Candidate for
Assembly Member; California State Assembly District 54; Assembly District 54

John Jake is a native Angeleno who graduated from Birmingham High School. After high school, John Jake found himself at a fork in the road; join the Air Force or attend community college + he chose the latter. After attending LA Valley for two years, he received a football scholarship to the University of Idaho.

Once again, John Jake found himself pondering his future; join the NFL as a free agent or finish his education. John Jake graduated from the University of Idaho in 1991 with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications. After a long career in corporate, John found himself a victim of the economic downturn and was laid off from his Regional Manager's position.

Not allowing his misfortune to deter nor consume him, he decided to forge ahead and utilize his Realtor's license forming John Jake & Company for residential and commercial property sales.

As an advocate for volunteerism, John Jake has extended his expertise to such political campaigns as that of President Barack Obama, Senator Holly Mitchell and Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas to name a few.

In 2008, John Jake decided to follow his own burgeoning aspirations of governance and chose to join the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council. Rising rapidly through the ranks, he was soon elected Vice President in 2010 and in 2012, was elected President. As Vice President and Chairman of Outreach, John was instrumental in providing the support necessary to partner with Council District #10 on several projects and events providing assistance to underprivileged families.

As President and Chairman of Planning and Zoning, John Jake orchestrated National Night Out which is an event designed to interact with the community and is dedicated to implementing and developing various crime prevention programs.

John has formed a strong bond with Captain Davis of the Wilshire Division Police Department. He was instrumental in providing funding for the upgrade of the station's audio/visual equipment and underwrote funding for the kid's basketball camp t-shirt.

John is also responsible for the Queen Anne Park Recreation Center "Cameras in the Park" initiative, where OPNC will fund half of the cost of the installation of cameras to help protect our kids from violence.

He's currently working on the San Vicente Medium Project with the CRA/LA and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative to revitalize the area. New trees, plants and pathways will transform the mediums into a vibrant and attractive sight along San Vicente Blvd. from the Midtown Center at Pico to Wilshire Blvd. near Beverly Hills. The total project will break ground before the end of the year.

Additional Community Involvement:  Funds provided to the local Fire Department for new equipment in their station house  Oxford Square HPOZ - is a grant provided to the Oxford Square Neighborhood Association for research into making their neighborhood a HPOZ  The Annual Free Community Buffet Dinner - a retreat dinner informing the stakeholders of the work done and future plans of OPNC  Beatification project on the Olympic corridor - was a tree planting project from La Brea to Crenshaw and it was conducted by Koreatown Youth and Community Center  Los Angeles High Football team grant - sporting equipment grant for tattered uniforms  Los Angeles High Alumni Association grant - grant for outreach propose

Academic, professional and personal affiliations:  Past board member and chairman of public relations for the Consolidated Board of Realtists  Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated  The New Frontier Democratic Club  The NAACP  The 54th Assembly District Democratic Club  The Beverly Hill/Los Angeles Association of Realtor  YMCA  Pasadena Humane Society  Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (John recently sponsored the food for the volunteers at their Drive in Movie fundraiser in August)  Red Day

Why I am running for the State Assembly 54th District:

I love this community and truly enjoy public service. The core message of my campaign is I will listen to my constituents, absorbed their concerns and work hard to establish an open line of communication between my office and their everyday lives. Active engagement is needed to create development of our infrastructure and concentrate my efforts to offer better assistance to those within the community who are in the greatest amount of need. To engender confidence in my constituents that they can depend on their elected official to connect them to the person best able to address their individual or group concerns if that is not in my area of expertise. Focus firmly on fiscal responsibility and reinforce my dedication to public safety for the residents of District 54.

I am married with a daughter and it is of paramount importance that my family as well as my constituents and their families are able to live in a safe, viable, thriving community. I am dedicated to this goal and whether I'm elected or not, I will continue my journey of improving the lives of those who are in need of my help.