Ada Recinos, City Council Candidate
on January 31, 2018
A proud salvadoreña and first generation college student, Ada Recinos isn’t afraid to confront issues head-first. The youngest person ever appointed to Richmond’s city council, Recinos, 27, beat out 12 others seeking appointment to the council last November.
In the year since, she has learned valuable political lessons.
“[It’s] important to have a lot of buy-in from other council members,” she said.
After advocating for affordable housing without displacement, translation services and greater opportunities for cannabis entrepreneurs, Recinos has received backing for a handful of the projects she’s proposed.
As the only Spanish-speaker on the current council, she recently proposed the city research information and cost for translation services at city-sponsored events. All council members present at the council meeting voted yes on her proposal.
Some of Recinos’ campaign priorities include supporting local small businesses, improving community policing techniques and building affordable housing without displacement.
Growing up in Hawthorne, a city in Los Angeles county, Recinos watched her parents struggle to find stable housing after being evicted twice. She attended community college and then went on to graduate from UC Santa Cruz. Recinos then moved to Oakland to work as the financial stability coordinator for Prospera, a nonprofit that works with Latina women to build economic stability through co-op businesses.
Recinos eventually moved to Richmond and soon became involved in local government through the Human Rights and Human Relations Commission.
She says she has stayed in Richmond because she loves the community.
“There’s so much opportunity here, and I really do want to make sure that we’re providing the opportunities that were provided for me, she said.
Politics have often been “a sore subject” in Recinos’ life. Her parents fled El Salvador during the violent civil war and sought asylum in the United States. She said that fighting for what is right is something she has to do.
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