City of Alameda honors female first responders. Here's its goal for public service agencies

The city of Alameda Thursday night honored many female firefighters, police officers, paramedics and other public servers. As Women's History Month is almost over, the city wants to share with everyone how important these women are to the community.

"There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish," said Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, who quoted First Lady Michelle Obama.

For many of these women, serving their communities is not just a job.

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"It just called to me," said Alameda Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez. "It was just being surrounded by people doing good work. I just wanted to be a part of that."

Sanchez is the first woman to be elected as Alameda County Sheriff. She thinks there is a need for more women to join public service.

"It doesn't even matter how tall or short you are, because I am not even five feet tall," Sanchez said. "You can totally do it. You got to challenge yourself and never tell yourself you can't."

Others hope to mentor young women.

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"It was in my internship that I worked with a female firefighter who inspired me to know this was something I could do," said Mackenzie Whitton, a paramedic with the Alameda Fire Department. "We would love to see future generations coming forward. We have a few in the process of the next hiring group. So taking them on as mentors and letting know the challenges and how to best overcome those."

There is a nationwide effort called the 30x30 initiative. It's designed to get at least 30% of the nation's police force to be women. Alameda wants to take that a step further. They want all public service agencies to have at least 30% be women. Whitton says it's possible if more women feel inspired like her.

"Anything you can dream of, you can do," she said. "Don't be afraid to pursue a new career field if it is something you don't see yourself reflected in, you can be that person and be that change you want to see."

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