Candidate Profiles

Stephanie Hernández-Jarvis, a teacher in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, is running for the school board on a platform of improving teacher retention, the school climate and student academic and learning outcomes. Hernández-Jarvis, 27, once an undocumented immigrant, also considers herself a strong advocate for immigrant rights. “It’s not about security for me; it’s about using the privilege I’ve gained,” Hernández-Jarvis said. “That’s why I’m doing this.” Hernández-Jarvis, a resident of Pinole, launched her teaching career in West…

Valerie Cuevas comes from humble beginnings. As a child of a working-class family, beset by problems that put her at risk of academic failure, Cuevas attached to her family’s belief in the transformative power of education. “My family believed in the innate ability and potential of all the kids to succeed, and to succeed at high levels,” Cuevas said, and education, “was a transformational experience that would allow me to transcend those conditions.” Now, as president of the West Contra…

Elizabeth Block has served as public education principal, school psychologist and special education administrator over the course of a 35-year career. She’s currently an incumbent member of the West Contra Costa Unified School Board, running for a second term. “I consider myself to be the candidate with experience that matters because I’ve had experience at all levels in the education system,” Block said. Block, 65, a resident of El Cerrito, led a forensic audit of the district’s criticized construction program…

Consuelo Lara found structure and safety in attending school as a child. Then she became a teacher and taught for 38 years, much of the time in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. She is now running for a seat on the school board. Lara, of San Pablo, seeks to encourage dual language literacy, job training programs for students and improve district reading levels. She also promotes applying a philosophy of “support, expand and duplicate” to successful school programs,…

Madeline Kronenberg has gathered a wealth of experience while serving three terms on the West Contra Costa Unified School Board. A former teacher, she is currently running for a fourth term. Kronenberg, 71, a resident of El Cerrito, wants voters to return her to the board to work toward eliminating the achievement gap—the difference in academic scores among subgroups of students. She also said she would improve teacher retention and collaboration. She says she learned the value of collaboration from…

A newcomer to city government, Virginia “Vicky” Ramirez has a lot to prove. Born and raised in Salinas, Ramirez, 28, grew up with parents who worked in agriculture; her father picked celery and her mother picked mustard seed. She was raised in a predominantly Mexican community and sees her fluency in Spanish as a special skill that can help her connect with more people in Richmond. After moving to Richmond with her family in 1997, she went on to graduate…

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…

After serving several terms on city council, Nathaniel Bates, 87, thinks he knows Richmond best. Bates, a 77-year resident of Richmond, remembers taking the Santa Fe train from Texas to Richmond in 1942 after his mother moved to work at the Kaiser shipyards. “Richmond is the only home I’ve ever known,” he said. After a career in the Alameda County criminal justice system as a group counselor and then a probation officer, Bates was first elected to Richmond City Council…