District 2 Democratic Club Candidate Questionnaire Community College Board Candidates, 2020 The District 2 Democratic Club invites you to complete our endorsement questionnaire. In order ​ to be eligible for the club’s endorsement, you must fill out and return this questionnaire by no later than September 4th at 5:00 PM Pacific. Stay safe and well. Thanks! ​ Name Han Zou Phone Number (310) 962-2211 Email Address [email protected] Campaign Contact Monica Barnett What office are you running for? City College Board of Trustees Are you running for re-election? No What other elected positions have you N/A previously held? Are you a registered member of the Yes Democratic Party? In what year did you first become a member 2013 of the Democratic Party? Please list any organizations or elected officials who have endorsed you ● San Francisco Democratic Party ● American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 ● SEIU Local 1021 ● United Educators of San Francisco ● IFPTE Local 21 ● ILWU Northern California District Council ● San Francisco Tenants Union ● California Young Democrats ● Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club ● San Francisco Young Democrats ● San Francisco Berniecrats ● Rose Pak Democratic Club ● Latinx Young Democrats ● Potrero Hill Democratic Club ● Bernal Heights Democratic Club ● Richmond District Democratic Club ● Nancy Pelosi - Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives ● David Campos - Chair, San Francisco Democratic Party ● Shanell Williams - President, City College Board of Trustees ● Tom Temprano - Vice-President, City College Board of Trustees ● Brigitte Davila - Member, City College Board of Trustees ● John Rizzo - Member, City College Board of Trustees ● Gordon Mar - District 4 Supervisor ● Dean Preston - District 5 Supervisor ● Matt Haney - District 6 Supervisor ● Rafael Mandelman - District 8 Supervisor ● Hillary Ronen - District 9 Supervisor ● Shamann Walton - District 10 Supervisor ● Sophie Maxwell - Former District 10 Supervisor ● John Avalos - Former District 11 Supervisor ● Chesa Boudin - District Attorney ● Mano Raju - Public Defender ● Faauuga Moliga - San Francisco School Board Member ● Kim-Shree Maufas - Former San Francisco School Board Member ● Petra de Jesus - Police Commissioner ● Honey Mahogany - SF Democratic Party Vice-Chair ● Keith Baraka - SF Democratic Party Vice-Chair ● Peter Gallotta - SF Democratic Party Vice-Chair ● Carolina Morales - SF Democratic Party Member ● Li Miao Lovett - SF Democratic Party Member ● Gloria Berry - SF Democratic Party Member ● Hene Kelly - California Democratic Party Region 6 Director Which San Francisco political or community organizations are you a member of or do you serve on the board of? ● San Francisco Young Democrats - Vice President ● Harvey Milk LGBTQ Club - Member ● Latino Democratic Club - Member ● Rose Pak Democratic Club - Member 1. Why do you want to serve on the City College Board of Trustees? I immigrated to the United States from China when I was 6 years old and my entire education has been through the public system. I’m proud as a first generation Chinese immigrant to have learned to speak English in our public school system. I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to working with Chinese children and families and working to bridge the gap between black, brown, and API communities. At the Asian Law Caucus I worked to bring services to undocumented children, students and families as well as to incarcerated immigrants. As the Executive Director of the Democratic Party I worked to bring the Chinese, Latino and Black communities into the Democratic Party and staffed the Committee to Develop the Black Agenda. As a legislative Aide for Supervisor Haney’s District 6 office I’ve been focused on bridging the gap between Chinese children and families and city services. I can tell you as someone who has spent their life organizing Chinese families that City College-- especially the Chinatown campus--is hugely important to our community and to all immigrant and working-class families. As a trustee I want to bring my experience and my background to make sure that City College will play a key role for communities who have been most affected by the shutdown to use the school as an opportunity to help change careers and learn new skills in the new economy. It’s going to be an incredibly difficult couple of years ahead for the City and for the school but we have to make sure that it’s still an opportunity for families like mine. 2. If you are elected, what are your top priorities? How would you address these priorities? The top three issues facing CCSF are funding, management, and student enrollment and achievement. The Board of Trustees needs to be laser focused on ensuring that City College can survive this pandemic and be a central part of the City’s recovery efforts. I will fight for any revenue measures to support CCSF and ensure it’s financial solvency. It’s clear from talking to students and faculty that there are serious concerns about the management of CCSF. There needs to be more transparency in how decisions are made within the Administration and the process needs to be accessible to the people it serves. As Trustee, I will bring more scrutiny to those in the decision making seats and create a budget process that students and faculty can participate in without needing an economics degree to understand what’s happening. Finally, we can’t have a school if we don’t have students. CCSF enrollment has dropped dramatically from it’s heyday and with the new funding formula from the state, there is an even greater need to increase enrollment and keep students on track in the classroom. This means CCSF needs to do more to support our immigrants and minority students outside the classroom with greater wrap-around services, students and teacher housing, and a more diverse staff that represents a student population that’s over 30% API, and nearly 30% Latino. 3. Did you support closing the Fort Mason campus? Why or why not? How do you expect this will affect the arts programs? I firmly believe in investing and expanding education during economic downturns. CCSF is already at such a low level of course offerings and physical campuses, that it’s imperative that we maintain everything we have and focus on finding revenue so that we can offer as many services and classes as possible. While I’m glad the classes are being offered at other campuses, I want to make sure that any campus closures or class cuts do not hurt marginalized student communities, especially students from Chinatown, the Mission, and south east neighborhoods in San Francisco. As trustee, I will work to try to reopen the campus. I support dedicated funding for CCSF so that we can protect our arts programs. Like Assemblyman Ammiano’s Rainy Day Fund for the school district, WERF can be a safety net for City College that will support the school in the long term. The City alone cannot get us out of the financial situation COVID-19 has put us in. We need more investment in education from the state government which is why I fully support the Schools and Communities First ballot initiative to reform Prop 13. 4. Do you believe in free community college? Why or why not? I’m proud that City College was the first in the country to provide free community college education to all its residents and we’ve seen the success of the program. Free City is an incredibly important program and brought more students to the College, including those who would otherwise not have had access to education. Many students opt out of higher education because they can't afford it or they don’t want to burden their families with the thousands of dollars of debt that it can take to gain a college education. This is unfortunate because education, particularly higher education, is often a pathway to a more stable life - financially and otherwise and so our communities can only stand to benefit by making higher education free. Enrolling for classes, even knowing what classes that are available, was always a challenge particularly for immigrant communities and limited-English speaking communities. The pandemic and the lack of in person services at campuses have made it even more challenging. I will work to make the enrollment process easier, create in-person enrollment options for students with limited technology access, and meet under-enrolled populations where they are - whether that’s community events, WeChat, or in partnership with Community-Based Organizations. 5. Do you agree with the introduction of a new AA degree focused on cannabis given that other courses required for certification programs and programs geared towards employment - such as the Culinary Arts & Hospitality and Journalism programs - have been eliminated or drastically cut due to budget constraints? Why or why not? I do. Cannabis legalization is spreading globally and in San Francisco, known for being leaders in social change, the cannabis industry is booming. The Marijuana Business Daily estimates that the total economic impact of legal cannabis sales in the U.S. could increase from $38 billion-$46 billion in 2019 to a whopping $130 billion by 2024 and while our cities and states face economic uncertainty, legal cannabis sales could provide economic relief. California is known for its incredibly diverse and dynamic economy and so while it’s unfortunate to see class cuts, there is also a need for CCSF to continue to diversify its class offerings. 6. Will you commit to keeping all of CCSF’s satellite campuses open and maintain their full program of classes? Why or why not? Yes I will. The pandemic has changed everything. Access to free education has never been more important and I will fight to keep all of our campuses open. There are going to be massive calls for austerity as we try to recover from a concerted effort to pit communities against each other to fight over slices of the pie.