Voices in Our Heads
René Castro: In Service For People and Community
René Castro describes himself as “…an advocate, educator, mentor and community social work practitioner.” He’s currently Director of Community Engagement at Century Villages at Cabrillo on Long Beach’s west side. Castro has decades of experience working with governments, philanthropies and human service organizations to “…identify their goals and maximize social impact.”
René Castro
PalacioMagazine.com recently sat down with René Castro at the Villages to discuss his path to this moment in his life and work and his future.
For René Castro, It Begins with A First Step
René Castro has a story to tell about the Peace Corps. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Psychology and Diversified Liberal Arts. But, as he tells it, he was “…nervous about getting a Master’s [degree]. Frankly, I didn’t think I could do it.” He heard about the Peace Corp and decided to apply.
“I applied for the most remote location I possibly could find.”
That turned out to be the Federated States of Micronesia. In case, you need a geography lesson, this country can be defined as pretty far away.
According to Google, “The Federated States of Micronesia is a country spread across the western Pacific Ocean comprising more than 600 islands. Micronesia is made up of 4 island states: Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap. The country is known for palm-shaded beaches, wreck-filled dives and ancient ruins, including Nan Madol, sunken basalt temples and burial vaults that extend out of a lagoon on Pohnpei.”
René Castro landed on the island of Pohnpei. “I didn’t even know where Micronesia was.” But he found out quickly.
“It’s like, you start with Auckland, New Zealand and you go four thousand miles north, six degrees above the equator.”
For two years, he taught all subjects in elementary school, organized some youth development project, and ran a volleyball tournament. “Just about anything to get young people active and engaged.”
He remembers the experience as having a “huge” impact on him.
“You know, I was twenty-seven at the time. I was just glad to be on a plane out of Los Angeles. It was the first time I really traveled anywhere internationally.”
And it was on the federal government’s tab.
“I was making eleven dollars a day and having the time of my life and fishing and eating rice.”
The experience shaped him. “I learned to face myself, my own ghosts and became very comfortable with my own solitude.”
René Castro as Social Worker
René Castro has been a social worker for the last thirty years starting off with direct practice in the beginning, way back in the eighties. He first worked with adults with mental illness. It was in that work in locked facilities that René Castro discovered he had a “…knack for facilitation.” He explains facilitation as a skill to get people to talk and listen to each other.
“I found that if I could get adults with severe mental illness to actually talk together, I could get just about anybody to talk to each other.”
The skills René Castro learned and the knowledge he’s gained have enabled him to work his way through a number of careers including the City of Long Beach, the California Conference for Equality and Justice, and as Hub Manager for Building Healthy Communities Long Beach.
Now, he’s landed at Century Villages at Cabrillo or CVC.
It’s More Than Just About Housing
“CVC is a nonprofit housing developer, property manager, and we also provide support services for the residents that live here.” Those support services come from some 20 nonprofit partners that are located at the Villages.
Courtesy website Century Villages at Cabrillo
The Century Villages sit on 28 acres on the west side of Long Beach near Pacific Coast Highway and the Terminal Island freeway. “We house 13-hundred formerly homeless veterans and families here on this campus.”
Any visitor to the Villages is struck by the diversity of the formerly homeless residents. Any stereotype you have about homeless being just a single male is disrupted quickly.
“That’s the thing that strikes me, Antonio, about coming on the campus. Everyone you see here when you walk through the campus has been formerly homeless.”
This includes a three-year-old you might come across. “I’m thinking ‘was he born into homelessness?’”
The mission for René Castro and all the staff at the Villages isn’t just about housing people.
“These are families have experienced trauma and they need a lot of support.” According to Castro, there are three-hundred people on campus, on any given day, providing support services.
For the three-year-old and the families that live at the Villages, it’s a safe space. “It’s really a neighborhood much like any neighborhood in Long Beach.”
René Castro Connects
René Castro, as Director of Community Engagement, works to make this neighborhood connect to the other neighborhoods around it. At the moment, the Villages’ physical isolation in a heavy industrial area hinders that connection.
“So right now, okay, you look at this, this is a community, it’s walled off but we’re bringing in the buses now, we’re starting to become a more porous community.”
Castro describes the task of every neighborhood is to tap into the resources outside of it. That’s his job.
“It’s really to enhance partnerships. So just starting with police department and working with west division, getting to know our commander.”
The goal is getting the residents to know they have a right to tap into all these resources whether it’s Fire, Long Beach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Long Beach City College. They pay taxes too.
“That’s what neighborhood do. You connect with local assets and people. That’s what I like doing.”
There Are No Easy Solutions
All this support and connection doesn’t overshadow the bigger issue of homelessness and how you “solve” it. In our conversation with René Castro, you quickly learn that there are no easy solutions because you still have to define the problem. It’s not just about people not having a home.
“Take your typical person like you. Say, god forbid, you lose a key family member. You go into depression, you start drinking, you lose your job, next thing you know you can’t make the mortgage, you lose your house, no family around to support you. You’re homeless.”
Add to that the stories he’s heard about domestic violence and the women with children. Then, there is the economy itself. People being left behind. From this reporter’s perspective, there are also drug abuse and mental health issues. All of these issues intersect to produce homelessness. Providing housing is an important first step but it is not the solution, in and of itself.
For René Castro, there are many solutions to the many causes that produce homelessness. There are many recent voter approved measures that will provide more housing and support services. However, there is one basic cause that needs to be tackled.
“I, frankly, think we have to reorient our whole economy. As I said earlier, I think major swaths of our neighbors, our friends are not part of this new economy and are getting left behind.”
René Castro Encourages Engagement
While solving this complex economic issue may take time, there are some actions that all of us can take now to challenge and engage with all of these problems.
“Stay engaged,” says Castro, “Every week on the city’s (City Council) agenda is an issue related to housing.” Read the local media. “Stay involved.”
René Castro wrapped up the issue succinctly in one statement. “These things take decades, as you said earlier, for these problems to come to full fruition and they take decades to repair.”
For More Information
If you want to get more involved or have a question for René Castro, you can visit the Century Villages at Cabrillo website. You can also contact Castro at rcastro@centuryvillages.org.
