Ellina Yin, a self-trained community educator and activist in West San Jose, created two podcasts—Only in San Jose and Only in Santa Clara County—to explain how to speak at City Council meetings, understand county budgets, and describe the role of public commissions. Born in San Jose to Cambodian immigrant parents with limited English, she began helping them communicate with government agencies at age six. After graduating from Piedmont Hills High School and attending UC Riverside, she worked 10 years in construction and architecture, including at Anderson Brulé Architects (now ABA Studios), where she learned real estate development processes and organized public meetings. Her civic education push began after a 2018 San Jose City Council meeting about the proposed Google Downtown West megacampus, when residents cited insufficient notice and she identified an earlier Planning Commission review they had missed.
""I'm building a library of civic knowledge," Yin told San José Spotlight. "The goal is to transform the way we practice democracy in local government.""
Read at San Jose Spotlight
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