Canek Aguirre, Alexandria’s first Latino City Council member, seeks a third term
By hola | Published | No Comments
Canek Aguirre stands out as the first Latino ever elected to Alexandria City Council. By his own estimate, he is one of less than two dozen Latino elected officials out of around 3,000 in Virginia. A Los Angeles native and son of Mexican immigrants, Aguirre’s journey to the political spotlight in the DMV was anything but easy.
After finishing a bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Aguirre and his family faced tough times. At one point, he juggled four jobs and worked up to 90 hours a week. His move to Alexandria was a turning point. After finding work, he became involved in local politics. Aguirre first won his campaign for city council in 2018, drawing on his personal struggles and aspirations to connect with Alexandrians.
Through his initiatives range from advocating for free and frequent bus service to bilingual stipends, Aguirre has sought to make Alexandria a more equitable and inclusive place to live. He is currently seeking his third term in office this year, hoping to continue focusing on housing, transportation and health access, among many other issues.
This interview delves into Aguirre’s life experiences, how they’ve influenced his policy-making decisions and what he hopes for the future of Alexandria and the broader region.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m originally from Los Angeles, [where I was] born and raised. Both my parents came here from Puebla, Mexico. I never thought I was going to leave L.A., much less California. I found myself on a plane going to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I went to do my undergraduate studies. After that, I went back to L.A. Unfortunately, we lost our home in December of 2008. A few months later, I found myself back in North Carolina, working about 80–90 hours a week. I got it down to two jobs after about a year, [but it] just wasn’t sustainable.
My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, had some opportunities up in the D.C. area, [so] I landed in Alexandria in 2011. I started out working in the school system as a parent liaison. I got promoted the very next year to help start a division-wide Family and Community Engagement Center. After a couple of years, I got plucked by the private sector. Then I got plucked by the health industry, and I started working across Northern Virginia.
I found myself questioning why certain policies were being put in place regarding the disconnect between policymakers and people on the ground. That’s what led to [my] platform. I ran on housing, education and health. Education was because of my time working in the school system and my mom being a primary school teacher back home in L.A., health because that was my day job and housing [was] one part of my own experiences and story.
You mentioned you’re very passionate about housing issues. Recently, Alexandria eliminated single-family zoning, a step taken by a lot of other cities across the country, like Minneapolis. What were the ideas behind that policy?
The impetus behind that [policy] is that we’re having a national housing crisis, right? We just don’t have enough housing, especially housing that’s at an affordable level. People conflate different things when they hear “affordable.” They immediately think of public housing Section 8 [of the Housing Act of 1937]. Here in Alexandria, the area median income for a single individual is about $90,000 [a year], and for a family, it’s about $130,000. So if you say 50% of the area median income for an individual, you’re saying $45,000, [or] for a family of four, you’re saying what? $65,000? These are teachers, hospitality workers, policemen, and firefighters.
So we’re trying to create more housing stock because of supply and demand. We have to have more supply because there’s a demand for housing. We are trying to develop supply at multiple levels so there will be less competition between homebuyers.
Alexandria has recently made transportation improvements, such as making buses free. Could you talk about that?
We wanted to take a multimodal approach — cars, buses, trains, scooters, walking paths and bike paths. The fare-free bus was just one component. The other two huge components to this are why we’ve had so much success with our fare-free program.
We looked at what kind of routes we have. Where are they going? The second part is [looking at] how frequently those buses show up and if we have enough frequency on the bus. For example, if the bus comes every 10 minutes, and you miss the bus, it’s no big deal.
The other thing that we have to talk about when we’re looking at transportation is that people still need to walk, [and] some people are going to choose to bike. How are we making sure that those pathways are not only available but safe? Do we have sidewalks? Is there a bike path? By creating policies that protect the most vulnerable, we’re creating policies that help protect everyone.
On a different note, tell us about your involvement in health advocacy.
This goes back to when I first got here in 2011. I was working in the school system. At that point, I had been uninsured for close to six or seven years, and Obamacare — the Affordable Care Act — hadn’t passed. I couldn’t be on my parents’ insurance coverage until I was 26. I had minor coverage in college, but as soon as I graduated, I didn’t have any of that. To me, healthcare should be a human right.
Our system is difficult to navigate. It excludes a lot of people. Even when you can get in, you’re not entirely sure how to use it. When I worked in the school system as a parent liaison, part of my job was connecting people with resources. That’s when I started working with Neighborhood Health, a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC). [FQHCs] are mandated to see anyone, regardless of immigration status or how much money they make.
Medical bills are the number one reason for bankruptcy in the country. This is something that hit home for me, and [trying] to get folks situated with a medical home was very important. When I say medical home, I’m saying you have a regular physician who can give you shots, draw blood and take care of whatever needs you have.
I worked in the school system and then got plucked by the health industry. I also worked specifically in Medicaid with some of the most vulnerable populations in Northern Virginia: people dealing with housing insecurity, food insecurity and lack of transportation. All these different factors go into how you take care of yourself. I definitely brought a lot of that perspective when I got onto the council, even though I don’t have a degree, per se, in urban planning or public health. It’s part of my own lived and professional experiences, trying to help people connect [and] navigate the healthcare system.
You mentioned how you’ve worked to break down language barriers. Could you tell us about that?
I’m Chairperson of the Board of Social Work for the State of Virginia. One of the things that I brought up several years ago [was] the need for language, not just [a] pipeline, to make sure that we’re getting diverse applicants into social work for psychologists [and] counselors. What is the language capacity of our social workers? What is the language capacity of the doctors we have? Are we really trying to meet people where they are?
When I was working in the school system, I helped start a Spanish-speaking parent group because the PTA wasn’t cutting it; they were having completely different conversations, and the parents just couldn’t participate. By creating this group, we could better serve the students and their families. If you’re going to do the correct type of engagement and communication, you’re meeting people where they are in a format that they can digest.
So that’s one thing. Another [is] a bilingual stipend [passed into law last year in the City of Alexandria]. It’s acknowledging that you’re doing one job but also doing additional things because you speak more than one language. I was proud of getting that bilingual stipend here in the city. It’s a big deal. It’s acknowledging those skills and trying to level the field a little bit more, getting people the pay they deserve.
I also think about — and this is something that always upsets me a little bit — the burden that we put on children, being interpreters for their parents, whether in an educational setting, in a medical setting or paying [their] bills and taxes.
What are you seeking to do in this third term in the Alexandria City Council?
There are some things that I don’t know yet because we have to get there. It is tough to build something out and achieve progress. Someone could say, “We’re getting rid of this entire department [or] program.” I’m not saying that would happen if I left the council. Still, we are striving to be this inclusive community. Part of my charge is to ingrain this in the foundation of the city, to ingrain this in the culture of our staff and to make that an expectation for our community.
Short term, we’re going to continue doing some of these city council town halls, and we’re going across the city to different places so that people don’t have to go to City Hall. Also [we’re] trying to expand upon what we’re doing with transit and transportation and the DASH buses. I also definitely want to continue what we’re doing around communication and engagement.
I also try to be careful because when do you decide it’s time to hang it up? When can you pass the torch? I don’t want to find myself in a situation where I’ve been around long enough to become the bad guy. But I don’t want to end on a difficult note. This [city council position] has been very — not just humbling — but highly gratifying to me in many different ways. I’ve been able to serve the community and see some of the improvements that we’ve made and some of the progress that we’re making. It brings me a lot of joy.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
– Story by Thomas Shepard
– Copy edited by Michelle Benitez
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