CJ Berina is a 30 year old who was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He became a student leader at Cal State University, Northridge in which he was the president & vice president of two top clubs & organizations on campu. He also was awarded 3 academic scholarships and an outstanding leadership award from CSUN. After graduation in 2014, CJ started a blog called Collective Lifestyle which had a purpose of changing the world in a positive way. The blog would eventually have 1000+ blogs from 100+ writers nationwide on various topics that included homelessness, ending wars, sustainability, and more. He eventually opened the Collective Lifestyle store on the busy Reseda Boulevard in Northridge. The Collective Lifestyle store had a purpose of providing fashion, music, art, and live events for the San Fernando Valley. It also doubled as a community space that hosted open mics, art shows, music showcases, educational panels, workshops, and progressive organizations & campaigns. CJ was awarded the business of the month award from the Council Member’s office. CJ also won 3 grants for $15,000, $12,000, and $8,000 from the City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs to activate art in the valley. He produced the Reseda Blvd Summer Series which was a community block party of 15 nights over 3 summers filled with musicians, an art walk, vendors, poets, dancers, art installations, food trucks, and more all based on the themes of peace, love, sustainability, and positive change. CJ made what would be an empty street with minimal foot traffic to a packed 3000+ attendees from the local community. CJ was recognized by the California State Assembly for his work on the Summer Series. He also joined the Northridge South Neighborhood Council at the age of 26. He has also worked for the Northridge Chamber of Commerce and sat on a committee called Northridge Vision that oversaw urban development in the area. He was also featured in an Uproxx.com video that received 50,000 views within the first week on how to make rundown neighborhoods more beautiful without gentrifying them. CJ also was awarded 1 of 26 Outstanding Small Business awards from the United States Small Business Administration presented by LA Mayor, Eric Garcetti. CJ was also invited to be a judge on a “Shark Tank” panel & contest at Mayor Garcetti’s Getty House. In January of 2019, CJ was elected to a 2-year term as an assembly delegate for the California Democratic Party.

CJ believes that we need a government that doesn't take money from corporations. CJ believes that our current government in Washington is broken and that we need to get in new progressive candidates that refuse corporate money. He believes that our government should be serving the people. Government should be there to serve their people and to make their lives easier. We shouldn't be using taxpayer dollars to continually be at war with other nations. Instead we must provide our country with Medicare for All, Education, Safety, Basic Human Rights, Jobs, Economic Rights, Infrastructure, and a Sustainable Planet. CJ believes we can achieve all this. 

As the world gets more complex, the importance of local community could not be more clear.

Being born in California, raised back-and-forth between Connecticut and Florida by divorced parents, and searching for that sense of belonging from town to town and year to year, Brian would find it in the San Fernando Valley, where he lives with his wife, Stephanie, and their two cats. Serving as President of the Studio City Neighborhood Council, Brian’s fundamental goal is to provide that feeling of community through local civic engagement.

He is passionate, compassionate, and has a sense of responsibility to those who often feel like the decks are stacked up against them. A strong progressive, Brian believes in the protection and expansion of civil rights, the reclaiming of our public spaces and public goods, and the building of a society that restores justice for all.

He believes that the San Fernando Valley can be the key to solving some of today’s biggest issues. If we can solve the housing crisis here, we can solve it everywhere. If we can bring real transportation options for our area, we can scale it sea to shining sea. Progressive change can only happen when it’s approached with a local focus, because it’s the only way to ensure that the people are being put first.

As an enthusiast of American history (as can be seen through his political web comic, Two Party Opera), Brian understands, contextually and practically, the ebb and flow of tyranny and the cyclical nature of our country’s past and present. In times like these, he feels that the only direction to go when faced with daily chaos and runaway injustice, is not to just return to some nonexistent “normal,” but to repair the failures of a society that led to the crisis in the first place.

With his understanding of legislative procedures both theoretically, through his academic research, and practically, through his work with the Studio City Neighborhood Council as both a board member and President, he’s able to see both the greater context of policies and legislations to be brought forth, as well as the implications on the local level for the CA-30th district.

The importance of civic engagement and the power of communities to understand the inner workings of the jobs of those who are meant to be of service to them, such as our members of Congress, is a huge driver for Brian and the work that he does.

Fighting for the future of our country isn’t a spectator sport.

A common refrain lately has been “we’ve been through times like this before, and we will again.” While I understand the sentiment, it’s not true. Since its founding, Americans have continuously fought for the rights that were supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution, and although many survived, a lot of people didn’t make it through those pivotal times to take part.

We live in another such time and we cannot stand on the sidelines and watch our neighbors be targeted. The stakes are only getting higher. As a student of American history and civics, I can clearly see the disconnect between what congressional leadership is capable of and what we’re currently getting instead.

I’m running because it’s not enough to vote a certain way, or saying all the right things, but because we’ve seen in the last several years what needs to be done is all hands on deck to preserve our country from runaway injustice. We need someone who will actively fight for progressive change in the San Fernando Valley. Who will work every single day to protect civil rights, hold those in power accountable, build an economy that works for everyone, and engage with the communities to get the job done.

As President of the Studio City Neighborhood Council, I know the best way to find solutions is through engaging on the local level, and I intend to empower the neighborhood council system to help inform me in Congress. Extending the power of our experiment in civic engagement to the national stage in order to utilize the level of passion that already exists.

Right now, the country is at a crossroads, and the path we choose to go down will set the stage for the next several generations. To be sure, we can choose representatives who wish to simply return to “business as usual” without addressing the underlying causes that lead to our modern chaos in the first place. But I believe that I stand with my neighbors in recognizing this time as a unique opportunity to push for progressive change in the face of white supremacy, authoritarianism, and unchecked corporate power to rebuild our communities in a way that protects the most vulnerable and benefits the common well-being.