Lorena Chavez

Lorena is a proud native of the East Side of San Jose, CA. She is also a proud East Side High School District graduate who is running for the East Side Union High School District School Board.

Lorena has always believed that regardless of where students come from, they need to be held to the highest standards, so that they could be college and career ready and have opportunities in life. Lorena understands, like no one else, what many students in the East Side experience. This is why after graduating from UC Davis, she went back to her community to teach math.

In her first term as trustee, the pandemic hit, and Lorena wasted no time and worked arduously to bridge the digital divide in the East Side and Santa Clara county. She worked across layers of local government and became one of the founders of the Digital Equity Coalition that has worked closely to bridge the digital divide. That advocacy turned into an investment from the city and county of over $10 million for digital access. Simultaneously, Lorena and her district worked with the city of San Jose on East Side Access, to provide permanent WiFi infrastructure that will provide fast, free, public internet access to over 300,000 people in the East Side of San Jose.

As a mother raising two children in the San Jose community, Lorena is determined to do whatever it takes to ensure that all students have access to a world- class education.