Urban Habitat’s Connie Galambos Malloy Tapped for California’s New Citizens Redistricting Commission

Urban Habitat’s Director of Programs Connie Galambos Malloy has been selected as one of the first eight members of California’s inaugural Citizens Redistricting Commission. The Commission will re-draw the boundaries of state legislative, Congressional and Board of Equalization districts. California voters mandated the Commission when they passed Proposition 11 in 2008 and extended its powers to cover Congressional districts with this year’s passage of Prop. 20.

“I’m honored to be chosen as a Commissioner,” Galambos Malloy said. “I will strive to collaborate with my colleagues, and with the public at large, to fulfill the intent of the California electorate: ensuring that our state’s electoral system provides representation for all. Our work will be vital in protecting civil rights and securing a voice for each of us--and someday for our children--in the political process.

“From my work as Director of Programs at Urban Habitat, I know first-hand the importance of democracy, diversity and social equity in the urban planning and public policy arenas,” she said.

Since its founding in 1989, Urban Habitat has worked to ensure that the voices of the San Francisco Bay Area’s low-income communities and communities of color are represented in the complex decision-making processes that shape regional transportation, housing, land use and environmental policies. It does so through a mix of education, advocacy, research and coalition-building, collaborating with partners from the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. (For more information, see www.urbanhabitat.org.)

Galambos Malloy oversees Urban Habitat’s climate, land use, planning and affordable housing work. She previously led the organization’s Social Equity Caucus through a strategic planning process that led to the launch of the annual State of the Region convening and its Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute; she holds a Masters’ degree (M.C.P.) in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Nearly 31,000 prospective members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission had to apply and then be vetted by the State Auditors’ Office and the State Legislature, which winnowed the applicants down to a pool of 36. Eight members were chosen from that pool by lottery. They in turn will choose six more from the pool to round out the Commission by December 31, 2010. (For more information, see www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    Nov. 18, 2010

For more information contact:
Christine Joy Ferrer (510) 839-9510 ext. 303