KARELY NUNEZ, 16

Karely Nunez is a junior in high school and lives in East Palo Alto, California. She is a Mexican-American and identifies as a young Latina female who believes in justice and equality for everyone. Nunez will be the first to graduate from high school and college in her family. She founded the Student Teacher Parent Community at Oxford Day Academy, her high school, where they address issues in the institution in an effort to improve the culture of the school.

She is one of the two Youth Organizers at Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), a nonprofit lead by students of color that focuses, amid community building efforts, on environmental and social injustices. YUCA has been awarded community environmental awards and recognition for shedding light on the injustices in the community. YUCA’s programs include programming that aids homeless youth in finding housing. Nunez helps run a Black Lives Matter/ Solidarity is Key campaign in her community of East Palo Alto where YUCA focuses on strengthening the relationship between the police departments and community.

Nunez hopes that youth remain determined, dedicated, and resilient to any injustice occurring in the world. She has aspirations to work with her peers as a community so they can demonstrate that unity and commitment are more powerful as a whole. Nunez says that youth have a duty to not only help problem-solve for their generation but also for the future generations ahead.

Where do we go?

by Karely Nunez

I have lived in EPA since the day I was born

I remember the abandoned lands

The empty lands now occupied with buildings

Buildings that now have tech companies residing

Rent prices that have been rising

Families are browsing

My community constantly worries about how to afford their housing

In a blink of a year what has happened?

Families torn with division between the confliction of money

Do corporations think of the families or even the little ones?

Without enough money many families suffer in silence

The youth are in a position of balancing

School

Security

Self-identity.

The mind of the youth racing,

Who are we?

What will happen from here on out?

How can we achieve our goals?

Am I going to college?

Am I going to college for myself or family?

Where am I going?

But most importantly who am I?...  

We not only carry a backpack with school supplies

But also the burden of stress of being forced out

We carry the burden of tension

resulting in a heachache, migraine, and stiff neck

Displacement a significant disruption

Displacement a significant disturbance

Where will we feel safe?

With no home, food, or comfort where do we go…

Our once secure place we called home vanished in a quick second

Where do we go...?