the rainbow community center in contracosta county, kim baranek, inclusive schools coordinator and mayelauniga who is a youth mentor. thank you bowing for being here today. >> thanks for having us. >> i've been enjoying visiting with you on the break. may yellla, you work with the kids. when you were growing up, you didn't have a lot of role models. tell me about that and how that relate tosses the kids. >> i grew up very first generation mexican-american and grew up very working class and in southern alameda county. and when i started realizing that i wasn't straight, it was very difficult for me because i didn't know anyone especially anyone that looks like me that will identified as gay. so it was very isolating. tan actually wasn't until i really connected with organizations similar to the rainbow community center in southern alameda county that i really got to see role models and people that were like me. >> how much of a difference did that make for you? >> it made a huge difference. it saved my life. i was very, very depressed teenager, very suicidal. it gave me a lot of hope that