Continuing our spotlight on the Eco-Apprentice program. Please meet Eunice Quintanilla, one of our current apprentices:
My name is Eunice Quintanilla, and I am an Eco-Apprentice/ Habitat Restoration Technician here at Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ). I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, in a small city called South Gate. As a Latinx womxn living in a low-income community, I was never really exposed to concepts around the environment or environmental justice but always had a love and passion for parks and nature.
I decided to move to the Bay Area and major in environmental studies so that I could learn more about my interests. I really wanted to be a part of an organization that centered environmental justice in their mission; I felt like LEJ was the perfect organization to get firsthand experience with an environmental non-profit that actively worked to help the local community–Bayview/Hunters Point.
I started working at LEJ in September 2019. As a Habit Restoration Technician, I work happily and extensively with native plants in order to help restore the native ecology of Southeast San Francisco. My favorite part about being an Eco-Apprentice is being able to teach other people about the concepts and techniques I am learning at LEJ. Volunteer programs are wonderful because you have so many people with similar interests as you in one place looking to help and learn!
I am hoping to carry over what I’ve learned back to LA so that I can pass it on to my community and, hopefully, inspire people to want to connect more with their local environment.
Eunice Quintanilla
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