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Sylvia Galvez

by Rachel from Spring Valley

A Chance For Change

Sylvia Galvez is the manager of Sullivan's Group home in Lemon Grove. She dropped out of high school. She had her first child at 16. Before she was 21, she had three sons. As a single parent without formal education, she sought a trade and entered the construction field as a painter when she was 19. She painted buildings for 10 years at the Navy Publics Works Department at the 32nd Street Navel Station and for the painting company of Mr. Willie Davis, a very well known contractor in San Diego, who mentored her to become more than just a painter. At the age of 28, she decided to return to school to finish her education.

Ms. Galvez started by attending the Educational Cultural Complex (ECC) and San Diego City College full-time. She graduated from City College in 1991 with an AA degree in Liberal Arts and transferred to National University and earned a BA and a Master's Degree in Human Behavior. In 1994, Sylvia researched the requirements for opening a Licensed State Group Home for teenage girls. Sylvia had a strong desire to work with troubled girls who have experienced a tough begging in life. Knowing that her path was not so easy, Sylvia wanted to give back to her community by helping young women realize that a rough start doesn't have to mean a rough finish. In 2005 Sylvia was currently working on her PHD in education to incorporate an educational curriculum for girls in her care.

Sylvia had a very tough past in her life , when she fully realized that she was making multiple bad decisions and that she was putting herself in many bad situations, she choose to flip her life around for the better. Sylvia Galvez has changed my life, she helped me to notice the things in life that are great , she has helped me become more of a better person and she has taught me things I would've never learned or known. I look up to Sylvia as a role model. She is my guardian angel.

Sylvia helped me to realize that all my mother was trying to do was help me, but I didn't realize it or pay enough attention to notice her helping hand. I used to run away from home constantly. I never went to my mom for comfort or advice. I never really had a mother/daughter relationship connection with my mother. Since Sylvia helped my mother and I gain back our relationship. We have been talking to each other more then ever before and we have a connection that we had should have had with each other along time ago. I'm so happy and grateful that Sylvia has come into my life. She has changed my life and helped me through everything. She is a very strong willed, independent, helpful, caring, and life changing woman.

Ms.Gavlez was licensed to open a group home in 1995, she was operating several 24-hours licensed treatment facilities in San Diego County. After 16 years in operation, Sylvia realized something was missing. When her girls turned 18, they were sent out into the rough, cold world with no support. They would call in the middle of the night, in trouble, lost, at drug houses, or hiding from pimps. Some had become homeless, having children who were taken away from them by the child protective system, starting the cycle all over again. She realized the need to open transitional housing for the girls who turned 18 with no place to go. That's when she and her husband, Herb Cawthorne, decided to purchase fifteen units apartment complex in 2002. It was renovated by Pardee Homes and Home Aid San Diego to help ex-foster youth who did not have a place to stay. Sylvia's Place is known throughout San Diego County as a clean, safe, and structured place for young girls ( and ex-foster boys) to call their own.

Sylvia Galvez believes it was her faith that gave her the vision to help young foster girls by giving them nurturing and love they never had, to help them believe in themselves when no one else did, and to work hard to make the future a lot better than the past.

Page created on 10/22/2011 6:50:11 PM

Last edited 10/22/2011 6:50:11 PM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.
 

Author Info

Very personal, involves a group home.