Family Sacrifice, Community Support, Hard Work Propel A Young North Bay Man Forward

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Growing up in Santa Rosa, Oscar Villalobos dreamed of returning to the neighborhood that shaped him — not as a child navigating poverty and violence, but as a first-generation college graduate leading the next generation toward higher education.

Villalobos grew up in Santa Rosa's West End, near Stony Point, with parents who had little guidance to navigate the complex systems necessary to fulfill the kind of future they wanted for their son and that was slowly taking shape in his mind.

His father, a construction worker from Michoacán, Mexico, completed third grade. His mother, a resource navigator and Californian whose roots were also in Michoacán, finished ninth grade. “They modeled hard work every day,” Villalobos said. "But they didn’t have a roadmap for college," he said. Without one, the path can be especially difficult, no matter the desire and determination.

Limited tutoring, scarce educational resources, language barriers, gangs, and a deep distrust of law enforcement shaped his world. Yet something in him refused to accept the limits around him even when he sometimes felt excluded from what that lay beyond them.

Education became his lifeline. Villalobos pushed his parents to let him attend Piner High School. To get there from his home, mornings were earlier and commutes longer, but the sacrifice promised a pathway his father called “an easier future” — one built on opportunity and intellect.

He still felt caught “between two worlds” until a high school counselor introduced him to 10,000 Degrees, a college-access nonprofit blocks from his childhood home. Advisors checked in regularly, helped him apply for scholarships, and connected him with students who shared his struggles, dreams, and ambitions. They organized visits to campuses like Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga. College, once intimidating, now felt possible. Suddenly, he was part of “something pretty big," as Villalobos put it. “For the first time, I felt a sense of belonging," he said.

With 10,000 Degrees’ guidance, Villalobos earned a degree from the University of California, Riverside, becoming the first college graduate in his family. Even after college, 10,000 Degrees staff continued to check in, with small gestures that eased the daunting transition to adulthood and his next step.

Today, at 25, he has returned to Santa Rosa — not as a student, but as the new program manager for college success at 10,000 Degrees, guiding advisors who support students at Santa Rosa Junior College — offering the mentorship and framework he once needed.

He is also pursuing a master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of San Francisco, and his next goal: becoming a marriage and family therapist serving Sonoma County families, especially farmworker communities in Healdsburg and Windsor.

His commitment to community runs deep. He serves as treasurer and board member of Latino Service Providers, a Santa Rosa nonprofit advancing Latino access to services and professional development. He also organized summer camps and after-school programs through the City of Santa Rosa’s Neighborhood Services program. He also worked with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s victim services division and the Santa Rosa Police Department to build partnerships that he felt were missing in his own youth.

On Dec. 7, he stepped onto the stage as a featured speaker at the nonprofit’s annual gala, closing a chapter that began in those same streets blocks away. Villalobos wasn't just representing personal achievement. He embodied what can happen when a young person is given more than encouragement — a roadmap, a network, and a chance to turn struggle into leadership.