trying to learn Spanish because I don't think in English straight up. I mean, I don't know if you hear, but I do have an accent because I speak--

Crystal Cardenas:
Yeah, I hear it.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah yeah. But yeah, because I speak like Spanish a lot. Especially because this is why I wanted to be like the first bilingual, bicultural programs manager at Positive Images to create those spaces of monolingual spaces to also understand the culture side, and also like, these people learn to take spaces because that's one of the things I was scared of, like, taking space in spaces that were very privileged or white. Taking spaces was hard.

Crystal Cardenas:
So talking a little bit about that. You mentioned a little bit at the beginning that Positive Images was an accessible. Like, what do you mean? How was that-- how did you feel like it was different or you weren't able to take that space?

Laura LeCave:
Queer spaces tend to be very white, which is really hard because it's like you show up and you don't fit in already.

Crystal Cardenas:
Mm-hmm.

Laura LeCave:
And the experiences of coming out are very different as well culturally, even though my parents are white, when I told my grandmother in Colombia she was not fine with that. Like, it's a phase. It's like not real. I feel like not able to connect in life stories. And also there's no language justice accessibility in the space either. So I did volunteer work there a couple of times with families that they had youth coming out and they didn't understand what it was.

And I was still going to Sonoma State, so my major is Human Development with a minor women's gender studies to focus on queer studies, which I love that part because that helped me help the parents understand a lot of this injustice. But Positive Images has been open 34 years and this is the first year that they're having a bilingual program, which I'm grateful for. Everything has to do with funding, right?

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
And people seeing that the need is important. And so before I was doing this, I was doing early intervention, which is working with foster kids, foster babies, foster families, kind help them access to resources. The little basic things that parents don't know that exist. And again, it's because of the language justice.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yeah, absolutely. At one of our other trainings, the trainer, Dr. Castro, was saying, even been with immigrants. The big thing is they don't understand the system. So I can imagine how difficult it is to try to navigate it without the language and also without the understanding of what our systems are like. What do you think organizations can do to become more accessible for immigrant families?

Laura LeCave:
That's one of the biggest thing. I have this list. There's more than just Spanish speaking, right? We have the Indigenous folks that come in here as well. Organizations just have to really, really dedicate time to do trainings, and culturally sensitive trainings to learn about the community. Because I feel if you go there and you just start helping without knowing what the people need, that we call the white savior, they're just here to show up, not really asking what people need.

So I feel like really focusing on asking communities what their needs are instead of going and help without knowing.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
And also like not having the knowledge of political stuff, that affects them, right? Like advocacy. And then a lot of these folks may not read or write or may not know the language either. And maybe it's starting like-- for me, organizations, all the organizations should have an ESL.

[CHUCKLES]

Little classes for folks. Like, free, accessible for everybody. Education of financial literacy, know your rights. I'm a Verger. Are you familiar with On The Verge?

Crystal Cardenas:
No.

Laura LeCave:
On The Verge is-- it's a cohort of leadership of folks to help, especially leaders of color, to come out and be a good leader. So I just graduated from On The Verge. And on the verge, we just hosted, because we were asking the community what they needed and stuff, and we hosted a financial literacy and know your rights for parents at school. And the parents that came, they're parents who work on the farm, parents who don't understand what IEP means, parents who don't understand all these little basic things.

It's what we need to see the most. And if I had the funding, I would love to host that all the time. Because it was a small project. We had 30 parents show up, which is good.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
And we hosted, and those two workshops were amazing because parents had so many questions and they kept asking, we need this at the school. So I feel like not only organizations, but it's more at the school system level. I tell parents just because they have a master's degree, just because the teachers have all this knowledge, it doesn't mean you cannot be an advocate for your child.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
Because it's this intimidation, like, they know everything already. I'm like, no, trust me, I've done trainings at school. Some of these parents-- some of these teachers, I'm like, why are you teaching in this school?

[CHUCKLES]

Crystal Cardenas:
And I think in the Latino culture specifically, there's so much respect. They want to just-- on top of that, they have that education and they think that, but I also think there's-- OK, I'm going to respect that you're the teacher and this is your space and I'm just going to acknowledge that. I'm not going to question it because I think in our culture, we just do what we're told and believe that those with education or those in higher positions of power are doing the right things for us.

And unfortunately, that comes out to not be true a lot of the times especially when talking about religion.

Laura LeCave:
It's ridiculous. I cannot either. But one of the stories I always tell, because this is about six years ago, I had this parent that I used to work as an early intervention, she was really scared talking to the teachers. Because I would do evaluations for ASD, ADHD, all these things that parents don't even know what that is.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
One of the parents went from saying, my child has a demon inside to oh, I understand now because I'm educated. It's simple things like that. 

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. And I do think that that's one of those things that I think a lot of organizations are just overlooking the religion aspect. We're actually going to have a training on that soon called Serving The Whole Child, where it's like we have to acknowledge that that's part of the whole person, is that spirituality. Whatever that looks like. I think specifically for me as a Catholic, we really need to question more and ask more about that because that's something that plays a crucial role in how they're living their lives.

So I do think that it's something that has to be addressed when you're a service provider, just finding that out. Like, what's that space look like? Just helping to educate a little bit about. It could be more than whatever it is that you have heard or learned from-- in the church. And I think there's a space for it. I always tell people to be fully vulnerable. I don't love being a Catholic. It's not my thing, but I grew up that way and it's inbred in our culture, so it's really hard for me to separate it.

And so I can imagine for others who aren't exposed to as many of these kinds of conversations how challenging it is to navigate that space. And I do think that as providers and supporters of our community, we have to acknowledge that we have to work with the church because it's going to always be a part of us because it's been there historically for so long. And so I think helping navigate-- and especially I know the church when it comes to LGBTQ, right? Like, that is such a hard space for people to navigate when the church is not supporting that.

And then you're going against your values and your children. There's just this tug that's so hard because you're not going to change people's mind overnight.

Laura LeCave:
No, and you can't. That's the other thing too, because I grew up Catholic, but I grew up in a not good Catholic side of things when we grew up, so I'm very traumatized.

[CHUCKLES]

But there's queer people who are pastors. There's a good positive side of things. I think it depends on how you grew up.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. There are ways that we can move through that and still keep part of our culture and that piece, but then also not be so instilled in some of this more closed mindedness that the institution will bring. But I wanted to talk a little bit about-- because this episode will air in September, which is Suicide Prevention Month. I wanted to talk a little bit about the work you've done with suicide prevention and what organizations can do as well to help prevent that.

Laura LeCave:
I think from someone who tried suicide a couple times in college, I think the prevention that I think became like a big advocate, especially for me, is parent education. It has been my number one. I'm really passionate about early childhood and working with kids in foster system. And I feel like someone who grew up in the system in Colombia and I don't even know how I made it alive, it's like, the prevention will be like educating parents, right? Like mental health.

A lot of what you tell a Latino parent, like, going to therapy or that's loco. Like, [SPANISH] you should not be going over there.

Crystal Cardenas:
My mom would say, [SPANISH] Like, that's what they want to do, right? Because they're teaching you boundaries. But to her, it's like, why would you say that? Like, why would you ask for distance?

Laura LeCave:
Exactly. It's horrible.

So it's like, no, don't go there.

[CHUCKLES]

Yeah. So I feel like the biggest-- the organizations, the biggest advocacy will be like mental health support. And not just mental health, but like free accessible mental health. Because mental health is expensive. My therapist is in Colombia. I pay Colombian pesos to see my therapist at Telehealth because I can't afford a therapist here. Especially if you're navigating the system of Kaiser. I navigate in those spaces even though I'm quote unquote "educated by an institution."

I know some of the systems still it doesn't work. And so I couldn't imagine what the people who can navigate the systems can't even get into therapy.

Crystal Cardenas:
So I've been trying to get my dad to see a therapist. He has dementia, severely depressed. But to try to navigate an insurance that will take the therapist that is open, that has clients and availability and that speak Spanish, I could not find one. Besides the fact that you're finally going to get somebody to that point, we all struggle. I know it as a person who has gone to therapy lots of times in my life, to finally get to like, OK, today's the day, I'm going to make the call.

And then you make the call and there's this huge process, all these barriers to try to get it. And then by then you're like, forget it.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, that's why I love what Positive Images just started last year with on The Margins, their partnership for free therapy for folks. 12 sessions, free therapy. Make it as easier as possible. Because that was the other thing, you don't want them to be like, and this, and this. No, fill out this quick form, we make the appointment with you and here. But if mental health is not an option for you right now to-- or for organizations, provide events culturally culture conscious. Just create spaces of collective healing.

Crystal Cardenas:
Mm-hmm.

Laura LeCave:
I did this training through-- on the margins and we had a speaker saying that the US focuses a lot of individual therapy, but then we forget about the collective healing, right? I could get all the individual therapy from myself, but what about if I need community and connect with other people? I feel like it's the white supremacy of things that men should do, like, disconnect rather than connect. And so I want bring that up to collective healing should be a thing.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yes. My mom, it's like even if I can go and get all the help, if my person who, my mom, I'm the closest to can't buy into it and thinks that they're brainwashing me. How are we going to move forward with this problem that we're having? Like, how are we going to create healthy spaces for our relationship if she's not buying into it, right?

Laura LeCave:
Exactly. Mm-hmm.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yeah, totally right.

Laura LeCave:
Exactly, it's that collective. Like, you could heal-- like, I could heal all the [INAUDIBLE] I have anxiety, PTSD, depression, all these things you can name. But if I heal myself and I have a group of friends that we connect with, we discuss things, and if you heal, I'm healed. And the connections is much stronger. So I feel like a lot of organizations, yes, we should also provide individual things, but also provide collective of activities or circles or call it healing, call it [SPANISH] call it whatever you want to call it. Just like bring communities together.

Crystal Cardenas:
I'm just so thankful and grateful to you and the work that you do and the passion that you have for it, because I can genuinely feel this huge impact that you're making. And so I just love it, and I just get so excited to hear you.

Laura LeCave:
Thank you. Yeah. The other thing is, like, in the past, parent education, number one, but also providing spaces of just hanging out because I feel like a lot of things, especially at Positive Images, we started working with La Familia Sana, which also bring the center to places that are on the margins, say they are far, right? Bringing like activities and things to do together, also provide information and resources meanwhile to parents.

I love working with La Familia Sana because one of the quotes from this [INAUDIBLE]

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

Which means, I love that the rainbow flags are normalized. And this is like a lot of Latino families that come to our events. I mean, last event we had like 53 people. It's all families and kids and just wanted to learn more and they're eager to have more community, eager to have more connections, more events. One of the things that-- for me that I'm passionate about for like suicide prevention is to always have art nights. I feel like art, it's a way of expressive.

And I had a parent, wait, do I get to paint? I'm like, yes, you get to paint. What do you mean? You get to paint too.

[CHUCKLES]

And I just saw, like, the daughter and the mom painting together. It was like so freaking healing. She didn't know that was an option for her. She thought it was just for the kids.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yeah.

Laura LeCave:
So little things that don't have to be like this, institutionalized. Trainings all the time. You have to be also conscious of how can I provide this? Really being conscious about the culture and also providing spaces. Literally spaces and materials and bringing community together. And you bring [SPANISH] like, you bring the food.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yes.

Laura LeCave:
And people are there.

Crystal Cardenas:
Definitely. I do think that people undervalue the food and what that does and how it just brings communities together.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah. And like we just had-- Positive Images was part of La Plaza, a program called Innovaciones, innovations. And our whole project was to bring community together into a space of like [SPANISH] The healing, collective healing. And we had this, a La Plaza, and families from all over came and we also brought a drag queen to make it more like educated.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yeah.

Laura LeCave:
Right?

Crystal Cardenas:
How was that experience?

Laura LeCave:
Oh, my goodness. It was so beautiful. I had an abuelita ask me, so what's the difference between transgender, transversa and drag queen? She's like 70, 80 years old asking me what the differences are. And so that's suicide prevention expose you to things that are OK to be. And I had a lot of families taking pictures with the drag queen and like, oh, my god, this is amazing. And then the drag queen performed the Shakira music.

Because that's the other thing about drag queens in spaces, they tend to be white, they tend to be only English speaking.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
And so I found this drag queen. He's from Colombia. And he performs a lot in San Francisco and everywhere. So I was like, oh, my god, can you perform for this event? At the beginning we were nervous because we had safety. We don't know what's going to happen.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
But this event provided free food, free activities, free everything, and people showed up and people were excited to take a picture with the drag queen and asking questions.

Crystal Cardenas:
That's awesome.

Laura LeCave:
So things like that for me is like suicide prevention.

Crystal Cardenas:
100%. You were saying with the abuelita comment, I find myself just trying to be that in terms of allowing my family members, the older ones, the ones that are still in Mexico, ask me the questions so that you're not going to ask my cousin who we know is just starting to come out. Ask me the questions. Let me be the one that's helping you process.

Wait but also on those [SPANISH]

And I'm like, there's no hombre. No, but I know-- no, there's none. [CHUCKLES] Let me help you again. There's none. No, just dos mujeres. Two women. I swear, this is a literal conversation.

And that's such a big deal because they are in a binary world where everything is female, male, female, male, female, male, right? So the-- And the language is like that too.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, it's very, very binary. Yeah. But the good thing about now that I feel in Sonoma County families are being exposed a little bit more. Even though people say Sonoma County is very liberal, there's still a lot of work to do and I think organizations have to really step up their game, especially the ones who have a lot of funding.

[CHUCKLES]

Yes. And be like, can you spread the love and like, get some funding to other orgs? That'll be great.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yes, that would be fabulous. I agree. I agree.

[CHUCKLES]

Yes. So were you a social worker before this? What was your role prior?

Laura LeCave:
I did what's called early intervention. I did that for seven years. I did my first year and then it was really heavy. And so then I left and then I came back with this amazing organization called The Early Learning Institute. So I worked there as an early-- as a bilingual, bicultural, early intervention specialist. Now, it's not social work, but I really, I think I was doing social work and mental health. So I was working with families, going into their homes.

So we drive all over the county and you go to homes that you don't know what you're getting into, right?

Crystal Cardenas:
Mm-hmm.

Laura LeCave:
And my caseload was mainly the bilingual caseload. And a lot of those entail more trauma based folks and going into their homes. So the work you work is working with parents, getting their child, baby evaluated to see what kind of services they can get. And then from that, you do like reports and make sure that they get the services needed. It was, for me, I feel like I did a lot of more therapy as well.

Even though the appointment is for one hour, sometimes some appointments went three hours because parents felt really comfortable talking to me and like they needed that moment of venting, especially in homes. Like, I didn't know how much poverty there was in Sonoma County until I started doing this job, going to spaces where they don't have accessibility to things. And sometimes, I had to unfortunately, because I'm a mandatory reporter, I had to report.

There are some things-- it wasn't not for the parents, it was more of like what's going on around in the community. So it was very heavy. And I think the beautiful connection I had with these families was that they were able and comfortable enough to talk to me about things. I still have families call me and I don't work there anymore.

[CHUCKLES]

I feel like the bilingual language justice portion of things, doing this work, was very-- it was really passionate. I mean, my passion has been early childhood for the longest time I've done early intervention. I taught preschool for four years. I worked at ANOVA, which is the Special Ed school. So I work with diverse folks in the community, LGBTQ, but also the intersectionality between LGBTQ, Latina and autistic. So put it all together, right?

[CHUCKLES]

So there's a lot of intersectionalities that my past experiences have helped me develop with creating safe spaces for folks.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. I know you keep saying being bilingual is what helped you, but I don't think that that's what it is, Laura, I think it's that your humility comes out and there's no judgment when you're talking to families. And I think that's the biggest thing is, you can be bilingual, but that doesn't mean that you're not judging, right? You're not coming in saying you don't have a space. There is something about understanding that families are doing the best that they can.

And I think you really embody that, of just giving everybody that space to acknowledge, like, I know you're doing everything you can and I want to help support that versus what's happening? And why haven't you done this? Parents just feeling more and more isolated as they're struggling because they get that judgment.

Laura LeCave:
Well, I grew up super poor where food was maybe happening or not when I lived with my bio. I don't call her my bio mother, but my bio womb holder. Living in the spaces of war actually, because we were living near paramilitaries. Grupos armados.

Crystal Cardenas:
What, was it like Guerrilla warfare?

Laura LeCave:
Similar like that. Yeah. So growing up in those spaces of like near where war was happening and like poor and understanding, we barely had anything. So I think that's where my understandings come from because I was in it.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
And so coming into this houses, it was a bit triggering at first, obviously, but then you can see what the families are trying, right?

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. So do you think that you've made a bigger impact now that you're with Positive Images or do you think it's just different?

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, I mean, I've only been-- in September it will be a year since I've been at Positive Images. I think I'm doing an amazing work on being impacted. I think what's restraining us a lot is funding, unfortunately. I could do more, but it's the funding part that's hard. Especially because the bilingual program is brand new and I'm building it from zero with my amazing team, Bilingual Bodies, we call ourselves. Bilingual Bodies Team.

We have a pretty awesome team and I think building that, it's good, but it feels like a lot of emotional labor and a lot more work. The building like a regular program because it also comes with have to deal with traumatic experience from folks and how can we sensitive serve those communities? And also, we don't have the money or we have the money, kind of a lot of the [INAUDIBLE]. I'm making an impact, yes, reaching out those families. And also I think it's going to take a little more because this agency has been open for 33 years and this is their first year.

When we opened the bilingual program, we thought it's going to be like a little bit at a time. Nope, it was like ocean waves. The first three months were rough. There was a lot going on. Everyone wanted to meet us, a lot of community members coming through, which was great, but then it's a team of two, and then only two of us spoke Spanish. And then I was like, OK, Kimi, we need to get someone else. So we got an intern and I feel like now we need more because it's like a team of three, it's hard.

And our interns only part time, so technically, 2 and 1/2.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right.

Laura LeCave:
So the more impact I can make is if we have the ability to have more staff.

Crystal Cardenas:
Going off of that, if I handed you a $5 million grant tomorrow, what would you do? What would you use the funds for? 

Laura LeCave:
Oh, my god. You have no idea. First of all, we'd get a bigger center because our center is so small.

[CHUCKLES]

That's the other thing, it's not big, it's not accessible, it's not near like the train station. It's very hidden. So getting a center that is accessible by a bus or by a train and really, really creating programs and getting more staff members, obviously, and creating programs in this bigger center and actually creating more programs outside of the margin cities and to get more staff and have a therapist on site.

Crystal Cardenas:
Yes, I think it's needed everywhere. I'm like the amount of therapists that we are lacking is insane right now.

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, that's why I love On The Margins, because what I like about them is they have bilingual, bicultural, queer, knowledgeable folks that serve our community. And I was like, if you ever want to be that big funder, fund those folks that are giving all these services to community and accessibility to staff.

Crystal Cardenas:
And they're doing with such little bit of money, it's always-- they make those dollars stretch. I know we are a small staff, I mean, I don't know how we do the work that we do with the limited amount of money, but we make it happen.

Laura LeCave:
Somehow, right? And that's why these podcasts are so important, so people actually get to hear and share and share everybody. Like, listen, the cool thing about being a PI now is like, people like, identify me with PI, which is good because that means people are seeing us out there.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. Definitely. So I want to ask you, what would you say to someone just graduating from college, thinking about getting into this line of work? How would you motivate them? How would you have them keep going when those challenges face them?

Laura LeCave:
Yeah, I actually did this as a speaker at a program I came from a bunch of high school. It's a program for high schools and like we were talking about activism and the work I do. So it comes in three parts. One, make sure your mental health is there. It's OK to take breaks. I work at REI building bikes and as a bike mechanic. It's OK to take breaks because it's exhausting.

And then number 2 is to make sure, like, find something that you're passionate about and find what's already created. And if it's not created, then create one. And number 3 is looking into your own experiences and see how you can relate to people, especially if you're just graduating, there's a lot of things happening. The pressure of society, like, you have to make this much money. There's the pressure of the parents saying, why aren't you working in the city? Why are you doing this? Like there's a lot of pressure going around when it comes to social justice change. They don't see this as a real work.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. And I think that's the other thing that I think about doing this is there are so many people that are just like, just get a different job, go make more money. And I'm like, I can't, I have to do something that fills my soul. Like, I know-- I know that you want me to just go and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. And trust me, I mean, I like money too, but there's-- I will always remember I was interning at SEIU when I was at UCLA as an undergrad, and we would meet with the union members there and I could connect with them a lot because my mom cleaned houses forever.

And I would go with her to clean houses or clean a preschool or clean all the buildings she had. And I could really connect. And I remember this woman, I'll never forget her, she said, when you graduate, remember your people, remember us and come back. Come back and help us and serve the community. Like, don't just leave and go and make money. I can't leave and go and make money anymore. I have to stay and feel like I'm making a change somewhere.

Laura LeCave:
This is what we're doing it's called collective healing.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right?

Laura LeCave:
We're helping communities heal in a collective way.

Crystal Cardenas:
Right. Thank you so much, Laura. This has been such a great conversation and thank you for all of the work that you do and all the passion that you bring to it and for all of the families that you touch. I'm just very grateful to you.

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Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Remember Why You're Here. To access the transcript for this episode and to learn more about what we do at CIR, please visit our website at cirinc.org. Until next time.

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