Jesse Vasquez

Executive Director

JJesse Vasquez is executive director of Friends of San Quentin News, an organization dedicated to elevating the voices and potential of the incarcerated by developing and supporting incarcerated-run media projects such as San Quentin News and Forward This Productions. Since he paroled in May of 2019, Jesse has been entrenched in grassroots community work addressing systemic issues in deep East Oakland. He co-authored a curriculum on the school-to-prison pipeline in the Oakland Unified School District, managed a multi-million dollar reentry housing program and led Covid relief efforts as a logistics coordinator for the Alameda County Community Food Bank.