Jillian with Dolores Huerta (right)
“Why do you keep fighting?” I asked.
“My mom and my Cousin Lala,” she said.
Jillian is a very strong woman, and for many, a hope in the city of Los Angeles.
“We were very poor, living day by day, my mother struggling and my Cousin Lala dying due to the lack of health services. I understood that to change things, I had to be involved. The politicians in Los Angeles think that you only have to be interested in large corporations, but that is going to change in the Valley. This is personal,” says the candidate for District 2 of Los Angeles.
“I am knocking door to door. This District has been governed by people who do not care about the community. Forty-three percent of the residents are Latinos; we are going to make our voice heard,” says this Latina of Puerto Rican origin.
In November, she will compete against Adrin Nazarian; it is the community against the elite.
“It is a community project against large corporations. I am ready for the fight,” says Burgos.
Los Angeles City Council District 2 stretches from Toluca Lake and Studio City in the south through North Hollywood and Valley Glen to Sun Valley in the north. Despite having some significant industrial corridors, film and television production studios, two subway stations, and a growing hub of high-rises in North Hollywood, CD 2 is largely seen as a car-centric suburban area.
With Ysabel Jurado, another hope of the progressive wing.
“There are many special interests working against the community. My proposal is for the working class,” says Burgos.
Burgos is an essential healthcare worker and a small business owner. She graduated from Emily’s List Ignite Change Fellowship and Los Angeles Democrats inaugural TAP Academy and is now a 2023 New Leaders Council fellow. Jillian ran for office and was elected to the NoHo Neighborhood Council as the Arts Organization Representative. Shortly after, she was appointed as Treasurer, Chair of the Outreach Committee, and Housing and Services Committee. Since then, she has created a Tenant Rights Workshop in partnership with The City of Los Angeles, Abundant Housing LA, and SAJE, helped pass several Neighborhood Purpose Grants that fed many of NoHo’s Unhoused, and brought mental health services and mentorship to schoolchildren with PESA, according to her website.
She knows she faces a difficult election.
“I am ready for anything, I can’t give up. Our community deserves to know that it can be loved,” she says. “I repeat, this is personal. I feel very empowered, with a great team, and we will give every moment of our work for the community.”
“When I announced my candidacy, some mocked, but now I have shown myself to be a contender. Everyone doubted, but I have a story where I lost a lot of family members for the same reasons as the rest of the community. I understand them; I have lived it, and we are going to change it,” she says.
Her name is Jillian Burgos.
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