Skip to main content

People of Cypress Park: Valerie Sanchez

Support Provided By
valerie_sanchez_teacher_ana_chavez_cypress_park.jpg

My name is Valerie Sanchez. I am a family service worker for Kedren Head Start, and I service the families in the communities of Cypress Park and Northeast L.A.

I've been doing family service work for four years. I originally started as a preschool student here at Kedren Head Start. Now I work for them.

I grew up in Cypress Park. Two years ago I moved to Elysian Valley, but I was born and raised in Cypress Park.

I have noticed the amount of violence has toned down a little bit. I remember when I was growing up, a boy got shot outside of our house. He was being chased by a gang from outside of the community, got shot, and fell off his bike. Another gang from a different community drove by and shot a dad as he was picking up his daughter from school. There was a lot of violence growing up. Now I've noticed a lot of people from other ethnicities and nationalities actually moving into our community because they've noticed that the violence is going down and the graffiti is going down. It's quiet and a little bit safer. It used to not be quiet.

What I notice about this program for these kids is the fact that there are a lot of ethnicities. They're all bringing their kids to these preschools, whereas the kids that I grew up were only Hispanic, Mexican American. I didn't see culture, I didn't see diversity. Now I notice there's a lot more diversity.

I hope that in the future everybody will learn to respect each other, love each other and speak different languages as they get exposure to the different cultures in our community.

The above interview is transcribed and edited from the following interview:

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.