On the Issues

The City of Newark must support our community by working in partnership with our School District, local nonprofit organizations, and other local government agencies. Newark is not an island: by working with our neighbors, we can all benefit from strong regional partnerships.

One example of this is the Newark Resource Center, which opened its doors in 2026. It will be able to serve as a central hub for our City to connect residents to public services, non-profit organizations, and other needed resources. I believe the Center will become the physical space where these community partnerships will happen.

The City’s partnership with the Newark Unified School District is our most important partnership. For the past four years, I have severed on the City of Newark/NUSD Liaison Committee and have been dedicated to strengthening this partnership.

An example of this is the City’s restoration of the School Resource Officer (SRO) at the request of the Newark Unified School District community. When the program was eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic, Newark Unified School District leadership consistently told the City about the value they gained from having an SRO on campus. We listened, and we were able to bring it back in 2023. I am proud of how the City was able to work with our community partners, listen to our residents, and fulfill the need that they brought forward. That is the mindset and priorities that I will continue to bring forward if re-elected.

The City should also consider partnerships with Newark Unified School District on sharing facilities. We have started this by sharing our Board Room meeting space with the Newark Unified School District Board, and I think there are many other opportunities to collaborate. One opportunity to grow these partnerships is to join a growing number of California School Districts and cities that use portions of school lands as parks during non-school hours. The premise is that schools and parks can share land so the school can be safe and secure when students are on campus, but on the weekends, that space can become a public park. A good example of this model is the partnership between the City of Fremont and the Fremont Unified School District at Lila Bringhurst Elementary School. Newark should explore whether similar arrangements can happen here to increase our park space, support our growing population, and help the public benefit from public lands.

The City should also look for arrangements to help support local nonprofits that use Newark Unified School District facilities.

Community Partnerships only work when done as equal partnerships. The Newark Unified School District and other governments with overlapping jurisdictions will have their own priorities that are shaped by their daily work and their unique needs. True partnership can not mean subordinating them and taking unilateral action, as this has little chance of leading to an outcome that our community can be proud of. Working in collaboration with other governments can require patience, but slow progress when working together is lasting progress.

A similar principle is true when working with local non-profit organizations. With those partnerships, there are things that the City Government is best fit to handle and certain tasks that are best handled by the non-profit. The priority for the Council needs to be ensuring that, in our partnerships, the City is fulfilling our end of the deal, but not overstretching to take over the tasks that could be better handled by a community organization.

No one, not even a City Government, can accomplish anything alone. We need our partners within the Newark community, and we need to be a good partner to them. If re-elected, this will always be at the front of my mind.