CYD Candidate Questionnaire
CANDIDATE INFORMATION
1. Name as it will appear on the ballot: First Name Middle Initial or Nick Name Omar 2. 3. 4. 5. Last Name Torres
Office Sought: Parliamentarian Are you the incumbent? No Are you a Voting Member in Good Standing of SFYD? No How many years have you been a member of SFYD or other YD Chapters? SVYD for 4 years and DEMCSJSU for 2 years 5. Contact Information: Home Address: Campaign Phone: Campaign Email: Campaign Website:
Sjomartorres408@gmail.com
CYD Candidate Questionnaire
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
Beginning with the most recent position, please list previous leadership and elected roles in the Young Democrats and other relevant Political or Leadership Organizations. Office/Role Elective/Appointive? Dates Held
2008-present
Leadership Role (if any)
Silicon Valley Young elective Democrats Democratic Caucus of elective SJSU California Young Democrats appointive
Political Director and VP Membership 2005-2006 2007-present Events Coordinator 2008-present Caucus Director
QUESTIONNAIRE
1) I am running for this position because have the proper qualifications for this position. As a community organizer, I have drafted bylaws or revised bylaws for the organizations I have served in. As a leader for these organizations I have made sure we are voting and acting in accordance to our bylaws. It has always been my duty to speak up when we are not acting in accordance. In this position, the office has to take an active role in decisions that the organization decides. If the decision is clearly not in accordance, it is my responsibility to bring up the issue without hesitation. Even the decision was popular with our members. 2) I do believe we need more diversity in the California Young Democrats. As a young Latino, we need officers who come from a predominantly poor and Latino neighborhood like myself. I come from an area where gangs and drugs was ruled the neighborhood. As a community activist for my community I have learned the importance of establishing coalitions where our communities agenda would be advanced. I also feel we should provide more support to our high school and college chapters by creating a mentorship program where we recruit and train our younger leaders into seasoned and experienced leaders. How will you address those issues if elected? I will work with our partners and make sure our college and high school chapters are well equipped. I remember as a very young democrat, I had no idea how to get involved. With polls showing 18-35 years old heavily identifying themselves as Democrats and even with ages 14-18 in higher numbers, those high school teens are the ones that are going to replace us. We need to establish some sort of program where we bring them under our guidance. 3) I have already said before, we need more Latinos to be involved with our organization. I have organized my community for a very long time. Young Latinos need to be involved with our party. We also need to be there so we can reach out to our older generation during elections. A good example of this would be the unfortunate passage of Proposition 8. We need more young progressive Latino activists who will help us make sure samesex marriage are passed in California. Older Latino were very
CYD Candidate Questionnaire
4) I will definitely have more regional events. The Bay Area is such a very huge area but generally we can reach the suburbs of San Jose in one hour. I would coordinate with other leaders to have more events in centralized locations in the Bay Area. Yes we live in a different city but an issue such as same-sex marriage is a national one and not a regional one. We need to bring our leaders together and work with our progressive ideals to enhance our and build our stature statewide.
5) I began at state, there was no Democratic club. I was able to found the club with a fellow Spartan named Sarah Bronstein. We started the club from scratch and founded the Democratic Caucus of San Jose State. Our club started with a few members before a very exciting Democratic primary. Our club endorsed Sen. Obama quest for the presidency in Dec of 2007, we began to work hand in hand with Obama’s campaign. The campaign would come for us for any type of existence. We coordinated voter registration drives, surrogate events and phone bank parties. Since then we have been the most active club on campus and in our county. Our membership has swelled and we continue to have events. What is very important is during this years CDP delegate elections six of our members were chosen as delegates to the state convention. Our members are new and emerging leaders who are becoming well known in our democratic party.
EXPERIENCE
I am attaching my resume. I have always been a community organizer who believes in fixing social injustices. Since I have been 14 years old I have tackled gangs, drugs, slumlords, literacy and other social injustices in our community with ease and pride. It is the countless of young teens I have met in these impoverished communities that has motivated to keep organizing. I did not want them to have the life I had. I hope I have shaped their life and I am going to continue to strive to make our communities a better place to live for as long as I can.
CYD Candidate Questionnaire
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: 2001–2003 & 2005-present 2004 Field Organizer- Base Outreach
City of San José
San José, CA
Community Activity Worker- Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Established crime prevention programs, like Neighborhood Watch and S.T.O.P.S in neighborhoods. Implemented Building Our Leaders of Tomorrow Camp for 4 years for 60 plus children in Downtown San Jose and East San Jose. Prime component for Tully-Senter, King-Ocala and West Evergreen Neighborhood Action Committees and formerly Gardner through the SNI program. Coordinated federal Weed and Seed program with other city dep artments, county departments and other various non-profit organizations. Bilingual interpreter. Colorado Democratic Party So. Colorado
Established support for Sen. John Kerry, Ken Salazar and John Salazar in southern Colorado Organized voter interaction focused on the base voter outreach through phone banking, face -toface canvassing, community meetings, rally organizing, and creative grassroots visibility activities. Organized GOTV events and coordinated Spanish voter to register to vote. Bilingual interpreter. Dean For America IA,NM & CA
2003–2004 Field Organizer- Latino Outreach
Established support for Gov. Howard Dean in Iowa, NM and CA.
CYD Candidate Questionnaire
Coordinated focused awareness activities on the Hispanic community through phone banking, face-to-face canvassing, community meetings, rally organizing, and creative grassroots visibility activities. Organized GOTV events and coordinated Spanis h voter to register to vote. Bilingual interpreter. City of San Jose San José, CA Intern of District 3 for Council member Cindy Chavez Assisted with the planning and development of annual District T hree Neighborhood Summit. Assisted Council member and policy analysts dealing with constituents. Filed important documents and answered phones.
Feb. 2001-July 2001
EDUCATION: San Jose Staté University, San José, CA August 2006 to Present, Candidate for Bachelors of Science, spring 2010 Major: Political Science, Minor: Public Administration and Communications. CIVIC, POLITICAL AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES: Member, Students Enacting Change, City Hall and SJSU student club, 2008 to Present Member, Phi Alpha Delta, SJSU Pre-Law Fraternity, 2007 to Present Member, Pi Sigma Alpha, SJSU Political Science Honor Society, 2007 to Present Member, Latino Student Business Association at SJSU, 2007 to Present Events Coordinator, SJSU Democrats, 2007 to Present Member, Tuition Relief Now, California Faculty Association, 2007 to Present Member at Large, President, Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood Association, 2003 to 2006 Mentor, YMCA Youth and Government Advisor, East Palo Alto YMCA, 2003 to 2005 Vice President, Treasurer, Washington Youth Volunt eer Group, 2001 to 2003 Member at Large, Treasurer, Washington Area Community Coalition, 1998 to 2007 E Board Member, Silicon Valley Young Democrats, LGBT Democrats of Silicon Valley Club, and the Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum Volunteer: Clinton-Gore Reelection Campaign, 1996, Yes on Measure A, 1997, Gray Davis for Governor Campaign, 1998, Cindy Chavez for City Council Campaign 1998, Yes on Measure C 2000, Gore in 2000 campaign, Reelect Gray Davis in 2002, Joe Coto for CA Assembly 2003-2004, San Jose Latinos for Dean Coordinator 2003-2004, Democratic GAIN trainee 2004, Latinos for America trainee 2004, Coalition for a Better California 2005 and Madison Nguyen for City Council 2005, Cindy Chavez for Mayor 2006, Barack Obama for President 2008, Ash Kalra for City Council 2008, No on 8 campaign 2008 and No on the Recall of Madison Nguyen 2009