As the next Assemblywoman representing Distirct 20 and women and girls all over California, I am dedicated to changing key legislation that will improve the quality of life for women and girls.

I have been a strong advocate on issues of sexual harassment throughout my career in the workplace, and as a working mother, I also know first hand the difficulty of holding a demanding job while raising a family and representing thousands of working families. We need quality childcare and early education, so that working women feel they can work to support their families.  

I have served in other positions, as I have been dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of my neighbors, family and  constituents in the district. . I have served on the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board, Oakland Blue Ribbon Tax Form

I’ve spent the past 20 years working with labor unions and community organizations to advance economic opportunities, social justice, and immigrants' rights. Before coming to the ALC I was the Statewide Political Director for AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) Local 3299, the University of California system's largest employee union. As Political Director, we secured the passage of critical legislation to prevent the contracting-out of service jobs in the UC system.

I was brought up through our public school system in my hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana. I  started working at an early age, first as an after school helper while still in elementary school,  then at a coffee shop in high school and later in a downtown hotel during college. I held many odd jobs to help out my family and finance my way through college at Loyola University in New Orleans.  My first job out of college was in the public sector, I worked at the unemployment office. After that I moved on to working at the Medicaid office while in grad school full time and while trying to learn how to be a parent to my new baby. It was a struggle and was part of my motivation for moving to California. 

When I got here, I worked as a real estate agent and notary for a few years. I had another kid, got divorced and then the world wide financial crisis hit, causing me to become penniless overnight. I was facing foreclosure, bankruptcy and was on the edge of homelessness. Fortunately, I was able to put myself through nursing school at Samuel Merritt University’s one year accelerated BSN program while raising my two young children on my own. That led me to working in the San Francisco General Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Room.

It was there that I saw firsthand the vicious cycle that patients experience from diminished funding for mental health care — patients who need psychiatric treatment and permanent housing are often incarcerated rather than provided with the freedom to access community-based outpatient care. After 5 years, my work transferred to the Transitions Division, housed at the Behavioral Health Center on the hospital’s main campus where I fought alongside residents to prevent the closing of 41 permanent mental health beds in their Adult Residential Facility. After that win, I joined the steering committee  that wrote Mental Health SF and helped to raise public awareness with Hilary Ronen and Matt Haney of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. This legislation was the first of its kind in the nation, creating county wide mental health expansion and reform. We also won passage of an accompanying funding measure, Proposition I, that created.  This was coupled by a funding measure that created a progressive tax on excessive CEO income which would bring in $150 million annually. We brought both initiatives to the November ballot, and the voters said yes. Through these experiences, I learned to be an advocate and I learned that I can be effective beyond the bedside as an advocate for more than one client at a time when I organize and build a movement. In 2019, I was chosen to serve as Vice President of Organizing for SEIU 1021, and I was appointed to the Eden Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) by Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, which allowed me to broaden my reach and impact. 

In 2020, I was appointed to the Housing Conservatorship Working Group in San Francisco, by Supervisor Hilary Ronen and to the Alameda Health Systems (AHS) Board of Trustees by Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan. I serve in several leadership roles within the AHS Board. I am the Secretary Treasurer of the Board and I chair the finance committee of this billion dollar health system that serves our entire county. AHS’ Board is the policy body of the county’s safety net hospital system, home to a level 1 trauma center, psychiatric hospital and over 300 SNF beds. In these roles, I work with the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) to implement statewide healthcare policies within AHS, including Cal-AIM and Medi-Cal expansion. My service in these roles is always informed by my identity as a Black woman, my nurse’s clinical training and experience, and with an eye for workers and the community we serve. 

During the beginning of the pandemic and the racial uprisings that took place around the country I helped to organize and lead marches with SEIU 1021 and other community and labor partners, I advocated for rapid and equitable nurse hiring at San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and at AHS. Both of these public health systems disproportionately serve Black people and require constant pressure and advocacy to remedy decades of disparate treatment and negative health outcomes. I’ve worked with members of my community here in Ashland to highlight racial disparities in COVID outcomes. I advocate for many things on the Eden MAC like affordable housing, health and safety in rental housing and equitable treatment of small business owners.  

Joe Grcar has lived most of his life in Assembly Distirct 20, in other words, the Hayward Area.  He grew up in the midwes, where he earned a doctorate in mathamtics and computer science form the Univeristy of Illionois.  Joe then moved to what is now District 20 to work at the government laboratoories in Livermore and Berkeley, from which he is now retired.

My fellow Californians, after the pandemic, we now have to rebuild our state and restore its promise for all of our people. Together we will chart the course of California for many years to come, starting from this election.  

For too long a small group of officials got the rewards of government while the people paid the cost. The officials accepted second best for us, while favoring special interests, who kept them in power. From now on, every decision must benefit all of our local families: how we use our land, what infrastructure we build, and where we get money for our projects. What matters is that our government is by us and for us, rather than a government by someone else and for their special interests.  

The danger of outside control is real. Already most politicians receive millions of dollars from people who do not live inside their districts, in other words, from special interests. You can check out the sources of money on the Cal-Access website operated by the California Secretary of State. Accepting that money is the opposite of diversity, equity and inclusion for us. 

 The heart of our politics should be to leave our piece of California better—for everyone—than we found it. Do not let anyone tell you it is impossible or pointless. No place on earth than California has created more inventions, built more industries, and raised more families to the middle class. We all know people who quit and leave, but everybody who stays in California chooses to be exceptional. The word impossible, to Californians, just means work harder. That is why we are the golden state.