Meet Cindy
Biography
Cindy Chavez is a current member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and former Vice Mayor of San Jose. She lives Downtown with her husband Mike, son Brennan, dog Buddy, and cat Jackie!
Cindy Chavez is a longtime resident of San Jose, who represents the City of San Jose on the Board of Supervisors. Her father was a carpenter and her mother worked as a teacher's aide, spending much of her free time volunteering in the community. Cindy attended San Jose State University, where her love of politics and commitment to community led her to a career in public service.
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After graduating from San Jose State University, Chavez became active in the San Jose community. She worked as a budget and policy aide on health, human services and transportation issues at the Board of Supervisors. Four years later, Chavez joined the South Bay Labor Council as Staff Director. During her tenure there, she helped to create and lead Working Partnerships USA; a collaboration between business and civic groups on issues affecting working families.
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Chavez won her first election to San Jose's City Council in 1998 and focused on the building blocks of great urban centers: establishing standards for traffic calming, building affordable housing and promoting excellent schools. Four years later she was re-elected and named Vice Mayor.
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Chavez was sworn into office in August 2013 following a special election and has been re-elected twice to full terms.
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Santa Clara County Supervisor Chavez served as Chair of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and is a member of the CalTrain Board of Directors, playing a leadership role in the electrification of CalTrain, and the expansion of BART to the South Bay. She is also a commissioner representing Santa Clara County on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and serves on the Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors.
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Most recently, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Supervisor Chavez to the Board of State and Community Corrections, pending Senate confirmation. In this role, Cindy collaborates with other board members in their work to assist local efforts to reduce recidivism.
On the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Chavez chairs the Board's Children, Families and Seniors Committee and serves as the Vice Chair of the Finance and Government Operations Committee.
During her two terms she doubled the park space in her downtown district. She also launched the Megan's Law Task Force. Working with a large group of community stakeholders, the city adopted recommendations to better inform residents about sexual predators in their neighborhoods, strengthened communication between State, County, and Local law enforcement authorities, and equipped the San Jose Police Department with resources.
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In March 2009 she was elected as the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council. The South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council represents ninety unions and over 100,000 union members in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. Under her leadership, the voters of San Jose approved the first increase in San Jose's minimum wage.
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She also served as the Executive Director of Working Partnerships USA, a progressive policy think tank. Among its signature accomplishments was pioneering the Children's Health Initiative which made Santa Clara County the first in the nation to provide health coverage to every child.
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