Hearing from the Team: Lucero, Cope's First Responder
Starting a new job during a pandemic is definitely not ideal. You don’t know any of your coworkers, and since they have masks on, you can only really get familiar with the top half of their faces. You don’t know any of the usual routines and procedures, and you’re trying to learn them while everything is being done differently. You barely know where the restroom is, but now you need to wash your hands constantly.
Luckily for Lucero de Haro, who’s been the Resource Specialist at Cope Family Center’s front desk since February, she’s new to the job, but not to Cope. Back in March of 2019, Lucero came to Cope for a few months as an intern in the Development office, focused on community engagement. She met the staff, and got to see how a typical day looks at Cope, with clients coming through the door to ask for information or help.
Two years later, with a B.A. in Child Development from Sonoma State, Lucero joined the Cope staff herself, but the days have of course been far from typical. Still, she says,
“It feels really good to work here. The people that work here are amazing—super good-hearted, kindhearted people”
The Resource Specialist at the front desk is Cope’s first responder, especially when a client arrives with an urgent need; she has to triage the emergency and sort out the appropriate resources to offer. With very limited building access right now, instead of walking in, parents and caregivers reach out to Cope for help via phone call, and Lucero has learned to listen carefully for little clues as to the caller’s level of distress. Sometimes, a caller “seems to be ok...then you hear a break or shake in their voice”.
The reality is that the pandemic has put a lot of the clients Lucero talks to in an economic emergency. Even as more of Napa reopens, after a year of wage cuts and job losses, many parents are struggling to stay afloat. The majority of her callers, she says, need help with paying their rent, and often need emergency supplies of diapers and formula as well. Lucero, a Napa native (and Vintage grad) has found the frontline experience eye-opening:
“I don’t think a lot of people know what goes on in the community—the actual needs. We get stuck in our own bubbles.”
She knows many first-time callers find it a huge challenge just to make contact; they worry about “a stigma regarding looking for help...they don’t want to be looked down on”. Lucero’s mandate from Cope is to lead with “compassion...It’s not just giving a service. We want to make sure they’re okay”.
With her background in Child Development, Lucero is very aware of how important those basic needs are for a safe, happy family and a healthy childhood. Especially during an emergency call with a highly stressed parent, she always tries to find a point to thank the caller for making a brave choice: “You reached out for help, and it’s the best thing you can do”.
There is a lot of information to absorb, and Lucero has been taking it in as fast as she can. After five months of meeting many clients at the very first step of their Cope journeys, one thing she already knows for sure:
“When people are doing it for their children, that’s really the guiding, driving factor for a lot of change.”