"Duane understands the importance of investing in the community and its people”

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Election time is quickly approaching, and candidates are out in the community trying to get their messages out to influence voters. On September 14^th, 2021, a special election is to be held on whether or not there should be a recall of Governor Gavin Newsom. Here in West Sacramento, we also have on the ballot elections to fill the fifth seat of West Sacramento’s City Council. Duane Wilson is one of the candidates who hopes to be elected for the seat. Duane and his family have lived in West Sacramento for 14 years. He is currently “down-to-two” non-profits that he works with.

Founder’s Academy is one of the nonprofits that Duane runs. As Executive Director, he oversees the organization which is designed to help disadvantaged people open and run their own business. They have a mentor network that guides “all the people that get ignored,” Duane said. “These are people who don’t have access to services, who can’t figure out how to get a bank loan, or whether they can apply for one, or how it all works. The whole thing from marketing to design”. This group has partnered with CEOs in the area and founders of other companies.  These people partner up and give one-on-one advice and proceed to be their mentors. They do this with no profit to themselves or their groups.

The other group Duane is “just a board member of” is the Friends of Clarksburg Services and Recreation (FCSR). On Instagram, FCSR is known as Clarksburg Parks. There are very few parks in the Clarksburg/Rio Vista area. Those that are there are not well developed at all. FCSR is trying to rectify that. They are working on developing a park with a sports center, pool and playground. Duane has held the seat on various boards such as daycare and local parks, so he has been involved in our community and its development and growth for quite some time.

In his many activities, Duane has become very familiar with fundraising. He has been involved with events such as Farm to Park… fundraising dinners held to raise money for parks in our city. As a family man and father of school aged children, Duane arrived at the school supply drop-off (sponsored by Yolo County Children’s Alliance and West Sac Kids Give Back) with Mayor Martha Guerrero with several bags of supplies to donate. Duane grew up a Boy Scout and shared that as a child his family would adopt a family and buy them presents. He shared that he really enjoys doing that with his own daughter now. Duane said that it is important that we are sure to focus on after-school programs.

Duane is a very optimistic person and seems to be driven by the goal to make the world a better place for as many people that he has the ability to help. Big or small, you do what you can. That is his driving force. Duane said, “Cops, firefighters, teachers, they’re like the most undervalued people in our society. We need to pay them more so that they will stay here. We have really awesome people that stay here because they love our city… even though we pay them a lot less than the rest of our region. So, we need to fix the budgeting issues so that we can take care of that!” He continued with “we have a lot of land, we have a lot of space, we can do better things. We can create more businesses and we can pay that tax revenue, but we have to do it in a good way.”

Duane has a solid knowledge of the budget and funding, whether government level funding or grants. He is also familiar with requirements of how that money is spent. “I’m not into empire building”, he said, “I just want to help the city.” Duane talked about the current improvements being made with West Capitol getting fixed and fibers being laid. West Sacramento has a history of starting a lot of projects, but it’s not great about finishing them. He believes we should do them right the first time, which doesn’t always mean the cheapest.

Duane would like to see a Via type of transportation program, that can go over the bridge to help those that need it. He would like the City to do better in letting the community know things like the fact that the Via transport is not just for seniors. He wants to extend programs for those who make too much money to qualify for low-income programs at all, but not enough money to cover the current cost of living. He believes that we need to get more businesses in West Sac and mentioned more restaurants as well as industry type businesses. “We are in a great area” he said, “and if we get the bridge done and bus service, we’d be doing great!” He referenced San Francisco’s embarcadero area as he explained how he would love to see West Sac have an actual “Downtown” area that you could walk down.

Besides being a generally nice guy, Duane seems to really have a great vision for West Sacramento. He’s not, however, trying to take it over. He just believes that he has the knowledge and ability to change some things that need a little help in their completion and make some better decisions or changes in the budget with wiser spending, thus focusing on the infrastructure of West Sacramento.

Duane is endorsed by Mayor Martha Guerrero. Martha released the following statement: “I hope you’ll join me in support of Duane Wilson for West Sacramento City Council!  As a Dad to a school-aged child, a small business owner and a philanthropist who helps others to realize dreams, Duane understands the importance of investing in the community and its people.” Duane is also endorsed by Councilmember Norma Alcala, West Sacramento Police Officers Association, Yolo Democratic Party, Davis College Democrats, Carpenters Local Union 46, Fiona Ma, CPA-CA State Treasurer, Alicia and Andrew Mittleman, Manny Castro, Robert and Adrienna Schabert, Harry Hines and many other businesses and residents.