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Ysabel Jurado looks to become first Fil-Am LA city councilor

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Steve Angeles | TFC News Los Angeles

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQoguQQGQ9A?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>Ysabel Jurado and her family started from humble beginnings. She is the daughter of a formerly undocumented Filipino worker, and the Los Angeles-born and raised Filipina became a mom at a young age.She eventually graduated from UCLA Law and is now an eviction attorney. From the dining room of the Highland Park home where she grew up, she is making a run for the Los Angeles City Council.&quot;I think that’s the experience we need in city hall,&quot; said Jurado. &quot;Real life lived experience, professional experience, on the frontlines of the most pressing issues. I think its time we have a Filipino in the seat, a woman representing this district who is a real person.&quot;The 35-year-old lawyer hopes to represent the 14th District that has faced controversy in recent years.The incumbent is Democrat Kevin DeLeon, who had been embroiled in a leak audio recording of him, and other council members making racial remarks during a redistricting meeting. He survived a vote to recall earlier this year.Outgoing California assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo is also in the race for city council seat.With a grassroots campaign, Jurado welcomes the challenge of running against more experienced politicians in the high profile district which covers parts of Downtown and North East Los Angeles as well as the Filipino hub of Eagle Rock.&quot;I love odds, like very difficult odds,&quot; Jurado added. &quot;I think our chances are even better than that and I do hard things not because they’re hard. I do them because they’re the right thing to do and I think this is the perfect time to do it.&quot;Jurado said that her background from a working class immigrant family has been a driving force throughout her life and legal career.Her mother migrated from Laguna province in the Philippines with her grandmother as a young adult in the 1980s. Jurado&#x27;s father, who hails from Iligan, then followed despite not having legal status.Her parents then built a life in Highland Park, where she eventually had a child at 18 before going into college. Jurado said that her father&#x27;s experiences as an undocumented worker inspired her to pursue social justice causes.&quot;Working in labor and employment non-profits and eventually inspiring me to go to law school because I know the status quo was not working for people and I wanted to help my own people so I became an attorney,&quot; she said.With the Los Angeles City Hall going through turmoil, from corruption probes to racial controversies, Jurado hopes to shift the focus back to working class and immigrant families in the highly diverse district.Jurado now faces fundraising deadlines before she can qualify for the march primary ballot. For the rest of the campaign, she said she will continue hitting the streets to reach out to voters on a grassroots level

A Filipino-American lawyer with humble beginnings eyes a seat in the city council of Los Angeles.