Worker Voices: Fresno Residents on Family

In early 2020, New America CA's research team conducted in-depth interviews with 35 Fresno County residents employed in regionally prevalent industries, whose lives could be upended by job change or loss, due to the changing nature of work or tech-related shifts. Most of those interviewed were already experiencing some level of economic precarity and the interviews spanned topics both personal and professional. The conversations underscored how critical workers' voices are to unlocking solutions for both the present and future of work. Below are some examples of what respondents shared on the topic of Family.

Read the executive summary brief here and the complete research findings here.

Diane supports herself, her son, and the daughter of a family friend who is struggling with addiction

“My niece, she's not my niece by blood or anything, but I've known her since before she was born, and she lost her mom a few years ago. She's of age…she doesn't have a house. She got on heroin, and so, we're helping her and getting her off that.”

Family support brought Faith to Fresno

“My mother, she is there to help me with my child and I moved out with my son's dad so I was very vulnerable at the time and I needed my mother for support.”

Salma lives with her sister and relies on childcare from her parents while she rebuilds after leaving an abusive relationship

"Right now, my parents are helping with my four-and-a-half-year-old. I just picked up the job a couple weeks ago and so they help to let me be able to work more full-time hours...between the two jobs, while I find full-time care for him. It should be coming in soon. But I'm working with Headstart to get him enrolled. And that could take a couple weeks. And so my parents are helping patch us through, because everything else would be far too expensive for me right now."

For Yvette, work is about providing opportunity for her children

"My kids are the biggest thing in my life. They are my life. For me, they’re the air that I breathe. You learn a lot of things about life and so that your kids can take advantage of what they have. They won’t go into that line of hard work."

*Names have been changed for privacy

Follow the provided links for interviewee perceptions of Work and Income, Health and Safety, Post-Secondary Education, and Experiences of Fresno.