Special Notice / Hearing: None
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Employee of the Month for August 2024
RECOMMENDATION:
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Honor Nadia Guzman as Employee of the Month for August 2024 and authorize the President of the Board to sign the commendation.
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BACKGROUND:
The Employee of the Month program was established in December 1984 to recognize and honor County employees who consistently demonstrate an outstanding level of performance.
Our Employee of the Month for August 2024 is Nadia Guzman a Human Services Care Counselor in the Human Services Agency.
DISCUSSION:
Nadia has been with the County for over three years. She provides supportive services for families involved in the child welfare system. In June 2024, Nadia received recognition from two sperate individuals on two separate cases.
In April 2024, Nadia had been providing supportive services to a family referred to child welfare. Nadia was recognized by the Children’s Services Social Work Supervisor as being “instrumental in assisting this grandmother in navigating the probate application process and completing all the documents that were needed to be filed with Probate to secure guardianship, [which prevented the child from] entering the dependency system.” Nadia was described as “patient, understanding, engaging and encouraging” with the grandmother.
In another case, Nadia was assigned to provide translation services to a monolingual Spanish-speaking parent whose child was scheduled for a forensic interview at the San Mateo County Forensic Interview Program/Child Advocacy Center (CAC) as part of a child welfare investigatory matter. The matter involved a scary medical situation and a very distraught parent.
Nadia’s interpretation skills were characterized by the forensic program director as “outstanding”. Nadia was the only Spanish speaker on-site and ended up providing accompaniment to this very distressed parent for the several hours while they were at the CAC, including being one-on-one with the parent while the child was being interviewed by other staff.
In an email to the department about Nadia, she was recognized by the system partner for her level of skill in interpretation, and a notable combination of communication and counseling skills demonstrated. The email from the system partner stated that “her language is beautiful, but her demeanor, her kindness, transcended language. It was largely because of her tenderness and interpersonal skills that this case resolved as well happened for this family.”
Our County is fortunate to have Nadia Guzman as an outstanding employee.