If you have a moment, I’d like to share why I fight so hard in Congress for education funding; you see, for me, it’s personal.

I was raised in Coachella, where my mother and father were farmworkers. We didn’t have much, but we got by — as my mom always said, we were “poor in money, but rich in love.” It was honest, hard work. But my mom didn’t want her children to have to break their backs in the desert sun — she always wanted me to go to college so I could have a professional career.

My grandma loved this idea — she dreamed of seeing me in a white-collar shirt.

So when I was accepted to UCLA but we didn’t have the money to afford the tuition and books, there was nothing that was going to stop me. I put on the one suit I owned — a god awful, itchy, blue suit that I’d bought two sizes too big (I thought I’d grow into it, but no one told me a 17-year-old boy is practically done growing!). I borrowed a suitcase. And I walked the streets of Coachella and the Coachella Valley in the 120-degree summer heat, going business to business, asking my neighbors if they’d be able to chip in a few dollars so I could become a doctor and come back home to serve our communities.

And because they invested in me, I was able to go to UCLA, and then Harvard Medical School. And then just like I’d promised and always planned, I came back home, where I helped open the first and only free clinic, took care of many in the emergency room, and served patients who worked the same fields my parents had.

I share this with you because it informs why I fight so hard in Congress to make college affordable for all families.

I don’t think our children should have to do what I did to get an education — they should work hard, yes, but we can also help break down the financial barriers holding generations of families back from moving up financially.

This is why I voted against legislation to increase student loan interest rates, helped secure millions in funding for programs like Riverside County’s YouthBuild project to get at-risk youth into skilled jobs and educational programs, and sponsored legislation to expand access to early college high school programs.

Higher education changed my life. I want that opportunity to be available for any students willing to put in the work. I’m proud to be fighting in Congress for our children to have more opportunities than we did, but the work isn’t done. I am on the ballot again this November and need your help to keep doing this work: if you are able, can I count on you to chip in $10 or $25 today to help me win reelection?

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Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Raul