Daisy Prado Shares Her Personal Connection with César Chávez Day
César Chávez Day is 3/31/24 and we took this opportunity to speak with Daisy Prado, Case Manager at Ritter Center, about both her personal and professional connection to this holiday. César Chávez dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of farmworkers and promoting nonviolent social change. He also advocated for better housing and access to education for workers and their families.
“My family used to be farmworkers, and I was also a farmworker. What’s special to me about César Chávez is knowing that someone was fighting for our rights. He advocated for all farmworkers for social justice, and I bring that to my role at Ritter Center in advocating for my clients. It is hard for farmworkers to live in the US, and his fighting gives me inspiration to keep on going. I am striving for social justice: not just talking about it, but taking action. This is part of why I work at Ritter Center: the vision of advocacy combined with social justice. My role is related to reentry and working with people from jail means I have to advocate even more. We have to fight for our civil rights. I am always asking myself what else I can do for them. Sometimes it might be showing up at court so a client doesn’t feel alone. I want to be there for them. I can help talk to the probation officer and public defender. They are working so hard to improve their life, and the judge can see this,” said Daisy.
She is proud to push for more rights for people in this community. “It is even more important right now for women’s health that we recognize the problematic system of those in power making decisions for women about their bodies. We can’t sit by while this is happening!” she said. “The issue is that the people in power don’t necessarily have empathy or compassion for these issues. I can bring my support to working with a client one on one. What are their rights? We are all human. Let’s not treat others like they are less than ourselves. That’s how I felt when I was a farmworker. But now I have the opportunity to give back and to go above and beyond for our clients,” described Daisy passionately.
She arrived in the US at 17 as an immigrant. This year marks her 10th anniversary in the US. Learning English at that age was challenging, but her high motivation knew no limits. Daisy now aims to be an attorney, specializing in immigration rights and homeless advocacy.
“I want to utilize the feedback clients give me about what’s going on in our system. I’m their voice. I want to live that beautiful saying: ‘be the change you want to see.’ I didn’t have a nonprofit like Ritter Center to help me. I had to figure it out on my own. I was homeless after high school and lived in my car. I know what they are going through and what they need. It would be an honor to continue to use my voice to work on changing laws for immigrants and people living on the streets. Our clients are so relieved knowing someone is there for them, and someone who speaks Spanish. It keeps me motivated to keep on fighting,” she said.
