Candidate for
Member of the Board of Trustees; Los Angeles Community College District; Office 1

Francesca Vega was born and raised in a working class family in Yuba City, California. Along with her two older sisters, Francesca is a member of the first generation of her family to attend and graduate from college. Her educational aspirations were the result of the strong supportive, motivational role models of her family. Francesca has a set of core values and commitment focused on ensuring that educational opportunities remain available to all students. Francesca's professional and community work has consistently been dedicated to working across diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic communities. As a product of California's public higher education system, Francesca has experienced first-hand how access to and affordability of public higher education is critical to economic mobility and community development.

While working on her degree in Government at Sacramento State University, Francesca began her activism on behalf of women's issues and educational access for first generation students and students from underserved communities. Francesca embarked on her professional career in the public policy arena by working seven years in the California State Legislature for the Office of the Chief Clerk, with the late Assemblymember Marco Antonio Firebaugh and former State Senator Martha Escutia. In 2007, Francesca started to work in higher education when she joined the UCLA Office of Government and Community Relations. In 2012, Francesca assumed her current position of Director of Government and Community Relations at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

Her responsibilities in higher education at UCLA and CSUN have been primarily focused on building support for public higher education through legislative advocacy, innovative programming, and strengthening the educational pipeline for California's future. Francesca was instrumental in developing a Corporate Advocacy Program to engage California CEOs as budget advocates on behalf of higher education, student engagement with the Student Leadership Forum in Sacramento, and collaboration between the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community College systems in Joint Higher Education Advocacy--an effort that brings together California's three segments of public higher education. She also worked on the successful 2012 Proposition 30 campaign which saved public education in California from $6 billion in additional funding cuts. In her current position at CSUN, Francesca serves as a member of the President's Extended Cabinet and is responsible for implementing CSUN's advocacy agenda for Washington, Sacramento and Los Angeles, as well as engaging the local community and stakeholder interests, including the non-profit and business sectors, on issues of mutual concern.

Francesca continues to be deeply engaged in the community on a personal level as a board member of the statewide Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project (CLYLP, Inc.), San Fernando Valley-based Meet Each Need With Dignity (MEND), Congressmember Karen Bass' 33rd Congressional Leadership Council, and as a mentor for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. Francesca has been active with Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), serves on HOPE PAC, and is a proud graduate of the Emerge California Class of 2014, an organization striving to change the face of California politics by identifying and providing necessary resources to progressive women candidates throughout the state.

As a candidate for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees, Francesca Vega has a vision of opportunity, inclusion and academic excellence for the district. Francesca's passion for those that look to public higher education as a second chance or game-changer in their lives, such as first generation college students, veterans and foster youth, serves as her motivation. She is an effective advocate for all segments of public higher education and is the best candidate for Trustee to address the critical issues facing the Los Angeles Community College District.