Monique Seabrooks, Goodwill Floor Manager (Khadija Angrum/Neon Tommy)

Name: Monique Seabrooks

Neighborhood: University Park

Job: Goodwill Floor Manager (Retail)

Age: 42

"Can you follow me while I work?"

Realizing my interview was cutting into her work time, I quickly nodded my head. Seabrooks and I started to make our way down the aisle of Goodwill, lined with professional shirts and pant suits, each item carefully organized by color, size and style.

The woman, whom I had met only minutes before, started to re-stock a rack of work pants before telling me about her concerns with the scarcity of job opportunities in L.A., which she said was a reason for the city's poverty level.

Seabrooks' hope is for the mayor to spend a few days in his citizens' shoes so then maybe he would understand, she said.

She said Goodwill serves as both a company and a community in which its members rely on one another, something that Seabrooks hopes Mayor Garcetti will try to recreate over the duration of his term.

What are the top issues facing Los Angeles, and why?

The top issues? I would say poverty. Um, because right now jobs... resources are very thin right now and it's really hard for people to make wages for their jobs, I mean, for their homes and for their families.

What should Mayor Garcetti do to address your top priorities?

My personal opinion? I think that he should live like we live for a week or so and see how, you know people with budgets live for a week and maybe he can adjust - you know - his way of living if he lived like us.

Did you vote in the May election. Who did you support?

Yes, I voted.

Are you able to say who you supported?

I'm not gonna reveal that. Sorry.
 
How has Goodwill been able to solve any problems that you see within the community?

Well, cause we, like, um, we help the community out. I mean, not only like the disabled and the veterans, but we put a lot of people to work here, you know and, for me - speaking for myself - I came from not having a job for a whole year, and Goodwill put me to work. You know, and it's just like it's more about the effort in it and it helps out the community and so forth, you know. So, I say that we're great, we help out the community, and the community helps us as well.

According to a recent study published in the LA Times, Los Angeles County has the highest poverty rate among California counties. In 2011, researchers at the Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality found that 2.6 million, or 27 percent of Los Angeles County residents lived in poverty in 2011.

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