Barbara Lee understands our struggles because she’s lived them. She escaped an abusive marriage with her two sons, and for a time she lived on public assistance. Child care was unaffordable, so she had to bring her boys with her to classes at Mills College. What’s more, Lee persevered to lift her family out of poverty because she was able to move into housing, and through a Housing and Urban Development Department program she was able to purchase that house and graduate from Mills and then receive a degree in social work from UC Berkeley.