My paternal grandparents immigrated from Michoacán, Mexico in the 1960s to a small house near Holt Blvd to pursue their American dream. My grandfather worked as a butcher and my dad worked in manufacturing. My mom moved to California to pursue her own California dream from Kentucky raised by my farmer grandfather and my IBEW union grandmother. My younger brother is a union federal wildland firefighter. Every opportunity I have ever had has is due to the hard work and support of my parents. I fight for good jobs because I am fighting for working families like mine.

There is nothing quite as magical as active transportation (walking, rolling, cycling, skateboarding, scootering, etc.) The joy of looking back at a path you have taken and saying, “I did that”. Safe streets allow young people to experience that freedom for the first time, they allow our elders to live independently longer, and they help us take big leaps towards a greener more sustainable future. When I fight for safe streets I am fighting for neighbors saying hello to each other when they walk to new parks, and independence for folks who don’t have access to cars (kids, the elderly, and those who can’t afford it).

James Baldwin said it best, “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe”. Children are our most vulnerable demographic. They are first to be impacted by bad policy, it will impact them their entire lives, and they can’t fight for themselves. When I fight for clean air it is so kids can grow up without the air they breathe being dangerous to their health and development. When I fight to keep dangerous semi trucks away from schools it is because I believe childhood is sacred. I fight for a greener, more sustainable future so we don’t burden children with our failures. I am a proud tia and I fight for children everywhere.

I have worked on many of the complex issues faced by insecure and disaster impacted communities. I have seen first hand what happens when our young folks feel hopeless, when we fail to provide meaningful opportunities, and when we do not invest in our community proactively. These experiences have helped me see how critical it is to build resilient communities before disaster strikes and to work to lift communities out of cycles of poverty and violence. We can protect our neighbors and better situate ourselves to respond to threats to our community’s safety. I fight for building community because I know how critical it is for our future.

Ontario has the worst air quality in the nation. This is an astounding fact, and horrendous policy failure from our local elected officials. I first joined the air quality fight when living in Houston, TX near oil refineries and continued to advocate for communities in South Florida impacted by sugar cane burning. I know clean air is crucial to children’s healthy development and community benefit. Through that work I was horrified to learn Ontario ranked highest for those problems. We bear the brunt of toxic pollution, underinvestment in infrastructure, and suffer disproportionately from climate change. I was so proud to testify to the EPA last year about how these failings harm our communities. Our City Council has made policy choices over the last several decades that shave years off our lives and harm our families. I am ready to steer us on a new course to a safer future.

I understand that injustice is something that affects us all differently, but a failure to address it impacts all of us. To truly bring about change that is meaningful for all, everyone's voice needs to be at the table. I hold our community leaders accountable and I want to be held accountable to my values by community, my friends, and loved ones. I am ready to fight for everyone in Ontario.

I love the metaphor of community’s being gardens. We need to come together to tend to the individual needs of different plants, different plants need each other, and we may need more help some times to keep everything healthy. Progress never happens overnight, and we may be planting seeds for trees that will not be enjoyed for decades, but the work is still important. I am running for office to plant seeds for positive community change so we can prepare Ontario to be fruitful for the next generation.

We live in a massive metropolitan area even excluding Los Angeles and Orange County. We have access to incredible research institutions and a city budget large enough to allow Ontario to become a thought leader for the region and the nation. I want to implement best practices for building sustainable, affordable community that will be resilient enough to allow Ontario to remain a thriving community for the next century.