In 1986 Candy Morales’ biological mother made the trek from Guadalajara, Mexico to the United States in search of a better life. She did this while pregnant with Candy at the time, although she did not know she was pregnant.
Once she came to the United States she tried her best to take care of Morales, but no longer could so just months old Candy was given to a lady in the neighborhood.
“When I was already 5-, 6-months old she [biological mother] realized that she wasn’t going to be able to parent me,” Morales said. “So she made a decision at that time that she had to find me a family. She did the best thing she could have done for the both of us.”
The lady, Amalia Lopez, took Morales in as her own.
Because Morales’ biological mother gave her away, Morales’ childhood and teen years were filled with appointments with social workers and meetings with Child Protective Services.
At 18-years-old she lived in transitional housing for four years while she put herself through college.
The Eastlake High School graduate is now the one on the other end of things. She works as a social worker for the County of San Diego where she works with transition age youth who are leaving foster or group homes.
“I never thought that I would be a social worker,” she said. “Like I never thought that I would be working specifically with young adults when I was one. I was a young adult when a social worker was telling me ‘Hey you should really apply for this housing program’.”
While she spends most of her days as a social worker, she spends any free time she has campaigning for one of two seats on the National City Council.
Morales, 30, learned how to campaign from her deceased brother Frank Lopez, who ran for city council in 2008 and 2010, losing both times. Although Lopez lost, Morales said it was a learning experience. She got to learn about city ordinances, fundraising and how to campaign.
She said she is running for city council because she wants to create a progressive dialogue while keeping its storied history.
“My vision is to really brand our city into a more modern identity,” she said.
She said she wants the city to be open to talk about progressive ideas such as medicinal marijuana and possibly adopting term-limits for council members.
If elected, she said she also plans to increase civic engagement amongst residents. She said wants to find a way to get residents more engaged at City Hall and more involved with issues in the city.
After high school, Morales attended Southwestern College than transferred to San Diego State University where she received a degree in criminal justice and holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from SDSU.
