Being mixed, I come from both Mexican and Filipino backgrounds. For this part of my website I was fortunately able to talk with my relatives and learn things about our family’s past that I didn’t even know about beforehand. To begin, let’s start off with my Filipino heritage. My grandfather comes from a wealthy family in the Philippines, while my grandma originates from the complete opposite. Both of them are from San Pascual, Batangas and came around the years before they would reach adulthood. Something about my family is that we especially take pride in our last name as it has a very symbolic meaning behind it. As many are aware, the Philippines faced hard times and suffered oppression by Spain during the years 1821-1898. Families were forced to choose a surname and this is one reason why many Filipinos have Spanish last names. However, our family chose to change our last name to “Dimapasoc” meaning “unbreachable” in English. This symbolized strength and was a sort of silent resistance against the Spaniards.

Moving on, I will next be discussing my Mexican descent and our family’s history. For this topic, I mainly talked with my grandmother Hilda, who is loving, hardworking, and someone I care about deeply. For starters, my grandma originates from Michoacán. She lived there for about 17 years of her life until her family made the decision to leave Mexico and come to America. When asking her why, she informed me that her family struggled a lot at that time as there were no available jobs or food to eat. Her family chose to come to California and work, but she informed me how they worried due to the fact that they had no papers when they first came. When coming to California, they chose a small town by Santa Cruz called Watsonville. This town is mainly known for producing strawberries in its large fields. Without a proper education, my grandma worked in those fields and continued to do so until she moved with my mom and her siblings to Los Banos. This is where my parents actually met each other and eventually went on to have me and my younger brothers and sister.

Current Challenges Impacting the Bay Area:

This article discusses the severe case of homelessness currently taking place in our community. According to the website “A Regional View of a Regional Crisis”, the Bay Area has the third highest ranking of homelessness in the United states. There is evidence of over 28,000 cases of people here who are currently facing this harsh form of living. The 2019 Bay Area Council Poll stated that one of the major underlying causes of homelessness in the Bay Area is the unaffordable housing we have. While some other information that was provided by the article was the 28% of homeless people who are mentally or physically ill. A lot of times, many people believe that the homeless all suffer from some form of addiction. However, this type of data informs readers that there are other aspects to the situation. Such as people with mental health issues, receive a low salary, or high cost of housing. Fortunately, many people have started funding projects in order to help out the homeless permanently. For example, in 2018, Kaiser Permanente started off a project to fight homelessness by spending over 5 million dollars in order for low-income families to rent out homes in East Oakland. Another example would be Mayor London Breed, who launched the “Rising Up” initiative which gives 500 young homeless people a chance at life again. By providing them with job opportunities and housing subsidies.

As I previously stated, a very common misconception about the homeless is that they are all on the streets due to a severe type of addiction. However, the Bay Area proves that this belief is completely wrong and an unfair judgement. There are many different aspects which tie in with homelessness, besides addiction. A few examples being chronic illness, low salary, or the insane cost of housing. Even people who aren’t homeless struggle with affording a $500,000 outdated condo. I feel that the housing in the Bay Area are too expensive and I sympathize with those who are living on the streets due to it. In addition, the insane cost of owning a home relates to my family as well. With my dad being our family’s only income, he works everyday nonstop just to ensure we have a roof over our heads. Although I’m really grateful for my dad, his working all the time comes with a sacrifice. It’s either leave the Bay Area because it’s unaffordable or work everyday and lose any spare time he had to spend time with us. This is a reality many families like myself have to live through, but it shouldn’t be. When thinking about it, a lot of the homeless in the Bay Area struggle to survive because of how expensive the Bay Area can be. Thankfully though, a lot of actions are being taken by many in order to ensure homes for those who need it.

website: www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/bay-area-homelessness/