Candidate for
Council Member; City of Monterey Park

Judy Chu, Ph.D. City Councilmember, Monterey Park

BIOGRAPHY

Judy Chu is a public official, psychologist, college professor and community leader. She is currently a City Councilmember of Monterey Park and is serving her third term on the City Council. She has served as Mayor three times, in 1990, 1994 and 1998.

She has been active in stimulating economic development, such as in the new mall coming to Monterey Park which will have such stores as Target, Home Depot, Best Buy and Staples. She has supported the expansion of senior services, such as affordable senior housing. She initiated youth programs and the child's first childcare program. She has played a leading role in programs to bridge the gap between ethnic groups in the community. She initiated a Conflict Resolution Training Program in the local high school, and founded Harmony Month, which received the League of California Cities Grand Prize for addressing diversity. She has been active in passing measures to reduce gun violence. She has sponsored citizenship workshops and voter registration drives in the West San Gabriel Valley.

She was elected to the city council of Monterey Park in 1988, 1992 and 1997 with the highest number of votes. Previous to this position, she served on the board of education of the Garvey School District from 1985 to 1988.

Dr. Chu, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, is a professor in the psychology department at East Los Angeles College, and has been a faculty member for 19 years.

Chu is a Department of Commerce appointee to the national Race and Ethnic Advisory Committee of the U.S. Census Bureau, and has been advocating policies to improve the census count. She is active in numerous social service organizations, and is a founder, board member, and past president of the Asian Youth Center, a San Gabriel Valley agency helping immigrant youth adjust to America. She is also a founding board member of Christmas in April-Monterey Park, a housing rehabilitation program for low-income people. She also is a board member of the Girl Scouts- Mt. Wilson Vista Council, the San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, the Juvenile Diversion Project of the West San Gabriel Valley and the American Cancer Society, San Gabriel Valley.

Chu has received numerous honors. She was named one of the "Ten Important Power Brokers in the San Gabriel Valley" by the Los Angeles Business Journal. She received the Outstanding Founders Award for the National Philanthropy Day in Los Angeles for her work in founding the Asian Youth Center, now an agency with a million dollar budget. She was awarded the Public Service Award by the UCLA Alumni Association, given for her work in addressing the ethnic shift in Monterey Park.