San Jose activist wants to demystify local government

San José Spotlight is highlighting community members who make a difference for AAPI Heritage Month.

Ellina Yin compares citizen participation in local government to putting together a piece of IKEA furniture using one of those frustrating assembly manuals that have no words.

A self-trained community educator and activist, Yin wants to be the Allen wrench, that little L-shaped hex key in almost every IKEA box, to connect people with their local government. Yin has done that by creating two podcasts — Only in San Jose and Only in Santa Clara County — that seek to demystify topics including how to speak at City Council meetings, understanding county budgets and the role of public commissions.

“I’m building a library of civic knowledge,” Yin told San José Spotlight. “The goal is to transform the way we practice democracy in local government.”

Yin, 40, got an early start working with government. Born in San Jose to immigrant parents from Cambodia who spoke limited English, Yin began helping them talk to government agencies at age six.

After graduating from Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose’s Berryessa neighborhood and attending college at UC Riverside, Yin spent 10 years working for construction and architecture firms. A job at Anderson Brulé Architects in San Jose, now ABA Studios, introduced her to the many government processes surrounding real estate development and in organizing public meetings to explain the firm’s projects to residents.

But Yin, who lives in West San Jose, always wanted to do nonprofit work and described her decade in construction as a way to build up her experience and finances.

The inspiration to pursue civic education came during a 2018 San Jose City Council meeting when residents were protesting the proposed Google Downtown West megacampus. Many opponents complained about a lack of notice, when Yin realized they simply weren’t aware of an earlier review of the project by the city Planning Commission.

“We’re participating at a point in time when it’s not most effective,” Yin said.

Yin launched the Only in San Jose podcast in June 2020, followed by Only in Santa Clara County in September 2024. She then worked with the San Jose Office of Racial and Social Equity to adapt the podcast material into a Civics Master Class.

“People are taking the classes and going the most intense route — becoming a city commissioner,” Yin said.

Finding the next cause

As an activist, Yin is focused on the rapid growth of AI data centers in Silicon Valley and has built a website called I Love San Jose to lay out information and encourage civic action.

“I want (data centers) built responsibility in a way that doesn’t hurt our environment or impact public health,” she said.

Angelica Cortez, founder and CEO of the advocacy group LEAD Filipino, has worked with Yin on Asian American oral history projects and is impressed by Yin’s attention to detail.

“She demonstrably takes the time to read and to make sense and to study the numbers and to track not just what an elected (official) is saying, but how they’re voting and the policies they’re passing,” Cortez told San José Spotlight. “By design, people make policies and programs complicated, and she just cuts right through and feeds it to the public in a way that incites action, which is great.”

Bob Brownstein, a longtime civic consultant who’s now a strategic advisor to Working Partnerships USA, first met Yin during the San Jose charter review process in 2020 and 2021, and was struck by her dedication.

“She’s smart, articulate, hard-working and strongly committed to egalitarian and democratic values,” Brownstein told San José Spotlight. “San Jose would be better off if we had 500 more of her.”

Yin is also building up a nonprofit called Dreaming Collaborative to expand her work in civic engagement and would eventually like to write a book. She denies any interest in running for office.

“I don’t see becoming a politician as the main route to making change,” Yin said. “We don’t have to rely on a superhero politician to save the day.”

District 2 Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong calls Yin “a county treasure” who is playing an important role in creating more public understanding of the work that counties do, especially around healthcare and social safety net services.

Duong, who has been a guest host on the Only in Santa Clara County podcast, met Yin two and a half years ago immediately after giving a presentation at San Jose State University.

“We nerded out on the sidewalk talking about county policies,” Duong told San José Spotlight.

That determination to understand local government and use that knowledge to widen civic participation remains at the core of Yin’s work.

“I want to continue to educate people, that’s where my strength is,” Yin said. “You don’t need 1,000 people. If you have 12 of your neighbors show up (at a public meeting), you can make an incredible difference.”

Contact Mike Langberg at [email protected].

Editor’s note: Ellina Yin is a member of San José Spotlight’s Community Advisory Board.