VOTE411 Voter Guide

If elected to the county board, I want to create a pipeline of support and resources from the county to the district level to ensure our WCCUSD students have as much support as possible. For the students in county schools, I want to work diligently with the County Office of Education and WCCUSD to enhance our re-entry program.

My top three priorities are community-based schools, college and career readiness, and teacher retention and growth.

I am running for the Contra Costa County Board of Education Area 1 to support our most at-risk students and close the achievement gap. With sound policy, good leadership, and proper support for our teachers, we can ensure our students have a clear path to success.

My mission has always been to champion high-quality education as a means of forging better opportunities for those in our community. I met my wife, Mitzi Pérez-Caro, organizing and advocating for sound education policy. In 2017, she became a teacher at Kennedy High School, and I decided to run for the West Contra Costa Unified School District School Board. After losing my election in 2018 at the age of 21, I wanted to improve my capacity to serve our West County community. I enlisted in the United States Army to learn the meaning of servant leadership. I served four years in Active Duty, two of those in the Republic of Korea and a year in Kuwait. I earned the rank of Sergeant and transitioned to the United States Army National Guard, where I serve today. I returned home to a career as a financial consultant and have continued my studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

With my unrelenting dedication towards service, I hope to earn your vote. My campaign has focused on coalition building and leveraging relationships to solve the problems facing our students, teachers, and school system. It will take a collaboration of city, county, community, and state officials. That's what I offer you- a candidate who knows how to work with others and is willing to put service before self to accomplish the mission.

1. Improving students' economic mobility and outcomes post matriculation and graduation

2. Destroying the school to prison pipeline

3. Providing more resources to teachers for use in classrooms at all of our schools

I am running for Contra Costa County Board of Education to improve student outcomes and ensure that every student has the resources to become the person they want to be.

Since earning a Bachelor's Degree from Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow College of Communication in 2009, I have created and facilitated educational programs on financial literacy, leadership, and personal and professional development for students around the country.

After earning a Master's Degree in Sports Business, Finance, and Economics from Georgetown University just a few years later, I worked in the University of California system as an administrator and fundraiser, as the Executive Director of a scholarship granting non-profit organization, and as a non-profit management consultant working on projects at colleges, universities, and other institutes of higher learning.

I have served on scholarship application committees for underrepresented students and I have served as a Capstone Project Advisor for my graduate program at Georgetown.

I know how to navigate government systems having served on the Los Angeles Mayor's Crisis Response Team and having been appointed to The City of Richmond's Economic Development Commission.

My educational, professional, and personal experiences have helped me become uniquely skilled at preparing students for life after matriculation and graduation. These skills lend themselves well to the duties and responsibilities of a member of the Contra Costa County Board of Education.