Los Angeles Councilmember Ysabel Jurado of CD14 (center left) is joined by Dolores Huerta (left), LA Mayor Karen Bass (center), former Cerritos Mayor Mark Pulido (center right), LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia (2nd row, center), and members of the City Council and community leaders during Jurado’s swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, February 1.
HOUSING rights attorney Ysabel Jurado was sworn in as a Los Angeles City councilmember on Saturday, February 1 during a public ceremony at the historic LA Central Public Library.
Jurado, 35, is the first councilmember of Filipino descent. She represents the city’s District 14 (CD 14), a vastly diverse region of the city that includes downtown LA (including Skid Row), Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, and much of Northeast LA.
Her parents were immigrants from the Philippines who migrated to Los Angeles with very little money—a core part of Jurado’s family history that colors much of her political ideology.
“Today is a moment to celebrate our collective commitment to usher in a new era centered around community and grounded by our integrity,” Jurado said at the packed Mark Taper Auditorium, which included supporters, other elected officials, and members of CD 14, as well as Jurado’s family, many of whom traveled from the Philippines.
During her speech, Jurado thanked her supporters and volunteers and celebrated the diversity of those who helped her get elected. She said that given the recent tumult of natural disasters and the new presidential administration’s attack on marginalized communities, she promised to stay true to her progressive ideals
“With the backdrop of the fires and also the national political agenda we need unity more than ever,” Jurado said.
Present at the ceremony were prominent local figures and activists, including LA Mayor Karen Bass and legendary labor activist Dolores Huerta.
Los Angeles Councilmember Ysabel Jurado of CD14 takes the oath of office, administered by labor activist Dolores Huerta, on Saturday, February 1 during a community swearing-in ceremony in at the Central Public Library in Downtown LA. Photos courtesy of Los Angeles Council District 14
“It’s moments like this that we need leaders like you who keep her eyes on the prize,” Bass told Jurado during her speech.
In her speech, Huerta—who founded the National Farm Workers Association and helped organize the historic Delano grape strike of 1965—honored not just the Filipino organizers she worked with, like Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, but also those who fought for the U.S. during World War II.
“That courage from the Filipino legacy continues down to Los Angeles City Council with Ysabel Jurado, who represents, not just the Filipino community but all communities,” said Huerta, who administered Jurado’s taking of the oath of office.
Recognizing the multicultural makeup of CD 14, Huerta said, “We have all of these colors in [CD 14] that forms a rainbow that will be the light that we need to go through these difficult times that we’re facing, and we need leaders like Ysabel Jurado who understand that.”
As a housing rights attorney, Jurado fought against gentrification and advocated for permanent solutions to the ongoing housing crisis in LA.
LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who is also Filipino American, told LA This Week that he is “so excited to share this space with her as one of our elected officials. Ysabel is out here fighting for the people.”
“She’s inspirational, and I’m positive she’ll actually represent the people in City Council, something that so many [city leaders] failed to do,” Bianca Torre, a Filipina American student at USC who canvassed for Jurado in the fall, told the Asian Journal.
In addition to her plans to expedite housing solutions and providing resources for the city’s homeless population, one of Jurado’s first projects as city councilmember has been to renovating the Benjamin Franklin Public Library in Boyle Heights.
She also introduced a motion to address street lighting issues across CD 14.
