Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes selected 30 people under age 30 for awards at Saturday’s celebration at the Garcia Center for the Arts, 536 West 11th Street in San Bernardino. The event lasts from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Admission is free.
Based on descriptions from her staff, this is who they are.
• Alejandro Gutierrez Chavez is a first-generation Mexican-American and college graduate in Business Administration Supply Chain Management from California State University San Bernardino. At CSUSB, Alejandro began his leadership journey in his fraternity as Community Service Chairman and had the honor of receiving the President’s Volunteer Service Award. He continued to pursue leadership opportunities, including the Forensics Debate Team, the Model United Nations Program, President of the APICS Logistics & Supply Chain Management Club, Vice President of Finance of the Associated Students Incorporated, and Student Body President. For the next 2 years, Alejandro will be serving as an Americorps member for Teach For America at Jacksonville.
• Amanda Vann began her career with Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy in 2013 as a Mental Health Specialist for their S.M.A.A.R.T Program. As a Mental Health Specialist, Vann is responsible for organizing, and implementing Mental Health Awareness events and services, along with mentoring youth within San Bernardino County. Over the years she has mentored and provided services to over 4,000 youth and their families. Her goal is to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing mental health services to at risk youth and their families free of cost.
• Angel Rodriguez is the district director of Marketing, Public Affairs and Government Relations at the San Bernardino Community College District, which includes San Bernardino Valley College, Crafton Hills College, Economic Development & Corporate Training, and KVCR TV/FM – the PBS and NPR affiliate station for Inland Southern California. Prior to joining SBCCD, he was the Associate Director of State and Regional Governmental & Community Relations for the University of California Riverside.
• Ana Gonzalez has volunteered in local Assembly and Congressional campaigns who previously owned a construction business along with her family at the age of 18 years old. Gonzalez, who is studying at CSUSB for a career as a teacher, has been active in the community, mentoring and tutoring high-risk youth, English learners, students with disabilities and helping high school seniors apply and guide their path for college. Ana is currently involved in advocating for her community and serves as a 47th Assembly District Delegate for the California Democratic Party, one of the Regional Directors for the San Bernardino County Young Democrats, and San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee member.
• Amanda Monroy served as the Cal State University San Bernardino director of External Affairs for the Associated Students Incorporated where she advocated for CSUSB students on the local, state and federal level. As the Director of External Affairs she served as Chair of Lobby Corps where she trained student leaders to advocate for higher education policy for the Inland Empire at the State Capitol in Sacramento and in Washington D.C. She was instrumental in organizing several events on campus for local and state offices such as the Future Forum with Congressman Pete Aguilar and Eric Swalwell. She also served as a state-wide level representative as the Social Justice and Equity Council Speaker for the California State Student Association where she actively engaged in progressive efforts to promote social justice and equity multiculturalism through education. In the future she aspires to work in positions particularly in government and human services to reshape communities and give back as a leader and mentor for future generations.
• Ariel Ideshi just finished her sophomore year at Grand Terrace High School. She is a straight A student. She started community service at 4 years old through her dance studio by dancing for retirement homes, assisted facilities, and community events. With her dance group, she raised money for diabetes and cancer research. As a high school freshman year, she joined cheer and made it on to varsity. She also joined a hip hop dance team (Marquee), Key Club, and NHS (National Honor Society). Earlier this year she joined the Young Legislators of the 47th Assembly District.
• Charli Harris is a television specialist with the State of California Department of Transportation. Harris’s work has also been highlighted to all the Caltrans offices throughout the State of California for her video production of the Workers’ Annual Memorial and the Annual Bike to Work Day. She began her own business Captured Moments by Charli in 2010, providing professional photography, videography, and graphic arts services to clients.
• Asia Pham, an aspiring marriage and family therapist, is interning at Rebirth Homes, a faith based nonprofit whose mission is about redeeming the lives of human trafficking survivors in the city of Riverside through a holistic healing approach that integrates spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental healing in a 24-month program.
• Arbazz Mohammad founded a nonprofit at 17, served as the Director of the Nonprofit Resource Center at 22 and became the youngest board member with the Shura Council of Southern California at 23 while also compiling a B.A in Public Relations from CSUSB. His organization Sahaba Initiative services the general community through direct service, mentorship and mental health for low income families. Sahaba Initiative seeks to address challenges of poverty for working families. Sahaba Initiative has opened a food pantry which has served more than 3,000 people, a community garden where families can learn about nutrition and growing their own food and a resource center where families can receive mentorship on receiving the right kind of help.
• Jackie Aboud is continuing her education at Cal State San Bernardino through their National Security Master’s Program, where she has held various positions such as V.P. Finance of ASI Inc., membership on the SMSU Board, V.P. Operations of Kappa Delta Sorority, president of the College Democrats Club, President of University Village Housing, and a member of the CSUSB Debate Team and several honor societies. Jackie has volunteered at CSUSB’s Children’s Center and Cares Day, as well as several philanthropic events for Sorority and Fraternity life, at San Antonio Community Hospital for 3 years, and at Inland Empire elementary schools to help Arabic-speaking students learn English. She now volunteers her time as a representative of Council Member Michael Tahan on the Fontana City General Plan Advisory Committee.
• Justin Crocker is a Deputy District Attorney for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office assigned to the Hardcore Gang Unit in the San Bernardino office. He has prosecuted hundreds of cases throughout the county and conducted 35 jury trials in his three and a half years with the office, including charges of murder, attempted murder, vehicular manslaughter, and other violent felonies. In addition to his work in the courtroom, he has also volunteered each year as a scoring attorney for the county’s high school mock trial competition and participates in programs such as Every 15 Minutes.
• Karen Estrada has worked with the city of Rialto for about four years, where she help organize recreational programs and services for all ages. For the past four years, she has also served as a volunteer crisis counselor for the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center. Karen hopes to continue a career in public administration where she can work directly with clients and make a difference at the local level.
• Kareem Gongora is chairman of the San Bernardino Superintendent County Committee on School District Organization. He was instrumental in bridging the Fontana Foundation of Hope, Big Brothers Big Sisters Inland Empire, and Fontana Unified School District, to put forth a pilot mentoring program for middle school students. In 2016, Kareem co-founded Communities United for Safety as a result of broken safety policies. This forged a strong partnership with State Senator Connie Leyva and the bipartisan support of SB26 through the
Senate Education and Public Safety committee. Currently, Gongora is working to develop local leaders and bridge gaps in the K-12 educational systems to close the achievement gap as well as improve educational attainment. He works for the County of Riverside as the Human Resources Communications Specialist, managing internal communications for the County’s 24,000 employees.
• Jorge Torres is currently working for the Consulate of Mexico in the City of San Bernardino in the Department of Political and Economic Affairs. The Consulate office provides our community with a variety of services for both Mexican and Mexican Americans, and foreign nationals willing to do business with Mexico, including the issuing of Mexican identification cards, issuing of passports and processing Mexican visas, providing protection and legal assistance to Mexican nationals in need and cultural programs. Before moving to California to work for the Consulate, Jorge majored in International Relations with a Masters Degree in Political Science and Public Administration in Mexico and Spain.
• David Keith was hailed by Reyes’ staff as “a self-motivated, self-driven leader, is a young man with bold vision and perseverance that is not afraid to take up the baton, rise up to the challenges in politics and radically change and shape how things are done in politics.” He helped oust an en elected official by working to build a strong progressive movement.
• Monica Stockhausen’s passion for socio-economic issues coupled with nine years of non-profit experience led her to accept an appointment to faculty at Long Island Business Institute in New York City. NerdyGirlsRock is Monica’s passion project that speaks to closing the gender pay gap. She created an online resource and community designed to inspire and empower intellectual “nerdy” women to be confident, skillful and economically independent. Currently, Monica is a public speaker and professor of Business at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga.
• Lesford Duncan serves as the Child Abuse Prevention Coordinator for the County of San Bernardino Children’s Network, and as the Co-Chair for the Inland Empire Father Involvement Coalition and San Bernardino County’s Maternal Mental Health Work Group. Lesford has worked on policies against commercial sexual exploitation of children, including California Proposition 35 (2012). Lesford previously served as a Global Citizenship Fellow for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and currently as the Vice Chair of Strategic Planning for Crittenton Services for Children and Families, an agency that provides trauma-informed mental health programming, residential treatment, family preservation programming, and foster care services. Lesford received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and Leadership from Loma Linda University School of Public Health, where he has served as an adjunct professor.
• Larry “Wet Paint Larry” Jones is a Rialto resident and former tagger who turned defacing public property into a painting and clothing line called “Sloppy Parlor.” While being an artist on the side Wet Paint Larry was working with the homeless in San Bernardino. Larry was one of the many people that fell victim to massive cuts to city funded programs. Larry looked to his faith in God and saw art as a way to make a serious run at selling his clothing line and going into business for himself. Larry’s services as an artist has been used by Schools, Small Businesses and even cities. Larry is known as one of the most popular street artist in the Inland Empire and has a sizable fan base and social media following.
• Monica McMahon work with CSUSB’s LEAD Organization and the Association of Latino Faculty, Staff, and Students. McMahon has been a member and volunteer for LEAD and ALFSS for nearly a decade where she began volunteering as a high school student. She helped disseminate ALFSS scholarship information to her high school and fellow students in the AVID program while volunteering her time with the LEAD hospitality team. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Presidential Volunteer Service Award by former President Barack Obama. She works directly with students, most first-generation in college and members of historically underserved communities. As a Program Coordinator for the Office of Student Engagement since February 2016, she advises students involved with both National Student Exchange and Student Union Program Board.
• Sadia Khan started off as just a student at San Bernardino Valley College and pushed his way up to being the Legislative Affairs Director, to the Vice Chair of Region IX of the Student Senate of California Community Colleges. Graduating as a distinguished honors student from SBVC, he moved on to pursue my bachelors in Political Science and Legal Studies from UC Berkeley.
• Rick Cordova Jr. is the consummate volunteer, always ready to support a cause that is close to his heart. He is a member of many organizations that are engaged with voter registration and voter turnout. He has championed medical conferences to provide healthcare services to his community through the student organization he created at Cal State San Bernardino. Cordova will be part of the community advisory board for the California University of Science and Medicine. He has worked with other young leaders in the San Bernardino County Young Democrats organization to develop the talent that is to be the future of the Inland Empire.
• Sahvannah Rodriguez joined A.S.B at her elementary school as well as the youth group at her church and was introduced to the world of public service. She coordinated many community service events such as Canned Food Drives and Christmas Caroling at local senior citizens homes. In high school, she joined the Key Club, a club aimed towards community service and public involvement, as well as the Young Legislators Program working directly with Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes. With all of this support from the community and her volunteering she was delighted to know that she was chosen as her high school’s 2017 CA Girls State Delegate.
• Rocio Aguayo was “Editor-in-Chief” of her 2014 Year book at Arroyo Valley High School, and after her graduation worked for the “Youth Action Project,” where she completed 1,175 service hours, and honed her skills by working side by side with students, teachers, and parents. In August 2010, Ms. Aguayo became a Youth Leader and Executive Board Member of ICUC (Inland Congregations United for Change), representing the new generation for San Bernardino. While attending San Bernardino Valley College, Aguayo held the positions of “Student Organizations Director” and “Associated Student Government” President. Her recent involvement with the “Foundation for California Community Colleges,” as a Civic Impact Scholar, has provided her with an invaluable insight to the California political process.
• Pablo Machado serves as the San Bernardino Valley College Student Trustee. As Student Trustee, he has advocated in Washington D.C. on behalf of SBVC as well attended over 40 events and even had the chance to host a student town hall with Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes. Machado has also been able to bring the community together to heal after the death of Daniel Munoz by having a prayer vigil that brought out over 250 people from the community. Another proud moment in my life for Pablo is when he led a group of 15 to 20 youth volunteers to make calls to hundreds of voters throughout the state of California and had revived over a thousand “yes” confirmations to vote in favor of Prop 47.
• Vanessa Perez began at Time for Change Foundation as an intern and has worked her way up to Associate Director. In this position, her focus is to support the implementation of the foundation’s strategic plans and policies, and to provide leadership and management to all staff in the areas of planning, programming, fund development, marketing, and administration. In 2012 Vanessa received the League of Women Voters’ Citizens of Achievement Award. She completed the Women’s Foundation of California’s Women’s Policy Institute in 2014, which equipped her with skills to navigate the California legislative process and influence decision makers to create policies that better the quality of life in her local community and for all Californians. She was also recognized with Time for Change Foundation when founder Kim Carter was recognized as a 2015 Top 10 CNN Hero.
• Taylor Jory Hayes Bains attended California Baptist University receiving a dual master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and Forensic Psychology. She has spent countless hours volunteering at her church in the Children’s Ministry and a young women’s missionary group. Through her church, she has volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House in Loma Linda, California and has participated in programs that help to feed the homeless in the community. Taylor currently works for the County of San Bernardino for Children and Family Services as a social worker. Taylor’s mantra has always been to help those in need, especially children.
• Sarah Arechiga has attended San Bernardino Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino, a successful product of the PUENTE bridge program. She has successfully navigated CSUSB while completing internships for SEMA, representing CSUSB at the HACU national conference. Very soon, Sarah will be serving in a HACU internship at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. after she graduates from CSUSB with a degree in Finance.
• Vanessa Villanueva is the president of the Eco Friendly Friends Club at Colton High School. Every week Vanessa invites fellow students in for a meeting where she educates them on environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, and conservation. She has organized students to do beach cleanups with Heal the Bay. Also, once a week, Vanessa organizes student volunteers to do campus cleanups. She wants to eventually extend this to include the entire community. Vanessa has encouraged many teachers at the school to have recycling boxes in their rooms to cut down on waste. She has also organized student volunteers to begin creating a pollinator garden on campus to help with the declining numbers of pollinators such as bees, Monarch butterflies, and hummingbirds.
• Travon Martin is an enthusiastic servant leader who serves on the board of the Home & Neighborly Services, Hope2Home Family Development and is a valued employee of San Bernardino City Unified School District. Travon’s determination and tenacity has helped bring significant change to San Bernardino through his work. Travon dedicates countless hours of his own time to mentor elementary and middle school students and volunteers for projects such as feeding the homeless.
• Sendy Sanchez is a healthcare policy and advocacy professional committed to advancing health care in underserved and underrepresented communities. Sanchez is the director of Policy and Projects at the Community Health Association Inland Southern Region where she works with staff from 42 Community Clinics and Health Centers in the region to analyze local, state and federal healthcare legislation. Sanchez has been extensively involved in health care since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. She was a Covered California Master Trainer and was instrumental in training and certifying enrollment counselors throughout the Inland Empire.
Published here: https://www.sbsun.com/2017/07/21/these-are-the-30-most-influential-people-under-30-in-eloise-reyes-assembly-district/