Leslie Manriquez and Her Experiences with Para Las Familias

Leslie Manriquez shares her experiences at the Sunset Social Pre-Party Kick Off. May 2022.

We’re excited to highlight Leslie Manriquez for her work at ECS over the past few years. We were able to sit down with Leslie and ask her about her experiences at ECS as well as her thoughts on the future of the Para Las Familias Program (PLF).

How long have you been at ECS, and what brought you to the organization and Para Las Familias specifically?

I've been working for PLF for about a little bit over three years now. Initially, I had been working with adults and some teenagers before PLF. I wasn't sure of the idea of working with this population. It was a bit scary for me because it was a group that I was not used to working with. Still, I really liked the attachment model, and I had learned about it before working for PLF. 

I figured this was something I really wanted to do and believe in. I went, applied for the position as a clinician there, and learned the model better. 

We have an awesome clinical supervisor and a very knowledgeable team. After some time, I really started enjoying working with the 0-5 population. I really like this population and working in this area because I grew up in South Chula Vista. This is my community.

I've always wanted to work and make an impact on the community. I really do feel that Para Las Familias' work is something special; I've seen the program's impact on the community. Even by word of mouth, families refer us to other families and friends in the community.

What is your favorite thing about your job? What are you looking forward to most stepping into this new role?

My favorite part about this job is the good clinical work. The organization is very supportive of the work that we do. So, it's nice to work in an organization that is supportive of their staff, supportive of the training, and the services that we provide to the community are very high-quality services.

There's also the hidden bonus of having a great team, which is another plus. I have experienced great connections with the team. Everyone is very supportive of each other, has different strengths, and shares ways to support the families. Not to mention everybody's just very friendly and easygoing, which is always nice to have. A climate and a work environment where everybody is very helpful, supportive, and communicates well is honestly the best bonus I can ask for.

What are some things you hope to focus more on, or are there any changes you would like to make within the next few months to even years?

Well, initially, we'll continue to support the staff. Having had the experience of being a clinician, I think there are many ways to help the team and the workflow. Because it is a demanding job, it can be very emotionally taxing. 

But I think we can really troubleshoot anything that can be challenging. So that programmatic stuff or making the workflow easier is one of the biggest things. In the long term, the bigger picture is to continue building relationships with them and the community to expand the people we reach because we know there's a significant need for services for the certified.

Even though we are recognized through either just word of mouth or just other community members, I feel that we can still reach more families. One of the things that I'd like to expand where we reach and where people know us and build more connections in the community. I hope it doesn't become complicated to seek services.

One of the things that I still have a hard time with is that finding mental health services in the community is not very intuitive. It continues to be a struggle for the community. That's also one of the things that I really want to focus on and have the program reach out more and in places where more people really don't know about us.

ECS Partners with TOOTRiS to Connect Families with Head Start

Episcopal Community Services (ECS), a nonprofit social services agency providing early childhood education and other critical services to children and adults across San Diego, has partnered with TOOTRiS, a first-of-its-kind platform that provides on-demand Child Care. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the struggles of working parents across the nation to find affordable, high-quality care for their children. To help make this difficult time easier on low-income families, ECS and TOOTRiS have come together to connect parents with ECS’s Head Start programs. All of ECS’s 17 Head Start sites are now accessible for free on the TOOTRiS platform, which allows parents to look near their home or work, using filters to find Child Care that fits their needs and budgetary requirements – even for temporary slots or drop-ins – and to view photos of the site and arrange a visit. This partnership will provide parents assurance that their children are being engaged, enriched, and supported by a licensed preschool provider, allowing parents to focus on work and other responsibilities.

“We feel privileged to be instrumental in helping Elizabeth Fitzsimons and her team at ECS achieve their noble vision of providing quality early childhood education to our communities,” said Alessandra Lezama, Founder & CEO of TOOTRiS. “With this partnership, families in our region can now have critical on-demand access to these Head Start programs with an easy click of a button."

Of the families enrolled in ECS’s Head Start and Early Head Start educational programs, 70% have one or more parent/guardian that is employed, and almost 90% of the families identify as Hispanic. Many families with children under five years of age meet the eligibility criteria for Head Start, including those who are foster youth, special needs, or below the federal poverty level. According to the CDC, essential workers are more likely to belong to these populations and provide critical support to their communities. For an essential worker, a flexible schedule from an employer is rare and may not allow for instances where affordable and quality care can consistently be secured.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with TOOTRiS, who has made it their mission to tackle a huge issue in our region: lack of affordable high-quality care,” said Elizabeth Fitzsimons, Chief Executive Officer at ECS. “Part of our organization’s mission is to empower adults and this partnership will do just that by connecting parents to quality early childhood education. This is a great opportunity to help children learn and grow, and support parents who work hard to provide for their families.”

ECS provides more than $30 million in health and human services in the areas of homelessness, mental health, substance use disorder treatment, and early childhood education to more than 6,000 clients in San Diego. Founded in 2019, TOOTRiS is a start-up company that provides 100% free resources to more than 122,000 childcare providers in 22 states, connects working parents to these programs in real-time, and enables employers to incorporate Child Care as a benefit through its technology platform. The TOOTRiS platform can be accessed online at www.tootris.com.  

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ECS Welcomes Two New Board Members in January

Rocket Ewell joins ECS Board. January 2022.

Rockette Ewell

Rockette Ewell is Vice President, Community Affairs Manager at U.S. Bank. A member of the Community Affairs and Engagement team, she leads charitable giving and community reinvestment efforts across three Southern California markets - San Diego, Orange County and the Inland Empire. In addition, she helps identify and develop strategic community partnerships and employee volunteer opportunities that support the bank’s corporate social responsibility priorities as well as drive business results.  

Rockette is active in the community, currently serving on boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego (executive committee member), the San Diego Museum of Us (executive committee member and secretary) and NeighborWorks Orange County, where she is vice chair. She is a member of San Diego Community College District’s San Diego Promise Development Committee and is U.S. Bank’s representative on the San Diego City-County Reinvestment Task Force. A 2015 graduate of LEAD San Diego’s IMPACT program, she joined the bank in June 2014.

A native Texan, Rockette is a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in Religion. She and her husband reside in north San Diego County.

Dr. Richard Lee joins ECS Board. January 2022.

The Reverend Dr. Richard Lee

Fr. Richard was born in Leicester, in the heart of the England, and went to University in Bangor, North Wales where he studied Electronic Engineering. He liked Wales so much that he stayed there for a decade! During that time, he got a Ph.D. in Biophysics, deepened his faith and became involved with the Church in Wales and spent two months working with the Mar Thoma Church in Kerala, South India.

After moving to the United States in 2000, he lived in the San Francisco Bay area before moving to San Diego in 2004. Fr. Richard is a bi-vocational priest, which means he has a full-time job working in science at a local biotech company. He trained for ordination at the diocesan School for Ministry, in Ocean Beach and was ordained a deacon at the Cathedral, and a priest at Good Samaritan where he served as Curate. He is married to Antonio, who is a certified nursing assistant.

Meet Paul

Meeting Paul for the first time, one is struck by his signature Texas twang. It’s a delicate speech pattern that savors each vowel, and sometimes, makes one believe that they aren’t in Southern California, but deep in the heart of Texas.

Paul outside of CERRC. September 2021.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise since Paul grew up outside of Dallas in the city of Plano.

And one would also not be surprised that Paul was a football standout—his broad shoulders and strong frame exude athleticism. In fact, his talents landed him with a football scholarship at LSU in Baton Rouge—a powerhouse of the Southeastern Conference.

But beneath the layers of this born and bred Texan, lies so much more. Growing up, he admits he had a really great life.

“My parents divorced when I was really young. But I loved my parents and got to know my birth mother as I got older,” Paul recalled.

But in his teen years, Paul’s birth mother faced her own issues.

“My step-father was a raging alcoholic and would beat my mother senseless,” Paul said.

There was a lot of weight on Paul and his siblings, thinking about the safety of their mother. Then, one event would change the course of their lives forever.

“One night, there was an accident,” Paul said. “Mom had to go to the hospital.”

But instead of driving to the hospital, Paul and his brother drove over to his step-father’s house.

“There were police everywhere. It was a mess,” Paul said. 

And then, Paul reacted. 

He picked up a butcher knife and stabbed his stepfather in the chest.

Paul was only 17. 

Though Paul was acquitted of any wrongdoing, the event replays mercilessly in Paul’s mind. And it is the main reason why Paul started using drugs.

“I started with cocaine, then heroin, metho, ecstasy,” Paul recalled.

For nearly 30 years, he relied on drugs to escape the indescribable pain of that night in his mother’s kitchen.

In between, he’s spent time in and out of prison. And during his most recent stint in prison, Paul decided he needed a change.

“March 7, 2020 was the day I decided to stop using drugs,” Paul said. “Two of the guys with me in prison were doing drugs, and I told them I was done. I decided to change. I was tired of seeing drugs ruin my life.”

Since then, Paul has not used substances. He was released from prison on March 5, and as part of his probation, enrolled in services at the Central East Regional Recovery Center (CERRC), operated by Episcopal Community Services in San Diego. 

At CERRC, clients receive outpatient recovery services, including in-depth assessments, individual counseling, group treatment, and more.

But Paul was reluctant to commit to the program at first.

“I had just enrolled and my counselor, Trisha, called to tell me that I was going to class three days a week, for an hour and a half,” Paul recalled. “I told her, ‘I can’t do that. I’m not gonna do that—I gotta work.’”

But his CERRC counselor was persistent.

Paul and his CERRC Counselor Trisha. September 2021.

“Trisha said to give her two weeks of her class and see how it goes,” Paul said. “That was just six classes, so we tried it out.” 

The rest, as they say, is history.

“Now, they can’t get rid of me!” Paul quipped. “I just want to spend my life inspiring others, just like ECS inspired me. My ultimate goal is to be affiliated with ECS as long as possible. That’s how much this program means to me.”

Paul is the first to acknowledge that recovery is a process, but he knows that he has a community behind him.

“ECS has made me realize that there is a better life,” Paul said. “If I didn’t have ECS, I would not be working. I would not be housed. I would not have food.”

And now, Paul basks in this new chapter .

"If you could have seen me before, I was a completely different person," Paul said. "My life has changed. This program helped me to change my life." 

Watch Paul share what ECS’ support means to him.