Equity Organizing Manager
I often like to say I am a child of the 2008-09 Great Recession. As a young teenager, my parents would often talk about the mortgage and how we were struggling to pay it. There was a chance we could lose our home. While it didn’t happen to me, it did happen to my friends. Fast forward to my time at UC Berkeley and I couldn’t afford to live near campus, instead commuting. I developed a friendship with someone who had resorted to sleeping under their desk and couch surfing due to housing prices.
Alex Melendrez began working in pro-housing advocacy in 2018 as an organizer for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County. As an organizer, he advocated for housing rights for communities in San Mateo County. Alex endorsed projects and policies to improve tenants’ rights and housing affordability, and developed new housing leaders. In 2019, Alex became a Lead with Peninsula For Everyone chapter, where he encouraged YIMBYs to join local boards and commissions. Alex joined YIMBY Action as an Organizing Manager for the California Peninsula & South Bay in 2022. He grows our movement in San Mateo and Santa Clara County by empowering grassroots YIMBYs to become leaders in their own communities. Alex has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Government from the University of California, Berkeley. Alex also serves as the Communications Director for the San Mateo County Democratic Party, sits on the California Democratic Party’s Legislative Committee, and serves on his community college’s Chancellor Select committee. In the past, he has served on the Peninsula Clean Energy’s Citizens Advisory Committee, the San Bruno Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Peninsula Young Democrats’ Executive Board.
