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Maria Rocha and her parents moved to East Palo Alto in 1979 – she grew up in an apartment where Ikea now stands. She remembers knowing all her neighbors, some faculty at her schools and some students, she said, listing off their names with a smile.
But what she remembers most were the influential figures who led the community at the time, like her elementary school principal Marthelia Hargrove, who had the students recite the Marva Collins Creed in the mornings.
“Society will draw a circle that shuts me out,” Rocha recited.
Growing up among these figures inspired her to succeed beyond her hardships, she said, and take initiative throughout her life.
Rocha, sister of current board member Martha Barragan, is a former Ravenswood City School District teacher that went on to work for Stanford Health in data security – if she gets the chance to serve on East Palo Alto’s City Council, she aims to prioritize care for seniors, youth, pets and all.
She is a first generation college student who received her undergraduate degree in Spanish studies from Santa Clara University. Before and throughout her college career, she worked as a candy striper, serving children, new mothers and acting as a Spanish-English interpreter.
Upon graduating from Santa Clara University, she returned to East Palo Alto to teach kindergarten in Ravenswood after she was given an emergency credential during a teacher shortage.
While she was excited to return to her community after college, she soon found she couldn’t afford to live there and had to move to Tracy, picking up teaching in Livermore. She later became an admissions counselor at the University of Phoenix then earned her Master’s of Business Administration with a focus on healthcare management there.
She moved back to East Palo Alto in the early 2000s, then took a break from working to raise her two daughters and later joined Stanford Health, where she has remained for the last decade. Rocha started off as an emergency phone line operator but worked her way up to access control.
After living in East Palo Alto for so long, including in her childhood, Rocha began to question: Why doesn’t the city have its own civic center? Why are there so few grocery stores? Why did she commute to the Redwood City library as a child? Where did the hair salons and pharmacies go?
“We want a nice city, but sometimes we’re afraid of change,” she said.
Instead, Rocha looks at the city with optimism and a growth mindset, she said.
Rocha hopes to inspire change through “thoughtful development,” encouraging more family-friendly businesses and amenities for all. She specifically called out the city for its lack of resources for seniors, people with disabilities, youth and pet owners.
If elected, she says she will prioritize the development of more accessible parking, health clinics, senior care facilities and affordable day care centers.
To incentivize more amenities that meet a variety of needs, Rocha wants to promote mixed-use housing development, with allocated spots for businesses that provide services – like a gym or vet’s office, which she said the city hasn’t had for over 20 years.
“These are the things that we need in our city,” she said. “Why do we have to go to someone else’s city for them?”
Rocha also hopes to update East Palo Alto’s emergency disaster plans to ensure the city is ready to face climate-related challenges by assessing risk, engaging with stakeholders, updating communication systems and regularly reviewing community preparedness.
If elected, she said she would like to ensure communication reaches all residents – especially people who are low-income or seniors – in multiple languages and different formats, and “use new technologies, like GIS mapping and drones, to enhance real-time response capabilities,” she said.
To engage with stakeholders, Rocha said, the city should partner with health departments, businesses and organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency to leverage local resources.
Rocha is new to politics, she said, but she believes she can learn from long-standing council members and bring a fresh perspective to create a transparent and respectful board. As a candidate, she sets out to listen and lead with thoughtfulness.
“If you want your community to improve, you have to model those characteristics: respect, courtesy, empathy and responsibility,” she said.
As someone who works in data security, she not only aims to lead with kindness but with functionality.
If a system is not working, she said, she assesses it through data then revises as needed with transparency and clarity.
Rocha loves the city she grew up in, she said, but see’s room for improvement to value long standing community members and uplift the people who want to create businesses.
“Good, better, best – never let it rest, until your good gets better and your better gets best,” she said, is her personal motto, and it represents the consistent work she aims to put into East Palo Alto.
