MEET
Sofía G. Quiñones
Background
Sofía G. Quiñones, a dedicated advocate, hails from unincorporated East Los Angeles. She holds an impressive academic background, graduating from Our Lady Guadalupe School, Belvedere Jr High, Garfield Adult School, East Los Angeles College, and Cal State University Los Angeles with a focus on Mexican American Chicano/a Studies. She also earned multiple certifications from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Criminal Justice Institute in criminal justice, environmental justice, forensic science, and real estate. And she obtained a certification from the Office of Federal Agency Director, Rued J. Nelson, Advisory Council on Historical Preservation Section 106, Defining the Area of Potential Effects. She continues to study to broaden her knowledge by reviewing the Global Financial Integrity Reports and taking courses with FinCen, a US Financial Intelligence Unit.
During her student years, she spearheaded significant reforms at East Los Angeles College, serving on the Executive Presidents Advisory and Budget Committee, Affirmative Action Committee, Grievance Committee, LACCD Dean Search Committee, Registration Task Force Committee, Scholarship Committee, MEChA C0-Chair and Treasurer, Student Body Comptroller and Student Body President. She enhanced the registration process and ensured transferable courses were offered vs elective courses. She renovated the student center and purchased equipment to reopen the campus radio station. She lobbied against tuition increases and for pay increases for faculty and staff. Her work as a student organizer assisted in the expansion and creation of Mexican American Chicana/o Studies Departments and other Ethnic Studies programs in California.
While attending Cal State University Los Angeles she worked as the Coordinator for the Chicano/a Latino/a Resource Center. She helped renovate the center, expanded the programs and was selected by her peers to represent all the resource centers on campus. She later worked as a Consultant for Proyecto Pastoral At Dolores Mission Teen Leadership Challenge Mentorship Program. She was recognized her first year for recruiting the most mentors within a year compared to other nonprofits that had more staff and better funding in California. She served on the Board of Circulo De Mujeres, all which left a lasting impact in the community and she later opened a consulting business to assist members of her community.
Advocacy and Impact
Sofía’s activism extends to fighting against detrimental projects like the East Los Angeles prison and Sybil Brand Women’s Jail. She championed to save and enhance funds and services at healthcare institutions, including the Edward Royball Clinic and Clinica Romero, Santa Marta Hospital, Beverly Hospital, LACUSC &, Martin Luther King Medical Center, Olive View Hospital, and White Memorial Medical Center. Moreover, she addressed pressing issues by submitting testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission regarding the electrical fires in East Los Angeles. She testified that Southern California Edison failed to due the upkeep, maintenance and build out of lines in the area that consumers paid for. The fires damaged homes, companies, machinery, electrical appliances and the grid. The Eastside community is at risk and they are still waiting for Southern California Edison to replace the damaged lines.
She is actively addressing the variety of illnesses affecting those who were harmed by the more than 7,000,000 pounds of lead spewed into the atmosphere by EXIDE and QUAMETCO both battery recycling facilities in collaboration with Dr. Nachman Brouatbar and the professionals who dealt with the 911 implosion. In order to make long-term diagnoses, she has demanded that body scanning equipment be purchased to detect chronic lead exposure for victims and their families, including the workers coping with the botched clean up.
She is involved with land use projects dealing with gentrification and preservation alongside the East Los Angles Boyle Heights Coalition, Lincoln Heights Preservation Coalition, The Coalition of Unincorporated Areas Against The Los Angeles Metro Area Plan and she is currently advising the First Blocks of Whittier Blvd.
Leadership and Collaboration: Sofía co-founded the Chicano Latino Task Force and served as a Community Representative, effecting systemic change at Cal State University Dominguez Hills.
She is extremely honored for being a member of the Cihuatlatokan Xicana Mexicana Indigenous Gathering which later developed into La Red Xicana Indigena whose members continue working on the rights of indigenous peoples. She produced the Paz For Chiapas Concert and Human Rights Forum to raise funds for the Humanitarian Law Project and other human rights observers involved with the protections and preservation of indigenous peoples and the environment. She has served on the Site Committee Southern California Representative for the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
She was a member of the Eastside Mujeres Network a group that organized to address the issue of murdered and missing women on the Eastside of Los Angeles and elsewhere. She continues to lobby for increased funding for detectives working these cases in the Robbery Homicide Unit. She was also apart in the early inception of Mujeres de Maiz. She has traveled to participate in educational training, cultural exchanges, political analysis, and actions against the Keystone XL Pipeline.
She was Co-Chair of the Senate Select Community Committee on the California Correctional System where the focus was to improve the conditions within the secured housing units, they were opposed to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners and staff.
She urged the administration of President Obama to host a Spanish-language business workshop in East Los Angeles with participation from the Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Board of Equalization, Sierra Club, local lending institutions, and small businesses.
She provided testimony and recommendations before Janet Yellen’s and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on the analyses of practices, discriminatory policies, applied practices, and the effects of regulations on society, the economy, and the environment. She challenged regulations relating to financial institutions, grants, businesses, which covered the adverse effects to the economy, environment, workforce, and community.
She co-founded the Our Lady of Guadalupe Collaborative, were they negotiated with the LAUSD, Southern California Air Quality District, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Department of Public Works, and the National Resource Defense Fund on enhancing the excavation and removal of hazardous waste from the school constructions sites, lobbied to enhance Regulation 403 Dust Mitigation and to protect the East Los Angeles Flood Channel. She led the communities efforts with the assistance of the Mexican American Legal and Education Fund and the Sierra Club to challenge the original site selection for East Los Angeles High School 1 & 2 and alternatives sites were selected.
For three decades, Quiñones commitment to social justice and legal advocacy has been unwavering.
SOFÍA QUIÑONES
A Champion for Change
Sofía G. Quiñones has dedicated her life to promoting and protecting civil and human rights, driven by her personal and community experiences. Growing up in East Los Angeles, she heard stories of her father’s trusted friend, Rubén Salazar, an LA Times news reporter who tragically lost his life due to police brutality by the LA County Sheriff’s Department, during the anti-Vietnam War Moratorium in East LA in 1970. Sofia’s family joined the United Farm Workers in boycotting grapes, lettuce, and Coors in support of labor rights, marking her first steps into activism. For three decades, Quiñones’ commitment to social justice and legal advocacy has been
unwavering.
Sofia’s advocacy has been an enduring current that’s flowed through every chapter of her life. From her roles as Student Body Comptroller and President at East Los Angeles College to her position as Coordinator for the Chicana/oLatina/o Resource Center at California State University Los Angeles, she’s passionately pursued broad systemic improvements in education and beyond. Sofia’s community work covers a wide range, including dedicated campaigns to close incinerators and recycling facilities, jails and prisons, steadfast stand against police brutality, unwavering support for immigration reform, and resounding advocacy for workers’ rights. Her lifelong dedication shines with radiant empathy, propelling her ceaseless quest for profound, transformative change.
Social justice isn’t just a concept, it’s the heartbeat of our democracy. It’s the embodiment of civil and human rights in action.
Disenfranchised Segregation
Since 1850, for 173 years, East Los Angeles (East LA) has remained unincorporated, segregated, and gerrymandered. Its residents have been denied representation at the city, state, and federal decision-making tables. Sofía Quiñones aspires to become the first woman of Mexican descent from unincorporated East Los Angeles elected as Assemblywoman.
In the past year, on behalf of the East LA Boyle Heights Coalition, Sofia ardently advocated to challenge the under-representation of Mexican Americans on the California Redistricting Commission and the need for a second seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The Garza vs. LA Board of Supervisors lawsuit was victorious, and now Sofía wants to see it implemented.
Sofía G. Quiñones made a significant impact by leading a community grievance against the Democrats for their decision to remove the voting precinct of Unincorporated East LA to a Los Angeles City site. Her actions were a powerful challenge to what many considered to be at-large draconian elections, which were ethically questionable. Sofía’s advocacy underscored the importance of fair and equitable representation in the democratic process. Her determination to ensure that the voices of her community were heard and respected sent a strong message about the need for transparency, inclusivity, and adherence to the principles of democracy within the political system.
Health Equity
With a profound and compassionate perspective shaped by her own experiences as a person with a birth disability, Sofía carries a deep-seated understanding of the heart-wrenching toll that hazardous environments have exacted upon her beloved family and the cherished community she calls home. It is with a heavy heart that she recognizes the enduring shadow of structural racism embedded in environmental policies and laws governing the State of California. This injustice has inflicted grievous wounds, resulting in a staggering burden of chronic and terminal illness, and the premature loss of precious lives. Sofía’s commitment to addressing these issues is fueled by her genuine care and dedication to redress and improve the quality of care and living conditions for her community.
Sofía’s advocacy goes further in addressing health problems tied to prolonged exposure to a massive 7,000,000-pound quantity of lead released by a battery recycling facility called EXIDE and an unknown amount from QUAMETCO. She’s pushing the LA County Board of Supervisors for body scanning machines to diagnose long-term lead exposure, recognizing the connection between schools within LA County and increased childhood mental and physical disabilities. Sofía is calling for a comprehensive healthcare and education plan for victims, their families, and affected workers impacted by deficient cleanup efforts.
That’s why she passionately backs a Single Payer Health Care System and Medicare For All. When the Senior and Disabled Caucuses of the California Democratic Party confronted the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity Access and Community Health Act (ACO REACH), a scheme that sought to privatize Medicare by up to 40%, Sofía didn’t hesitate to stand up for our cherished seniors. She fought against price gouging and rallied for the intervention of Attorney General Rob Bonta. The unjust assault on our elderly population ignited her determination to run for public office.
Sofía ‘s campaign takes a strong stance against AI medical diagnosis and algorithms that prioritize profit over patient health. She believes that doctors should always remain liable for diagnosing patients to ensure a high standard of care and accountability. Sofia advocates for rigorous regulations to prevent the unchecked use of AI in making medical diagnoses. Her goal is to protect patients from the potential risks associated with profit-driven algorithms while preserving the expertise and responsibility of healthcare professionals. Sofia’s campaign is committed to safeguarding patient health and ensuring that technology is used responsibly in the medical field.
She rose up to save the Edward Royball Clinic, Clinica Romero, Olive View Hospital and to preserve other health care facilities of being privatized, on the verge of being shut down, or underfunded.
In memory of Eli Rodriguez who passed away last year from fentanyl well attending a Nocturnal Wonderland event she reached out to Pascual Rotella and his team to seek justice for his mom Marcy and all his loved ones. She called for enhancements to improve the health and safety at these large events. She wrote “We should be be free to dance and celebrate life without the fear of dangerous drugs taking our precious friends and family from us”. Some very important step were made however, fentanyl mixed with other drugs continues ravishing the country.
Environmental Justice
Sofía recognizes the urgency of addressing climate change, an issue of global significance. The environmental degradation in her region has taken a toll on families. She vehemently opposes land use projects proposed in contaminated areas, like the SEARS building on Olympic Blvd. and Soto St., where millionaire developers sought to warehouse over 10,000 unhoused individuals.
Sofía’s experience in challenging Southern California Edison gave her insights into the electrical fires that struck East Los Angeles. She witnessed transformers exploding, sparking fires, and causing widespread damage. She submitted testimony to the Public Utilities Commission, holding energy companies accountable for neglecting necessary upgrades and maintenance. She opposes rate increases since these companies allocated funds to shareholders instead of honoring their contracts with consumers.
Transparency
Sofía firmly believes in the principle of “following the money, not the hype.” She understands that well-funded electoral and media campaigns often divert public attention from the crucial oversight of our financial budgets. Since 2020, she has actively engaged in courses offered by FinCen, a prominent US Financial Intelligence Unit, and has immersed herself in the meticulous study of Global Financial Integrity Reports. Through this, she has gained a profound grasp of the factors propelling soaring housing prices, recognizing the significant threat this issue poses to our national security.
It is with a deep sense of responsibility that she recognizes the pressing issues at hand. The concerns of the people, ranging from public safety, gentrification, clean streets, to the exploitation of the unhoused and the intricate impacts of early release on both the system and undeserved communities, that demand our urgent attention and comprehensive action.
A mid these challenges, the rise of cancel culture has introduced a burdensome complex layer to our societal discourse. It is essential to approach this phenomenon with thoughtful consideration as the public navigates through life while seeking justice and services.
Veterans and Their Families
Her love for this country and our veterans led her to organize alongside the Raul Morin Family, other veterans, and community members to protect a sacred space known as the Cinco Puntos Raul Morin Square. A Veterans Monument was dedicated on May 20, 1947, by La Colonia Mexicana in honor of soldiers of Mexican descent who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII. Over 5,000 signatures were gathered during the pandemic and she along with the East Los Angeles Boyle Heights Coalition continue their efforts of protecting this sacred space while advocating to enhance the area and preserving the monuments for generations to come. She has championed the reporting process in the military for victims of sexual and physical assault or retaliation by piers or superior officers.
Labor Rights
Sofía serves as the legal advocate for the Bertha Montes family, who tragically lost a loved one due to toxic chemical exposure and corporate negligence in training and handling chemicals over an extended period while working at an East Los Angeles McDonald’s. Sofía has taken proactive steps, including filing Cal/OSHA complaints, engaging with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, and supporting strikes, to seek justice for the Montes family and to prevent future tragedies by addressing hazardous working conditions as stipulated by LA County and California laws.
Additionally, Sofía has taken action by filing a CAL/OSHA Complaint against Allied Pacific Network Medical Management, vigorously advocating for safer working conditions and equitable wages for employees at their Alhambra, California locations. Sofía joined hands with employees and union members in their relentless fight for workers’ rights, improved safety conditions, and fairer compensation at these medical facilities. Nurses, patients, and healthcare workers affected by these issues have a dedicated ally in Sofia.
She is opposed to both the North American Free Trade Agreement along with the Transpacific Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement that negatively impacts jobs, workers rights, wages, benefits, consumer rights, jeopardize our health safety, and the environment.
Culturally Relevant Education
Sofía’s advocacy transcends politics. She co-founded the Chicana/o Latina/o Task Force at California State University, Dominguez Hills, leading to substantial campus improvements. These achievements encompassed the establishment of a Mexican-American Studies Department, an African-American Studies Department, a Cross-Cultural Center, a Computer Lab, librarian hires, and book donations to the library. Notably, Sofía co-authored an MOU that compelled the university to create a master’s level program and increase tenured faculty hires for the Mexican-American Studies Department due to exponential student enrollment growth, which was successfully realized. Her steadfast dedication addressed issues of inclusion, funding, scholarships, recruitment, retention, and tenure positions for underrepresented groups. Sofía’s impactful work has earned her the support of Mexican-Americans and other underrepresented communities, fostering diversity and inclusivity in academia.
Sofía recognizes the importance of art history. The programs she put together on campus and in the community encompassed the arts. She understands that art saves lives and transforms humanity. As a child well playing at Eugene Obregon Park she came across Sister Karen Bocanegra. Sister Karen was working out of her vehicle and she taught and shared and helped the community create art. Sister Karen founded a very special space in the neighborhood known as Self Help Graphics. A creative space were talent blossomed and amazing peaces tell our stories that have been shared across the world with the help of the community, archdioceses, grants and donations. We lost Sister Karen and our space however, the efforts continued at another location for the next generation of artists that will continue with their creations and add on to the great pieces that are apart of the archives.
Together with the community, Sofía led a successful challenge against the proposed construction sites for East Los Angeles High Schools 1 and 2, with the invaluable support of organizations like the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, and the National Resource and Defense Fund. Thanks to these efforts, alternative sites were chosen, ensuring the safety and well-being of our beloved East LA and Boyle Heights. Your support can help Sofía continue to stand up for our community’s interests. Join us in making the east, north east, and all of California an even better place to live and thrive.
In her capacity as a co-founder of the Evergreen Jogging Path Coalition, Sofía demonstrated remarkable dedication and resourcefulness. Through her unwavering efforts, she not only secured the necessary funds for the construction of the jogging path but also effectively refuted any claims of insufficient resources. Sofía’s commitment to enhancing our community knows no bounds, and her achievements speak volumes about her ability to get things done. With your support, she can continue to make a lasting difference in our state and ensure that our community thrives. Join us in backing Sofía’s vision for a better, stronger California Moreover, Sofía assumed a leadership role within the Coalition of Families of the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, previously known as the Sunset Memorial Cemetery, with the LA County’s section historically referred to as Potters Field. Her leadership was instrumental in opposing the Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority’s potentially destructive plan for the Gold Line, which posed a significant threat to the cemetery. An original proposal would have had the path of the rail go through the cemetery. The construction hit the south east corner of our sacred burial grounds that were desecrated and were human remains were exhumed. Sofía remains a steadfast advocate for those who suffered adverse consequences during and after the construction period.
Become a part of “The People’s Choice” – Join Sofía’s Campaign for California Assembly District 52!
Sofía G. Quiñones is a tireless advocate for change, dedicated to addressing disenfranchised segregation, health equity, public safety, gentrification, environmental justice, the unhoused, and culturally relevant education. Join her campaign and be part of the movement to create a better future for East Los Angeles, California, and beyond. Your support will empower Sofía to advocate for the changes our communities deserve in the California State Assembly. Together, we can break barriers, create equity, and pave the way for future generations.
Vote for Sofía G. Quiñones and help shape a brighter future for us all.