The gentrification of the Mission District brought a "gang list" that affected young people in a 60-block radius, limiting their freedom of movement and association. Vicente Garcia used his 2007 Young People For fellowship to organize the community to stop the gang list.
TJ Helmstetter
(tjhelm)
George Washington University
2005 Fellow
TJ Helmstetter was selected to be part of the first class of Young People For fellows in 2005. While a fellow and a senior fellow, he interned at a progressive movement strategy center in Washington, DC; Young People For's headquarters in New York; and a US Senate race in New Jersey. A political junkie who went through the Front Line Leaders Academy, TJ has volunteered for local, state, and national campaigns. Later, he gained community organizing and policy experience at a statewide LGBT civil rights organization. TJ is currently working full-time on a North Jersey congressional race that has been targeted as a top pickup opportunity in 2008 by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It's about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and in our world. Politics is about doing well for people." - the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN)