Meet Parag
I am the proud son of immigrants who achieved the American dream and enabled me the opportunity to excel. I've dedicated the last 25 years of my life to creating impact from working with coffee farmers in Nicaragua to creating a social business that employs more than 6,000 women waste pickers to environmentally process waste and reduce greenhouse gases in emerging economies.
I am currently an executive at the largest nonprofit affordable houser in the country and previously worked with a donor to grant hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the lives of youth of color, seniors, and the food insecure in San Francisco.
In my spare time, I co-founded the Westside Family Democratic Club which seeks to give voice to families living on the Westside of San Francisco. I serve on the board of Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Action - a pro-housing organization, and am a proud SFUSD parent where I served as President of my daughter's school site council and serve on the SFUSD focus group to bring Algebra back to 8th grade.
Key Issues
Quality Public Schools
We can't have a world class city without a world class public education system. I am in favor of creating a public education system that -- first and foremost -- reduces hardship on families, so that they will no longer feel forced to leave San Francisco in order to get their children a quality education. Specifically, I support SFUSD budget accountability; a reexamination of the lottery system, which puts an unfair burden on parents; and a math curriculum that includes 8th grade Algebra.
We should help every child achieve their maximum potential in the school district rather than hold everyone back. We can’t afford another school board debacle and our children deserve more from the SFUSD. I’m a proud SFUSD parent that led my daughter’s School Site Council through COVID. I helped gather signatures during the SFUSD school board recall. I now serve on the SFUSD focus group on how to bring 8th grade Algebra back.
Housing For All
It takes San Francisco longer to build housing than any other city in the state of California. It also costs the most to build here. As a city we have been mandated by the State of California to build 10,000 homes per year, but have built less than 3,000 each of the last two years. If this continues, the state will take over to ensure the housing goal is met.
Let’s set a goal of halving the cost to build a home in our city so we can make it economically viable to develop beyond luxury condos or transitionally homeless housing. It's time to put the rhetoric aside, and build housing of all kinds to keep our racial, socioeconomic, and professional diversity.
Every day, I fight for housing as an executive at the largest nonprofit affordable housing organization in the country, and as a proud board member of Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Action.