Growing Up In a Small Town Facing Barriers to Education

As a community college graduate, Ruth has experienced firsthand the impact that an affordable, high-quality community college education can have. 

Growing up in her small, rural hometown, Ruth’s family faced several barriers in her public school system: years of lead in her school’s water system, bonds and levies that were voted down 14 times in a row, and a spike in hate crimes as the KKK sought to relocate its regional headquarters to her region.

Once Ruth could attend community college, her world opened and her life changed for the better. Community college ultimately helped lift Ruth from her small, rural hometown into the University of Washington—saving tens of thousands of dollars on her education.

Lasting Commitment to Public Service and Policy Advocacy

As a staffer in the California Legislature, Ruth was responsible for housing and transportation policy in her legislative office. She worked directly with stakeholders to collect and incorporate feedback on a range of issues and concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruth triaged and completed critical casework by working with city and county governments to resolve emergency housing, unemployment, and public health issues. 

Ruth returned to community college while working full-time in the California Legislature to take statistics and economics courses to deepen her education in preparation for a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) at UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. While in her MPP, she worked closely with legislators who sponsored policy analyses she authored on policy methods to improve worker welfare.

In 2022, Ruth co-founded a gender and racial equity coalition called Stop Sexual Harassment in Politics (SHIP). Forming a broad coalition of organizations across the country, Ruth blew the whistle on sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the California Legislature and worked directly with Senate leadership and legislative allies to achieve critical labor policy advances.

Understanding the Needs of Community College Students

Community college is core to Ruth’s personal identity, and her family’s career and educational advancement for generations. Her father, who was raised paycheck to paycheck by a single mother with a physical disability, worked as a painter to pay his way through Santa Rosa Junior College. Her mom took California community college classes during summers to supplement her UC tuition. Her grandfather took courses to advance his career as an electrical inspector in city government, and both of her siblings are community college graduates.

In her second year in community college, Ruth was elected as student body president amid some of the largest higher education budget cuts in state history. Ruth organized students to lobby state legislators and fight for community college funding, and worked with faculty and staff to incorporate their feedback.

Ruth is not afraid to fight for what is right, and by working in community with stakeholders, she has a proven track record of accomplishing critical policy interventions to improve institutional accountability and equity.