Alejandra Ponce De León

Alejandra de Dios Ponce de León is the Senior Manager of Political Voice at Catalyst California. She leads collaborative efforts, technical support, and policy research and analysis to strengthen our democracy by advancing policy changes that eliminate racial disparities and institutional barriers to authentic public participation in decision-making and increase the representation of low-income communities and communities of color. 

At the end of 2021, she successfully finalized a three-year campaign leading the Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) Redistricting Alliance to ensure communities of color across the state engaged in and effectively advocated for fair district maps in California’s redistricting process. As a result of the Alliance’s advocacy and mapping efforts, as well as its capacity-building of residents of color to fully participate throughout the redistricting process, the final maps kept many of our partners’ communities of interest together and contributed to an increase in the number of minority-majority and minority-influence districts, setting the stage for greater opportunities in representation in the next ten years. 

Currently, her work is focused on making governments more responsive to racial equity by (1) leading the advocacy and coalition efforts to establish and implement an Office of Racial Equity in the City of Los Angeles, and (2) supporting the statewide campaign efforts to establish the California Office of Racial Equity (SB 17).

Prior to joining Catalyst California, Alejandra was the Statewide Campaigns Manager at Californians for Justice, where she laid the infrastructure to engage and mobilize thousands of young voters of color across the state to vote in order to ensure greater accountability by elected officials, as well as the passage of progressive ballot measures that address the needs of low income, communities of color. As Lead Organizer with Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD), she was instrumental in bringing together and leading the coalition’s initial legal strategies, organizing plans, and actions that brought about district-based elections in Anaheim. In addition, Alejandra was a union organizer with UNITE HERE! Local 11, where she co-led a successful campaign to unionize food and retail service workers at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, as well as gain higher wages and better health benefits through contract negotiations with LAX food and retail service workers.

Alejandra received her Master’s in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and her Bachelor’s in International Development Studies, including minors in Chicana/o Studies and Political Science at UCLA. She currently lives in Jurupa Valley with her husband, Adán, and their two children, Ameyaltzin and Ollin.