Francisco and Laura Figueroa

Oceanside Born and Raised

Jimmy was born at Tri-City Hospital and raised in the Tri-City Community of District 3. He attended Christa McAuliffe Elementary near Rancho Del Oro and Cameo Dr. and Lincoln Middle School in Fire Mountain, which are both in District 3.

Jimmy attended El Camino High School for a couple years and Pacific View Charter School. He didn’t invest a lot of time toward his K–12 education. From 7th to 11th grade, he had all Fs, missed a lot of school, and got into a lot of trouble. He didn’t see the value in education at that time. 

After making some changes in his life and experiencing some traumatic events, he decided to enroll at the MiraCosta Community Learning Center to get a GED. After receiving his GED and adult high school diploma, he enrolled at the main MiraCosta campus in District 3.

While attending MiraCosta College, he began serving in the community as a basketball coach at Lincoln Middle School as well as a teacher’s assistant at New Venture Christian Fellowship in the Ocean Hills community in District 3. While in community college he also served as a volunteer with Encuentros Leadership of North County.

Figueroa family in front of their
home on Thunder Dr. in Tri-City 1988

Christa McAuliffe Elementary 1994

Overcoming the Odds

Despite having to catch up in school, Jimmy was driven to earn a college degree and become the first male in his family to graduate from college. Many of Jimmy’s close childhood friends at this time were coming in and out of incarceration.

At MiraCosta College, he learned about different concepts such as cultural empowerment and political representation that showed him a pathway to help his family and community.

It was during this time, Jimmy realized he was going to commit his life to helping our underserved communities. Jimmy earned Associate Degree from MiraCosta College and then went on to UC Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science.

MiraCosta College Graduation 2010

Planting Seeds of Hope
in our Community

After Jimmy returned to Oceanside, he became the program supervisor for Project Reach Libby Lake with the Vista Community Clinic. He led the after-school program for two years. He continued to serve at Project REACH as a volunteer, while enrolled in law school. During that time, he was appointed to the North County Gang Commission by the Board of Supervisors.

Later, he partnered with San Diego County Office of Probation and Vista Community Clinic to develop and implement a pilot program that would utilize former gang members from Oceanside who had been incarcerated into mentors.

When Jimmy couldn’t find anyone to run the program, he decided to run it as the program manager, “because it had to work.”

That was how the program Resilience Community Mentoring, now in its fifth year, was born. It mentors youth and young adults from Oceanside on juvenile probation with serious or violent offenses. The program was contracted to reduce recidivism by 5% amongst its group participants, and by 2022 the program had reduced recidivism among the youth that had been enrolled in Resilience by 80%.

Jimmy also assisted the Oceanside/North County Promise with creating and leading a two year Pilot Mentoring Initiative for Latino youth at El Camino High school.

Project REACH Libby Lake
Community Mural 2015

Project REACH Libby
Lake Community Mural 2017

A Proven Leader in our City

For the past 10 years, Jimmy has led numerous community beautification and mural projects in the Libby Lake community as well as volunteered in countless community clean-ups and community events throughout the city.

From 2016 to 2017, Jimmy spearheaded community advocacy efforts to establish a more efficient and direct North County Transit District bus route from the Deep Valley community to MiraCosta College. Jimmy’s advocacy led to the implementation of the NCTD bus 315, which has made MiraCosta College and Tri-City Medical Center more accessible to the underserved community of the Deep Valley.

NCTD bus route 315 also efficiently connects Tri-City residents to Camp Pendleton and the businesses near Avenida De La Plata & Avenida del Oro (FedEx, Genentech, Coca Cola, Gilead, etc). NCTD bus 315 runs from Carlsbad Village Station to Camp Pendleton 14 Area and passes through District 3.

Jimmy has participated on advisory committees and commissions with the Oceanside Unified School District, Oceanside Public Library, Oceanside/North County Promise, North County Gang Commission, and NAACP. He has also participated as a Panel Member on the Oceanside Police Department’s Community Policing Training for all sworn officers.

As a current Executive Director of a local homeless shelter, Jimmy is a proven non-profit and public sector leader in our region. He is a strong community advocate for our under-resourced neighborhoods, working class families, and local small businesses.

Jimmy currently holds leadership roles within the North County Community Leadership Team with the County of San Diego, Oceanside Police and Fire Commission, Oceanside Police Department Chief’s Citizen Advisory Board, MiraCosta College Foundation, and Oceanside Theatre Company. 

Jimmy has lived in District 3 for nearly 30 years. Together with his wife, Jenaye, they raise their two daughters in the community of District 3.

Jimmy with his wife Jenaye and two daughters at the Oceanside Independence Day Parade