Jessica Is a Proud, Lifelong Resident of the City of El Monte
Mayor Jessica Ancona is a proud lifelong resident of the City of El Monte and the daughter of hardworking immigrants from Yucatán, Mexico. El Monte has been her home her entire life, and she has dedicated her career to serving the community through education, public service, and elected leadership.
Jessica attended public schools in El Monte before earning a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She later earned a Teaching Credential and Master's Degree in Education from Azusa Pacific University, as well as an Administrative Services Credential from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
For more than 25 years, Jessica has served children, families, and communities as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and elected official. Throughout her career in education, she has been a passionate advocate for student success, educational opportunity, and strong partnerships between schools and families. Today, she continues that commitment through her public service as Mayor of El Monte, where she works to strengthen neighborhoods, improve quality of life, and ensure the city remains a place where families can thrive.
A Community Advocate
In 2013, Mayor Ancona was first elected to the El Monte City School District Governing Board, where she served as the President in 2016 and 2017 and Vice President in 2018. Jessica also served as a Delegate Assembly Member for the California School Board Association (CSBA) in 2017 and 2018 with 300 other members from throughout the State of California. She was elected to serve on CSBA by local school boards within Region 23.
As an elected El Monte City School District Governing Board Member for five years, Mayor Ancona supported building state of the art facilities; re-implemented music programs for all students; opened the Jeff Seymour Family Center housing over 30 community service providers for our families; increased wages and improved healthcare benefits for the district’s workforce and maintained a fiscally sound budget. While Jessica was President of the school board, she advocated to establish a Project Labor Agreement with the Building Trades for the final project of a series of school and facility improvements scheduled to begin late Winter of 2018.
A Public Servant
In 2018, Mayor Ancona was elected to the El Monte City Council as the only independent candidate in the race. Her independence has proven valuable to the community as she has been able to focus on the needs of the residents of El Monte. During the first 2 years on the council, she took on the tobacco and vape industry protecting the youth of this community. Jessica also advocated for a joint use agreement with the school district, opening up more greenspace for recreational and passive uses for her community. Additionally, she has worked with the Southwest Carpenters Union to help complete Fletcher Fetch Park by building aesthetic enhancements to the project. She supports smart conscious development and welcomes progress that considers community first.
In 2020, Jessica took on an 11 year incumbent Mayor to bring about new bold ideas to the City. She garnered over 11,000 votes, the highest for any Mayoral candidate in El Monte’s history. She entered into the role as Mayor at the height of the pandemic and worked tirelessly to secure more COVID testing and vaccination resources for the seniors, families and children in the community. With an increase in hate crimes, Mayor Ancona championed to establish a Human Relations Ad Hoc, championed a Walk Against API Hate with her colleagues and brought forth the first Proclamation in El Monte’s history that proclaimed June as Pride Month and subsequently held a Pride night at El Monte’s weekly Farmers’ Market.
Jessica believes that when working families succeed, El Monte succeeds. Throughout her career, she has championed policies that create good-paying jobs, invest in neighborhoods, strengthen public infrastructure, and protect taxpayer dollars. She has consistently partnered with organized labor to advance projects that improve the community while creating opportunities for skilled union workers. Beyond her votes, Jessica has stood shoulder to shoulder with working men and women by joining SEIU 121RN nurses and Teamsters Local 396 UPS workers on their picket lines, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to workers' rights, fair wages, safe working conditions, and collective bargaining.
Jessica's record has earned her the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the LA/OC Building & Construction Trades Council, Teamsters Joint Council 42, numerous Teamsters locals, Laborers, Ironworkers, Operating Engineers, IBEW, UA locals, SEIU 121RN, AFSCME, and dozens of other labor organizations representing working families throughout El Monte, the San Gabriel Valley, and Southern California.
A Champion For Working Families
An Advocate for Public Safety
Her work with local law enforcement and the fire department during some of the City’s most difficult times, has made her a strong advocate for public safety and ensuring El Monte families can live safe and healthy in their beloved city. Under Mayor Ancona's administration, the City has launched the STOP Program, Strategic Traffic Offender Program, which has been rolled out in different areas of the city with community meetings held at several of our parks and she championed the Catalytic Converter Etching program in partnership with our police department and our towing companies to deter catalytic converter theft, which has been on the rise throughout the state. Mayor Ancona strongly supports establishing Community Policing so that our officers and community can build relationships to help keep El Monte safe and is currently working with the El Monte Police Department to launch a program to work with small businesses to establish best practices to deter Smash and Grab crimes that have been prevalent throughout the country.