{"id":218,"date":"2018-12-13T18:24:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T18:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/california\/press-releases\/california-common-cause-welcomes-rey-lopez-calderon-as-new-executive-director-kathay-feng-to-lead-national-redistricting-program\/"},"modified":"2018-12-13T18:24:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T18:24:20","slug":"california-common-cause-welcomes-rey-lopez-calderon-as-new-executive-director-kathay-feng-to-lead-national-redistricting-program","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/california\/press\/california-common-cause-welcomes-rey-lopez-calderon-as-new-executive-director-kathay-feng-to-lead-national-redistricting-program\/","title":{"rendered":"California Common Cause Welcomes Rey L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n\u00a0as New Executive Director,\u00a0Kathay\u00a0Feng to Lead\u00a0National Redistricting Program\u00a0"},"template":"","class_list":["post-218","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"California Common Cause is pleased to announce that Rey L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n will become the organization\u2019s new executive director as of January 1, 2019. L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n has worked for more than 20 years in faith, labor, education, and political organizing. He takes the helm of our nonpartisan, grassroots\u00a0state\u00a0organization from\u00a0Kathay\u00a0Feng, who has led the state organization since\u00a02005\u00a0and the national redistricting work since\u00a02013. She will now focus solely on redistricting reform.","featured_image":"","press_type":157,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":8287}"],"related_issues":[77,429],"related_work":false,"location":3},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"LOS ANGELES -- California Common Cause is pleased to announce that Rey L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n will become the organization\u2019s new executive director as of January 1, 2019. L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n has worked for more than 20 years in faith, labor, education, and political organizing. Most recently,\u00a0as\u00a0vice-president for\u00a0development,\u00a0he led an\u00a0overhaul of\u00a0Common Cause\u2019s\u00a0fundraising operations\u00a0at the\u00a0national office in Washington\u00a0D.C.\r\n\r\nL\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n takes the helm of our nonpartisan, grassroots\u00a0state\u00a0organization from\u00a0Kathay\u00a0Feng, who has led the state organization since\u00a02005\u00a0and the national redistricting work since\u00a02013. She\u00a0will now work full-time as the national director of redistricting. Among her accomplishments, she led the fight to create California's Citizens Redistricting Commission, strengthened matching funds for Los Angeles city races and modernized voter registration laws including online voter registration.\r\n\r\nThis transition comes as the state organization gears up for the 2019 legislative session, and the national organization prepares to litigate multiple gerrymandering cases that are on the doorstep of the Supreme\u00a0Court,\u00a0as well as help implement new transparent and community-centered redistricting processes in several states.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are excited to announce these new roles for key leaders in the democracy rights movement. Rey will continue our long track record of fighting for reforms that give the people of California a voice, while Kathay will lead the fight to end gerrymandering nationwide from right here in Los Angeles,\u201d\u00a0said Mindy Romero, the new chair of California Common Cause advisory board and founder and director of the California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP) at the University of Southern California\u2019s Sol Price School of Public Policy, in Sacramento.\r\n\r\nL\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0native Californian and currently\u00a0resides\u00a0in\u00a0San Diego. His career as an activist started with student organizing and his work as a volunteer\u00a0youth\u00a0organizer for the United Farm Workers of America in Orange County. He helped found several organizations including the Academy for Urban School Leadership, Latino Union, Alliance of the Southeast, and Common Cause Illinois. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Chicago and his law degree from\u00a0DePaul\u00a0College of Law.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn many ways, California\u00a0is the promised land for democracy\u00a0reforms, yet\u00a0there is still\u00a0much to\u00a0be done\u00a0to\u00a0push\u00a0back against wealthy special\u00a0interests, increase\u00a0voter\u00a0participation,\u00a0and\u00a0to hold\u00a0politicians\u00a0and other power brokers\u00a0accountable,\u201d\u00a0L\u00f3pez-Calder\u00f3n said.\r\n\r\nCalifornia Common Cause is the largest state organization of Common Cause,\u00a0a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy.\r\n\r\nAmong our legislative priorities in 2019, we plan to:<\/strong>\r\n