Putting Families First: Tackling the Living Cost Crisis

Affordability is not just about economics; it’s about dignity.

Growing up in a small home in Calwa that my immigrant parents worked tirelessly to afford, I watched my father come home exhausted from a shingle manufacturing warehouse. My mother juggled cleaning hotel rooms and caregiver duties. As a young immigrant myself—undocumented for years—I understood early that stability was precious and precarious. They were proud to give my siblings and me a foundation, but even small increases in rent, groceries, or utilities could shake our household budget. I remember the stress on their faces when bills piled up faster than paychecks.

Those experiences never left me. They’re why I worked three jobs while earning my degree at Fresno State. They shaped my belief that government should make life more affordable for working families, not more expensive.

Today, families across the Central Valley face these same struggles, only magnified. Water, electricity, and gas prices keep rising. PG&E rates climb while wages stay stagnant. Housing costs have pushed families into impossible choices. Childcare rivals college tuition. These aren’t abstract statistics—they’re the reasons parents juggle multiple jobs, seniors ration medication, and young people delay starting families.

For over 20 years, I’ve fought these inequities. At Clinica Sierra Vista, I expanded health programs from one to eight, bringing wraparound services directly into our communities. As President and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities, I’ve united 30 nonprofit organizations to deliver real solutions. We championed the Rental Housing Inspection Act and Emergency Rental Assistance Program. We created the $5.5 million Non-Resident Specialty Fund to ensure undocumented Fresnans access life-saving care. During COVID-19, we raised $12 million and deployed 135 Community Health Workers, providing $2.5 million in direct financial assistance to families.

We need systemic change. That starts with raising wages and benefits, so families don’t fall further behind each year. The legislature should continue to enforce pay equity laws, requiring transparency and holding corporations accountable for wage gaps.

We also need to tackle the skyrocketing costs emptying our wallets and hollowing out family budgets. That means rent control to prevent displacement, inclusionary zoning requiring affordable units in new developments, and down payment assistance helping families build wealth through homeownership. It means capping utility rate increases, holding PG&E accountable, and investing in renewable energy that reduces long-term costs. It means expanding our earned income tax credit, ensuring families keep more of what they earn.

I’ve sat in countless living rooms where families told me about impossible trade-offs. And I have had to make some of the very same trade-offs myself as a young mom. These experiences and lived realities are why I am running for the State Assembly. Affordability is not just about economics; it’s about dignity. It’s about whether a mother can afford childcare, whether a young worker can afford to live near their job, and whether a senior can buy both groceries and medication.

A better future is possible because when our communities have been overlooked, I’ve stepped up. As President & CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities, we brought $70 million in state funding to transform Fresno, including $17 million for a Fresno City College campus in Southwest Fresno. We passed Measure P for parks and trails. I don’t just show up for ribbon cuttings—I work tirelessly to ensure the most underinvested communities receive what they deserve.

As Assemblymember, I’ll measure every bill by one standard: does this make life better and more affordable for working families?

My parents came here seeking opportunity. They worked too hard for too little. Too many families still do. Together, we can build a California where hard work leads to stability, where families thrive rather than struggle to survive, and where every child grows up in a community—like the Calwa that raised me—full of love, encouragement, and real opportunity.