Monica Senter is a dedicated community organizer who is committed to social, economic and environmental justice in all of her work. Monica holds a JD from the most progressive law school in the country, New College of CA. She started her career in 1996 as campaign manager for CalPIRG in ...
Read moreMonica Senter is a dedicated community organizer who is committed to social, economic and environmental justice in all of her work. Monica holds a JD from the most progressive law school in the country, New College of CA. She started her career in 1996 as campaign manager for CalPIRG in Sacramento, CA to qualify a campaign finance reform ballot initiative. Monica’s professional discipline is technology risk management with a focus on cyber security and ethical practices.
After 20 years working in San Francisco on criminal justice issues and as an advocate for public art, the homeless and LGBT community, she left her urban lifestyle to live closer to nature and to start an organic farm in rural Nevada County.
Once grounded in Nevada County, Monica was quickly swept up in local community service by co-founding the county’s first non-profit legal services agency for the desperately underserved population. Soon after, Monica co-founded a Political Action Committee to stop a local anti-cannabis ordinance passed by Nevada County that would have criminalized many small family farmers. The ordinance was successfully overturned in a victory that local and state political consultants were sure would fail. Out of desire to unify Nevada County rural families and their supporters, Monica joined forces with other local campaign members to found the Nevada County Cannabis Alliance, which is in operation today as a policy and advocacy organization in support on long time small family cannabis farmers as they navigate the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape of cannabis law.
After the 2016 CA Primary and Presidential Election, Monica was elected as an Assembly District delegate to the CA Democratic party and is a member of the Rural, Progressive and Environmental caucuses. Monica is also a member of the Brownie Mary Democratic club and continues to advocate for progressive cannabis policy at the local and state level. Monica is also a co-chair for the committee to Elect John Foster as Nevada County Sheriff in 2018. Monica is currently a candidate for the Board of Directors at the BriarPatch co-op a national leader in grocery cooperatives. Monica is also a member of Sierra Harvest, an organization dedicated to food justice and teaching kids the fundamentals of farming.
Above all, Monica is committed to grassroots local political change. She is assessing her viability as a candidate in Nevada County for several upcoming seats and looks forward to collaborating with neighbors and advocates who are committed to a progressive agenda with a special focus on creating bridges and understanding in a county that is divided between legacy rural values and emerging progressive and environmental reform.