COMMUNITY NEWS
Watsonville Activist Recognized A nissa Banuelos, program coordinator for the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County’s Youth Homeless Response Team, was honored with the Cesar Chavez Community Award March 28 for her work with homeless youth in Santa Cruz County. Banuelos was one of the honorees at an awards ceremony via Zoom presented by the Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services and the City of Watsonville Parks and Community Services Department. The Cesar Chavez Community Awards recognize individuals, organizations and businesses that engage Watsonville youth and empower them to help contribute to their community. The event’s theme was “Determination,” one of 10 values recognized by the Cesar Chavez Foundation: “Determination that is characterized by an attitude that with faith, steadfast commitment, patience, and optimism, human beings can prevail against all odds.” Latina labor leader, activist and community organizer Dolores Huerta, president and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, was the keynote speaker. “Like a lot of us, we don’t do this for the recognition, we do it for the youth that we serve,” said Banuelos a few days after the event. “I had a whole speech planned, but I didn’t read it, I just spoke from the heart. I felt really honored, happy and excited, especially since we’re such a small program. We only have four people in the department, so we’re the underdogs.” Banuelos said she got word that she was to be a recipient of the award on Friday, March 25, which just happened to be her first anniversary as program coordinator of the Youth Homeless Response Team. She started as an intern with CAB in 2018 working in a variety of departments from administration to youth education and finance, before joining the Youth Homeless Response Team as a case manager in 2019. Born and raised in Watsonville, Banuelos said she’s “always had a passion for helping people,” and started on that path when she began attending Cabrillo College, then later CSU Monterey Bay, where she majored in collaborative health and human services with an emphasis on social work.
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Anissa Banuelos While attending college she held multiple jobs, including as a property manager, community organizer for the United Way’s Project Thrive, with Cabrillo College itself, with the state CalWORKs program. Along the way, she garnered three associate of arts degrees from Cabrillo, had a daughter (now 9, with a 1-year-old sister) as a single mom at age 22. Her deep roots in the community helps her in her work. “I have a good connection with the community, with a lot of real-life experience,” she said. “That’s why I’m so passionate about it, I went through some of the programs they’re going through, so I can be real and raw with them.” Having Latin icon Huerta on the Zoom call was an added thrill. “She’s definitely had a big impact on my work,” Banuelos said. “As a Chicana, a Latina whose father is from Mexico, it was such an honor. It made it more real. She’s 91 years old and still doing the work. I said to myself, ‘That’s going to be me!’” n
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www.tpgonlinedaily.com Aptos Times / April 15th 2022 / 13
