Candidate for
Member, Community College Board; County of San Francisco

Why I'm Running for College Board

San Francisco has been good to me. Growing up here as a kid living with foster families, lots of people stepped up to help me along the way. With their help and financial aid, I was able to attend and graduate from Lick-Wilmerding High School and go on to earn degrees from Yale, Harvard and UC Berkeley.

Since beginning my career as a lawyer for local governments and affordable housing developers more than a decade ago, I have worked in my free time to give back to the City that gave so much to me. I have been active in local politics, as president of the Harvey Milk, Noe Valley and District 8 Democratic Clubs and as a member of the Democratic County Central Committee. I have served on San Francisco's Board of Appeals and Building Inspection Commission, and I have served on the boards of community organizations like Livable City (the sponsors of Sunday Streets), the Jewish Community Relations Council and the LGBT Community Center, as well as the Public Policy Advisory Committee for Jewish Vocational Services.

Today City College, one of San Francisco's true civic treasures, serving approximately 100,000 students each year and providing pathways to opportunity for people of all ages, is in crisis. After five years of devastating budget cuts from the State of California, City College now faces the threats of de-accreditation and closure. I believe in City College, and I am running to help save it. I believe that I bring the right combination of political experience, demonstrated commitment to San Francisco and the mission of City College, and ability to work collaboratively with the various College constituencies that may differ on many things but agree on the importance of the College and the necessity of saving and strengthening it.