One of Housing Trust’s programs is the Guardino Affordable Housing Scholarship, which is a $3,000 award given out to four students living in affordable housing and attending college in the fall. The 2021 round of scholarships was open to prior awardees – which included Aldo, a Bay Area native.
Raised by a single mom and living with two brothers Aldo lived his whole life in Mountain View and spent a lot of time moving from apartment to apartment, with the family finally getting some consistency in their lives living in one place for more than ten years. He learned of the Guardino Scholarship at the career center at Los Altos High School during his senior year and applied.
Aldo worked hard during at University of California Merced – not just on his grades but in personal and professional ways that enabled him to give back to his community: even working as an intern for the Bay Area homelessness solutions nonprofit LifeMoves. He graduated from Merced in the fall of 2020 and is currently working for the city of Mountain View’s department of recreation as he keeps an eye on heading to graduate school. “At first I thought I wasn’t going to go to college,” Aldo told us. “I really appreciate the scholarship and how it helped keep me motivated.”