Senator Alvarado-Gil Will Be Recognizing Your Nominee, Virginia Figueroa, As The Inyo County Woman Of The Year

Dear Supervisor Griffiths,

Thank you for participating in the nomination process for our 2025 Woman of the Year. We received over 20 applications featuring extraordinary women from 8 counties. We are excited to announce that Amy Bublak, Mayor of Turlock, has been selected to represent Senate District 4 as our District Woman of the Year at the State Capitol.

Mayor Amy Bublak is a 21-year veteran of the Modesto and Richmond police departments. Elected in 2008, she is the City of Turlock’s first female mayor. Leading with fiscal responsibility, she has championed job creation, infrastructure improvements, and public safety policies. She is also a Gold Medalist & World Record holder in Javelin and Shot Put.

Due to the overwhelming acknowledgement of local women, we have decided to highlight additional awardees. We will be recognizing your nominee Virginia Figueroa as the Inyo County Woman of the Year at an upcoming Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Supervisor Griffith’s Letter of Nomination:

February 12, 2025

Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil
1021 O Street, Room 7240
Sacramento, CA 95814
[email protected]

Re: Nomination of Virginia Figueroa for D4 Woman of the Year

Dear Senator Alvarado-Gil,

It is my honor to nominate Ms. Virginia Figueroa as the Senate District 4 Woman of the Year. Ms. Figueroa is a longtime and well-respected educator, a parent, a community supporter, and school board member who embodies the principles of a dedicated public servant and serves as a shining example of the positive impact a single individual can have on his or her community.

She is also a model for compassion, hard work, and resilience. Ms. Figueroa attended Cerro Coso Community College in 2005 and was part of the first formal on-campus graduation where she received her degree in Early Childhood Development – this, despite an already full schedule raising her daughter, volunteering in her community, providing essential translation services to the Inyo County Superior Court, and being a devoted congregant of the local Catholic Church.

It is hard to pinpoint from which arena Ms. Figueroa has made the greatest impact on our community, but the positive change she has affected has greatly benefited our youngest community members as well as some of its most vulnerable. Through her work as an early childhood educator for the Inyo-Mono Associates of Community Action Head Start preschool for the last 24 years, supervising four out of six of the centers across Inyo and Mono counties, Ms. Figueroa has helped to start thousands of children off in life on the right foot – setting the stage for their success later in life – and mentored dozens of fellow educators, professional caregivers, and other early childhood development professionals.

Not content to work just inside the classroom, Ms. Figueroa successfully ran for the Bishop Unified School Board in 2018 and is now serving her second term following another winning bid for office. Raised in a proud Hispanic family, Ms. Figueroa brought to the school board much needed representation from different socioeconomic and ethic backgrounds. She has striven to use her time on the board to advocate for often overlooked sectors of the community and for the needs, health, and safety of all students in the K-12 district.

As you’re probably well aware, educators are frequently underpaid and unappreciated for the profound contributions they make to students’ lives, for the challenges they face, and for the immense responsibly their roles carry. The same can be said for public servants such as school board members. Not long into her first term, Ms. Figueroa and her colleagues were thrust into the political turmoil that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, this was a difficult time for everyone and schools charged with keeping students, staff, and families safe – without harming the learning process – were often the target for criticism and even worse. Yet, Ms. Figueroa stood strong, held to her principles, and communicated to the public with grace, respect, and understanding..

Like a lot of public servants, Ms. Figueroa is always looking for additional ways to support the community – including the large immigrant population that helps keeps the Eastern Sierra’s tourism economy afloat and who have raised their children and grandchildren here to be productive members of the community. Ms. Figueroa has taken the lead in arranging for legal experts on immigration, representatives from the Mexican Consulate, and other local leaders to hold much-needed educational forums, and also assists the school district in working with immigrant families. As part of this, she helps the Hispanic community with translation, paperwork, and with transportation to appointments and hospital visits.

Ms. Figueroa extends her compassion and courage to the entire community at large as an integral member of the St. Vincent De Paul Society, through which she helps residents and transients in crisis find emergency lodging, transportation, and food. She also helps staff week-long 24-hour shifts on their helpline, helping ensure people in desperate situations receive life-saving assistance regardless of the time of the day or the language spoken by those in need.

I’m personally grateful to Ms. Figueroa for the far-reaching positive impacts she’s made through public service, education, and community development and know this is a sentiment shared by many. Virginia Figueroa might not seek or expect it, but she deserves recognition and gratitude. A Woman of the Year award is an absolutely fitting tribute to her sacrifices and good works.

Sincerely,

District 2 Supervisor Jeff Griffiths
Inyo County

Description of Consideration For Woman Of The Year

 

Virginia Figueroa, Community Humanitarian
Nominee for Women of the Year, 2025
Inyo County, CA
Virginia is a selfless, dedicated advocate for those most vulnerable in our community. She tirelessly volunteers countless hours to ease the suffering and fears of those in crisis. She is a spokesperson for those who are afraid to speak. Her compassion and willingness and know-how to make things happen is second to none.

 

Some of Virginia’s contributions are listed below:

 

• She worked for IMACA Head Start preschool for 24 years and supervised four out of six centers in the Inyo and Mono counties.
• Virginia is currently a trustee of the Bishop Unified School District (BUSD) Board. She was first elected to the board in 2018, and her current term expires in 2026. In addition, Virginia serves on the District’s Ethnic Studies Community Advisory Committee, and attends BUSD DELAC (District English Learner Advisory Committee) meetings.
• She assists local community members and transients in crisis to find emergency lodging, transportation, and food. She does week-long 24 hour shifts staffing the St Vincent De Paul  Her bilingual skills are much needed for this work and because of this, she is often called on to assist when she is not “on duty”.
• She participates with Inyo350 to educate and take local action on climate and social justice work.
• With strong bilingual skills, Virginia continuously helps the Hispanic community members in translating, paperwork, and transportation to appointments, hospital visits, legal paperwork, etc.
• She was a court translator.
• She volunteered with Wild Iris Counseling and Crisis Center.
• Virginia is responding to the fears of our immigrant population by organizing visits from experts who educate the community about rights and resources. Recently Mr. Lazaro Salazar, currently a member of the Mexican Consulate’s PALE Program and a former Consulting Attorney for the Mexican Consulate in Fresno came to Bishop free of charge thanks to Virginia. She is building a solid coalition of allies to ease the uncertainty of the immigrant community.
• She is leading an effort to assist local parents make Family Preparedness Plans in the event of family separation of immigrant families.