From the Verde Independent, 09/15/16.
Hispanic Heritage Month: Family values, hard work, perseverance common traits of Arizona’s Hispanic community
Angie Lozano’s community work was commemorated in the Verde Independent for Hispanic Heritage Month. Below is an excerpt from the article:
Food, shelter and clothing. Life’s basics for survival – – and for over 15 years, Angie Lozano, director of Angie’s House, has helped provide struggling individuals and families with a safe place to call home.
Now a manager of 10 residences, you may be surprised to learn that Lozano’s journey began with a corporate career.
“I honestly never believed my life would steer in this direction. It’s literally something I enjoy doing every day. Like they say, once you find your passion, you never work a day in your life,” said Lozano.
“I was born and raised in Cottonwood and got a degree in financial management. My last job was working as a Chief Financial Officer in Sedona,” Lozano said
“When I was doing corporate planning, I thought, ‘I don’t have a retirement plan. I better plan ahead and have rental properties in the event that I lose my job,'” Lozano said. “So in the mid-90s, I slowly started acquiring properties.”
Fortunately, Lozano’s insistence on remaining financially independent helped her avert disaster when she lost her job during a corporate merger. She turned to her rental properties for survival.
“I realized a lot of my tenants had trouble making both rent and the additional expenses, like utilities,” said Lozano. “So I started including utilities in the rent. But that wasn’t enough. These are hard-working people, our neighbors and family, and some of them were dealing with added problems like alcoholism and mental illness.”
“So I thought, ‘Let’s kind of specialize. Let’s have a home for people dealing with additional issues. So we did a couple of clean and sober houses,” Lozano said.
At the time, the housing of the addicted, disabled, homeless and mentally ill was still an unmet need in Cottonwood.
“Some people were in recovery, some simply wanted an affordable and safe place to live that was pet-friendly,” Lozano said. “It’s amazing. Being able to get-up and not have wrinkled clothes, to take a shower, to not to have items stolen or disturbed, all those things. It’s quiet, they can catch a bus to class. It’s huge.”
Lozano is reminded of “Maslow’s hierarchy,” a theory describing the stages in life that a human moves through based on priorities. For example, the most basic survival needs (such as safety) must be met before a person can free themselves to step-up to the next plateau (such as self-esteem).
“How important is it to a human being to have a house. You can’t even think about that job if you are worried about where you are going to lay your head at night,” said Lozano.
For Lozano, her life is about linking together the chains of life for strangers so that they can pull themselves out of their current situation.
Lozano is reminded of “Maslow’s hierarchy,” a theory describing the stages in life that a human moves through based on priorities. For example, the most basic survival needs (such as safety) must be met before a person can free themselves to step-up to the next plateau (such as self-esteem).
“How important is it to a human being to have a house. You can’t even think about that job if you are worried about where you are going to lay your head at night,” said Lozano.
For Lozano, her life is about linking together the chains of life for strangers so that they can pull themselves out of their current situation.
“It feels really good I’m making a difference, to see how they transform. I had a woman who lost her three children to foster homes. We got her employment, got her counseling and now six months later she is clean and sober. She’s now reunited with her children,” she said.
Perhaps Lozano’s generosity of spirit and unending work ethic is no surprise to those raised in a Hispanic family.
“The one thing I was blessed with was that my parents were very supportive. They instilled in us no matter what, we could do it, but also coupled that with the element of hard work. It doesn’t just happen,” Lozano said, adding that her father had a respected 35-year career in education.
“My grandfather worked the mines. I remembered working by his side with my brother, doing yard work, when we were very small, five or six-years-old. It was matter-of-fact, if Mom and Dad were working, so were we. You never questioned it, you just understood you would be helping the family unit,” said Lozano.
“There was this unwritten rule growing-up that you were going to have to work twice as hard. It wasn’t discussed, but it was always understood,” Lozano said. “Mom said life isn’t fair. I can look back at that and it was the best advice – – it will never be fair.”
Lozano is wistful when she thinks back to growing-up in her diverse Cottonwood neighborhood, where “we were all neighbors, it wasn’t a big deal.” She feels the political climate over the past few years “just clouds it a bit” as the Hispanic community “struggles to reaffirm their hope and that good things can happen.”
“I’m very proud to be part of the Hispanic community. I love the music, I love the food, I love the family, the hard work ethic. I feel so proud to be part of such a wonderful community,” said Lozano.