How Can California Overcome Its Voter Disillusionment? Join us October 3 to Discuss

Tere Flores Onofre began her career as a youth organizer and has been engaged in faith-based community organizing for the past 18 years. As part of various PICO/Faith in Action affiliates, she has led campaigns to invest in youth development, expand access to healthcare, increase opportunities for students of color to attend college, support passage of comprehensive immigration reform, and encourage civic participation among underrepresented communities throughout California. During her time at the Laudato Si’ Movement, her work focused on increasing Catholic participation and engagement in caring for creation and achieving climate justice by managing an organizing portfolio across 5 global regions. Her work is currently focused on leading the organizing programs as the Director of Programs & Strategy for Sacramento ACT by developing and implementing comprehensive strategies that expand our democracy, develop community leadership, and create systemic change in the Sacramento region.

Mindy Romero is the founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID), formerly known as the California Civic Engagement Project, which is part of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and is based in Sacramento, California. Romero is a political sociologist and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on political behavior and race/ethnicity, and seeks to explain patterns of voting and political underrepresentation, particularly among youth and communities of color in California and the U.S.

Her research has been cited in major news outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, Politico and the Huffington Post. She is a regular op-ed contributor to the Sacramento Bee and CalMatters. Romero works with a wide array of policymakers, elected officials, voter education groups and community advocates to strengthen political participation and representation. She is currently an adjunct fellow of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and former member of their Statewide Survey Advisory Committee.

Dr. Christopher Towler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, Sacramento. His research and teaching interests broadly include American politics, race and ethnicity, and methodology. More specifically, his work examines ideological predispositions, alienation, political allegiance, and support. Recent projects examine the dynamic relationship between progressive social movements and far-right movements reacting to great social change.

He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle, and holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado. A former McNair and Ralph Bunche scholar, Dr. Towler was also a McNair Graduate Fellow as well as a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral and Dissertation Fellow. His work has been published in Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, and Du Bois Review. Dr. Towler is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (JREP) and directs the Black Voter Project (BVP), a national survey project of Black Americans. Dr. Towler’s recent work is highlighted in the Sacramento Bee, Politico Magazine, Washington Post, Time Magazine, USA Today, and the Atlantic.

Chris Nichols is Politics Editor at Capitol Public Radio. He leads a team of CapRadio journalists focused on holding state and local government leaders accountable. The politics team is also dedicated to explaining how decisions made at City Hall and the state Capitol impact the future and well-being of everyday residents across Sacramento and California.

Previously, Chris covered homelessness and housing affordability for CapRadio. Before that, he led the station’s fact-checking initiative PolitiFact California, debunking misinformation throughout the Golden State.

Earlier in his career, Chris spent a dozen years writing about government and politics at newspapers across California. He covered the Capitol for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Before that, he worked as a news reporter at the North County Times in Escondido, the Lodi News-Sentinel and the Sonora Union-Democrat. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and later his master’s degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Chris is cautiously optimistic that his hometown San Diego Padres will someday be World Champions, but he’s not holding his breath.