Bringing Investment Back to Modesto with Juan Telles

Juan, thank you so much for joining me on Flor Unmuted.

You are running for Modesto City Council District 2.

Before we get into why you're running and all of that, can you just give me an overview of the makeup of District 2 for the voters who are listening so they know whether, whether they can, uh, vote for you in District 2?

Yeah.

So thank you for having me, Flor.

I am running for District 2, and District 2 is composed of West Modesto, South Modesto, Airport Neighborhood, and Downtown.

And it's, it's a little confusing 'cause even within the city limits, there are county pockets, so it's kinda confusing.

But for the most part, if you have sidewalk within that, within those areas, you probably can vote for me.

We talked briefly before this interview.

Uh, you have, you have deep community background for, for somebody running for, for city council.

I know you've worked in groups including the...

And I might be pronouncing this incorrectly.

Is it, is it Tuolumne River? Is that right? Is that how you pronounce it?

I worked for the Tuolumne River Trust, yeah.

Tuol- Valley Improvement Projects and Latino Outdoors.

I, I showed that, uh, that you made a presentation at the City Council, uh, for the trust back in 2018.

So I mean, you've been doing a lot of community work, uh, for Modesto.

When did you decide that community organizing wasn't enough and that you needed to be on the other side of the dais?

Yeah.

Uh, it goes back to my childhood.

I was born downtown, and I was raised in West Modesto.

I think for a long time with mentors that invested in programming in West Modesto, they always saw a capacity of leadership.

I love being of service to others.

And so I think right around the time my son was born, I began to ask myself, uh, what type of Modesto did I want him to grow up in? And, and I think that really spurred me into action, and I, and I got immersed in community.

But I really wasn't involved in, like, organizing.