Treasurer Maria Belen Bernal
María Belén Bernal is a product of South Gate and was elected Treasurer of the City of South Gate on March 24, 2009. She was raised in the West side of the South Gate where she attended Stanford Avenue Elementary, Montara Avenue Elementary and South Gate Middle School. Given her academic and leadership achievement, Ms. Bernal graduated from South Gate High School with honors in 1999. Ms. Bernal values the importance of civic engagement and participation, and is honored to represent other residents of South Gate. Treasurer Bernal was elected on March 3, 2009 to a four year term.
Treasurer Bernal attended the University of California in Santa Barbara where she participated in Associated Student Government as a Finance Board member, worked with the Civil, Human and Women's Rights Department of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. and interned with the Office of Relations with Schools; where she promoted the importance of cultural awareness, community engagement and early academic outreach. In 2003, Treasurer Bernal graduated from UCSB with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Sociology and Chicano Studies.
Her commitment to serve the community is demonstrated by her choice to work with various organizations that serve the City of South Gate residents and local communities. Treasurer Bernal served as a Field Representative of the 50th Assembly District where she worked closely with community groups and focused on issues pertaining to Higher Education and Civic Engagement. She was an active participant in planning District events such as community resource fairs, higher education college conferences and events catering to youth leadership and development.
In 2004, Treasurer Bernal joined the Oldtimers Foundation, a non-profit that provides many services to the City of South Gate and surrounding communities. Her leadership and strong work ethic allowed her to structure the organization's Human Resources functions as well as its' strategic planning efforts. Treasurer Bernal has also worked with Transportation and Land Use Collaborative, a non-profit organization that assisted in drafting the City of South Gate's General Plan, a policy document that represents the City's potential growth and its social, physical and economic goals.
Recently, Treasurer Bernal has become involved with the legal services field. She worked at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and currently serves as Executive Director to Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that aims to increase affordable legal service delivery to under-served communities in the Southeast Los Angeles area.
In her spare time, Treasurer Bernal continues to serve her community as a catequist at her local parish where she works with youth from South Gate, Lynwood and Unincorporated parts of Los Angeles. In addition, she volunteers her time to The Riordan Programs at UCLA as she mentors high school students and other young professionals. Treasurer Bernal resides in South Gate with her lovely parents Ignacio and Carmen Bernal, who she credits her personal values of integrity, commitment to excellence and a strong work ethic to. Through their hard work and efforts she has learned to value hard work and the importance of generosity and service to others.
You can contact Treasurer Bernal at mbernal@sogate.orgor (323) 563-9521.