Emerge California

Mary Alex now lives in Charlottesville, VA where she recently graduated from the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. She teaches at Sweet Briar College’s School of Business and has her own consulting boutique firm (globalcapacityconsulting.com). Her past clients include organizations in the areas of human rights, prevention of human-trafficking, and amelioration of HIV/AIDS around the world. She sits on the Board of directors for the Farm Team of Central VA. 

Higher education is the foundation of creating a developed, productive society, and it often begins in community college. My own experiences in community college and higher education sparked my passion for education policy and civic involvement.This passion ultimately led me to obtain my Ph.D., to tutor and mentor students, to teach at a university level, and to develop high-standard curricula.

As the daughter of an immigrant Father and Mother who grew up in East Los Angeles, my Mexican parents instilled in me the importance of family, the value of hard work, the necessity of completing my education,  and then giving back to my community.  They also encouraged me to believe in myself and my abilities.  So, I completed my AA degree and then went on to receive my BA in Political Science at Sonoma State University in 1994.  I achieved this while working full-time and putting myself through school.

Edesa Bitabdal is the Intergovernmental Affair representative for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency (SJRA). She has been working with state and local legislatures to not only prevent further reductions but also to restore funding to the SJRA. In addition, she has been a project manager for the Façade Improvement Program, managing grants for small business owners out of a total budget of $6 million. Also, she has been a Board member of the Democratic Activist for Women Now (DAWN) organization whose mission is to elect Democratic women into public office.

Farah Brelvi was a co-founding Board member of Muslim Advocates, the first national 501(c)3 organization of Muslim lawyers promoting equality, liberty and justice for all.  She is a Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Northern California, where she chairs the Legislative Policy Committee.  She is also on the Board of the Center for Justice and Accountability, a legal non-profit that seeks accountability for torture surivivors through the US justice system and was previously the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA.  A graduate of Yale Univerisity an

Darleen Brooks, a Civil Rights Officer for the Alameda County Social Services Agency, is responsible for investigating discrimination complaints filed by clients and employees of the agency.  Darleen has been involved in Oakland politics sine moving to the west coast. She is an East Oakland activist who works closely with the District 6 City Council member on a variety of issues and activities, including, but not limited to community development, crime prevention, resource fairs and town hall meetings.

In addition to being elected to the Vallejo City Council on her first run for political office in 2009, Marti has 10 years of project management experience in redevelopment and urban planning.
During Marti’s tenure on the Vallejo City Council, she successfully spearheaded bringing the first city-wide Participatory Budgeting (PB) process in the United States to the City of Vallejo (www.pbvallejo.org),  joining the Health Eating, Active Living (HEAL) Campaign, establishing a Community Benefits District Ordinance, removing Binding Interest Arbitration from the City Charter, launching the ‘Reinven