Julissa Santiago is truly motivated to work with youth because she believes that every young person has the potential to be successful in life. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico Julissa is currently a student at California State University, East Bay pursuing a Bachelor's in Psychology, with a minor in Criminal Justice.

Before joining the DreamSF Fellowship, Julissa did a lot of volunteer work with nonprofit organizations, including POWER and United Playaz. In these organizations she helped her community by maintaining the streets clean, served food for the homeless, and was an advocate. At CSU East Bay she is part of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) as a student scholar. Julissa aspires to work with youth who have gone through trauma and to help youth that have been abused to feel safe.

As a DreamSF Fellow, Julissa will be completing her fellowship at Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA). MUA is a non profit organization whose goal is to motivate women to achieve leadership development. MUA assists women by providing support groups, counseling, English classes and other services that will enable them to obtain their goals. There, she will help fundraise, perform spot checks on language access, answering MUA’s hotline for sexual assault and abuse survivors, and more. Julissa will also be trained to work alongside women, promoting their self-empowerment and life skills.

Julissa enjoys dancing, swimming, and spending time with her family. She finds TV shows like criminal minds, Flashpoint and other drama or comedy entertainment very interesting.