Vanessa Ortiz Aquillar, an 11th grade student in the Warwick Valley Central High School,
received a Youth Award from the Orange County Youth Bureau. This special award was
presented by the County Executive, Steve Neuhaus on June 9, 2022 . The award was the Leadership
Award for Volunteerism and Citizenship.

Vanessa has been working with the Warwick Area Farmworker Organization during this
year on several important community health education programs. She completed a full
training on Mental Health with the National Council for Well-Being. Over the last three months,
she has continued to complete training on delivering community talks to farmworker families
on the following topics: COVID; Child Safety on the Farm; and Medication Management.  The
training that Vanessa has attended has equipped her to deliver programs to community
members. She is making the high- risk community of farmworkers safer with this information.
Vanessa is able to foster improvement in knowledge of families on topics related to mental
health and well-being. She is making the community safer and healthier with this sharing of
knowledge. Vanessa is able to address some of the issues of teens.

Vanessa has been working as both a volunteer and as a Community Health Worker for a year.
Her family has been connected with our organization for several years. Her mother works as a
farmworker in Orange County. This experience helps Vanessa to understand the special needs of
farmworkers.

She has been able to impact the farmworker community with information on how to access
health services; how to recognize mental health issues and where to go for help. She is reaching
approximately 20 people a week with this information and will continue to do this important work
throughout the year. We are anticipating that she will have reached up to 250 people during the next
six months.