‘
Surrounded by a small assemblage of San Diego Urban Corps students, many of whom were high school dropouts, Alejandra Sotelo-Solis tried to make the state-funding topic as simple as possible.
‘Has anyone here ever bought a Sprite or a can of soda?’ she asked the group of uniformed students. ‘Because if you have, then in a roundabout way, you’ve helped pay for this university. Your taxes have gone to help fund the research and the studies that go on here.’
Sotelo-Solis wasn’t trying to bore them with sales-tax facts and figures. Rather, she was trying to illustrate that each student plays a role in supporting California’s public education.
As it turns out, only four of the 60 Urban Corps students had ever set foot on a college campus before.
Sotelo-Solis, who grew up in National City and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt College in 2001, has always acknowledged the importance of a community’s public institutions. After all, it was within the public UC system that she found her support system, as she joined Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A.), the Cross-Cultural Center and the university softball team.
Early on, Sotelo-Solis recognized that diversity was visibly deficient at UCSD ‘mdash; and that the diversity lauded in admit-day brochures wasn’t exactly reality within her own daily experience.
‘You take a poli-sci course and talk about how important it is to recognize social and economic and gender diversity, and yet around campus, you notice a lack of representatives,’ she said.
A natural-born leader, Sotelo-Solis worked as resident advisor for International House and community education coordinator for the annual Hate-Free Campus Campaign. In addition, she said that while working as a student activist for M.E.Ch.A., she began to understand the social impact of issues she had learned about in her classes ‘mdash; issues that she would later integrate into her political prerogative.
‘Now, as a politician, that’s what I’m able to do ‘mdash; apply my education to real-life situations in National City,’ said Sotelo-Solis. ‘So when we’re talking about gentrification or communities that are, you know, surrounded by vacant lots when they should have more single-family homes, I’m applying things I originally learned in the classroom.’
After graduating in 2001, Sotelo-Solis participated in the Coro Fellowship in Los Angeles ‘mdash; marking the beginning of what would be an ascendant political career.
Through her experiences with the fellowship, which was designed to develop diverse civic leaders, Sotelo-Solis quickly adapted to life outside the UCSD bubble. After completing the fellowship, she worked as District Director for San Diego Assembly Member Lori Salda’ntilde;a, and later as a field representative for Monterey Park Assembly Member (and current congresswoman) Judy Chu.
In June 2008, Sotelo-Solis ran for
National City’s city council, and was shortly after elected as Vice Mayor by fellow councilmembers under a campaign that pledged to curb pollution in residential areas and work with community organizations to help curb neighborhood crime.
Over the short term that she’s been in office, Sotelo-Solis has worked with numerous nonprofits ‘mdash; such as Healthy Neighborhoods and the Environmental health Coalition ‘mdash; to re-evaluate the city’s planning proposals. Specifically, she has fought to zone industrial and commercial districts away from residential housing.
‘The last 10 months have been exciting, nonstop, hard-working months,’ said Sotelo-Solis. ‘But I really got to see my community in a new light, with new faces.’
With a current population of approximately 60,000 residents, National City contains an ethnically diverse demographic that’s vastly disinterested in city-hall affairs.
‘We only have approximately 15,000 [residents] that are registered to vote,’ said Sotelo-Solis. ‘So when we’re talking about the electorate, it’s about a quarter of the people ‘hellip; and I think those who are underrepresented are really wanting to see change in city hall.’
Serving as only the third female on city council in National City’s history, Sotelo-Solis said she makes it a point to attend as many community events as possible in order to reach out to local families who may have grown up detached from the world of politics.
Though she has expanded the scope of her public service, she still hasn’t loosened her ties to UCSD. She has worked as the Director of Community Law Project ‘mdash; a program for undergraduates interested in law, public policy and public advocacy ‘mdash; since last July.
Though recent budget cuts have relocated CLP from Student Policies and Judicial Affairs to the Center for Student Involvement, Sotelo-Solis is optimistic about the project’s potential in the realms of social advocacy.
‘I’m definitely looking forward to the move and the new family with the Center for Student Involvement,’ said Sotelo-Solis.
Readers can contact Edwin Gonzalez at [email protected].