Santa Ana Latinos Gain Voice on Council

He grew up in a migrant farm-working family and holds a Harvard degree in public policy.

She moved to the United States from Mexico at the age of 10 not knowing a word of English and now works as an Orange County deputy district attorney.

Meet Jose Solorio and Claudia Alvarez, young Latino professionals who came from humble beginnings and tackled hefty challenges. Tonight they will take seats on the Santa Ana City Council. With Mayor Miguel A. Pulido, they could be a strong voice for the Latino community on the seven-member council--essential for a city that is 75% Latino. And Alvarez will make local history as the first Latina to serve on the governing body.

Both newcomers would like to see the city create more programs for young people. Both hope to nurture what some call a stagnant relationship between the city and the Santa Ana Unified School District. And both have pledged to work hard to meet the needs of residents in every neighborhood of the city.

They join a like-minded group, with Pulido and council members Brett Franklin, Patricia A. McGuigan, Lisa Bist and Alberta D. Christy.

“Those issues are already priorities for the council,” said Franklin, who was reelected on Nov. 7 along with Pulido. “We look forward to their support in those areas.”

And the timing of their election is fortuitous as well.

They arrive in the wake of a scandal involving then-Councilman Ted R. Moreno, whom many local Latinos viewed as their strongest advocate--someone willing to fight for their needs. Moreno’s term ended abruptly in September when he was convicted of extortion and money laundering. He will be sentenced this month.

“The Moreno scandal came as a blow to many Latinos,” said Fred Smoller, chairman of Chapman University’s political science department and a member of the county’s Human Relations Commission. “That was kind of harmful to the City Council and to the Latino community.

“Both [Solorio and Alvarez] sound like the exact types of people that the public sector needs,” he said. “Those positions don’t pay a lot of money, the work can be thankless, and it’s wonderful that people of such caliber and social conscience could be attracted to it.

“And it’s important for the community as a whole to see that the council represents, even in a rough way, the population of the community effectively.”

Jose Solorio

While other kids spent their summers playing with friends, going on vacations with their families and enjoying a three-month liberation from the classroom, Solorio was working in the farm fields of Northern California, hoeing soil and picking citrus fruit.

“It meant waking up at 4:30, 5 a.m., and going out to work in the hot, white sun all day until about 4 p.m., with occasional water breaks and meal breaks in between,” recalls Solorio, now 30. “It was tough, but it did give me a strong work ethic. It gave me an appreciation for earning money and then spending money wisely. And it also gave me a strong belief in education. So, after working in the fields all summer, I made sure that I studied hard and worked hard so that I wouldn’t have to spend my life working in the fields like so many others.”

Solorio, who was born in Mexico, finished high school in Wasco, Calif., near Bakersfield. He was accepted to UC Irvine, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in social ecology. He then earned a master’s in public administration from Harvard.

“When I was accepted to Harvard, I really did feel as if I was living the American dream,” Solorio said. “That’s why I’m a big believer in democracy, because you can have someone who is poor and living in the farms get an Ivy League education and, in my case, work in public service for a large city. Dreams are being lived every day.”

Solorio hopes his educational achievements inspire young people and that his early experiences establish a trust with the community’s immigrant families.

“You have a city with a very high percentage of immigrants, so I can really relate,” Solorio said. “I was born in a state called Michoacan, and it’s amazing how many Santa Ana residents were born in Michoacan. . . . Growing up as an immigrant, whether you’re from Mexico or another country, you experience similar things: learning the language, the government system, the education system.”

Claudia Alvarez

Alvarez, 31, remembers the frustration she felt her first few years of school in the United States.

She was in the fifth grade when her family moved to Santa Ana from Mexico City. Though she could write in English, she couldn’t speak the language. And because of that, she was placed in remedial and ESL--English as a second language--courses. The problem was, she didn’t need the remedial work. When she left Mexico, she was studying square roots--far ahead of the multiplication tables her new class was learning.

Her teacher soon learned her strength.

“My teacher at the time would have math contests, and he would use flash cards with the equations on them,” Alvarez recalls. “We would compete for the No. 1 seat at the front of the class. I didn’t speak much English, but I was very good in math, so I would always get the seat.”

But it wasn’t until she entered eighth grade that school officials recognized her abilities and placed her in the Gifted and Talented Education, or GATE, program.

“I had changed districts and was in the Garden Grove school district, and they gave me all the tests and placed me in the GATE class, which just goes to show you that just because a child doesn’t speak English doesn’t mean he isn’t bright and doesn’t have a great future ahead of him.”

After high school, Alvarez studied biology and political science at Cal State Fullerton, then attended Loyola Law School. She now works in the Family Support Division of the district attorney’s office, chasing down deadbeat dads. It’s work she finds rewarding, but she believes she can still do more.

“Serving on the City Council, you can help in so many ways,” Alvarez said. For example, she hopes to help create more after-school programs that include tutoring and gang diversion.

She also wants to bolster the city’s neighborhood associations and help establish new ones.

“And, obviously,” she said, “there is a lot of learning to be done.”