Ruben Abrica is a Councilmember in the City of East Palo Alto and has served as Mayor several times over the years. He represents the City on the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, working on flood management, environmental protection and recreation in the creek’s watershed. He is a member of the Public Engagement and Equity Advisory Council of the Institute for Local Government, an affiliate nonprofit of the League of California Cities. Mr. Abrica also serves on the Social Determinants of Health Working Group of the San Mateo County Public Health, Policy and Planning Department.

In the 1990’s he served on the Board of Trustees of the Ravenswood Elementary School District. During the 90’s he also worked as a consultant for the State Department of Education, providing school improvement technical assistance for Chapter I schools.

He has lived in the community for 45 years and was intimately involved in the movement to Incorporate East Palo Alto. Mr. Abrica was elected and served on the first City Council from 1983 to 1988. He is a founding member of the East Palo Alto Council of Tenants which during that time struggled to institute the first Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction, approved by the voters in 1984 and in place to this day. He is also a founding member of Comité Latino, an all volunteer civic and cultural organization which has organized the community building event Cinco de Mayo Festival since 1985.

Mr. Abrica is retired from De Anza Community College where he taught in the Intercultural/ International Studies Division. He also worked for a decade in Educational Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance, primarily in the areas of Bilingual and Migrant Education, as well as Chapter I assistance. He received his M.A. in Education from Stanford University in the Linguistic and Cultural Pluralism Program.

He was born in Jalisco Mexico and grew up in Tijuana, Baja California where he attended night vocational school. He emigrated to California as a teenager and finished High School in Escondido.