Teruko Dobashi
When she was 15 years old and living in San Francisco with her drug-addicted mother, Teruko Dobashi decided to change her life. “I don’t want to go to sleep to bullet shots,” she recalls having said to herself. “That’s something I don’t want to hear for the rest of my life.” From that moment forward she came clean on all fronts: She quit using and dealing, came out as a lesbian, and started writing poetry. Dobashi found support at the Center for Young Women’s Development, where she is now a Community Organizer. “Without non-profits,” she reflects, “we’d be nowhere; they were the ones calling me and questioning me when I was all cut up and bleeding.” This March, at age 17, Dobashi received the Winners Breakfast Award from Family Service Agency of San Mateo County, which honors those who have overcome adversity to achieve greatness. –JB
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