By: Naiia Lajoie   The year of a presidential election. The year of a census count. The year of civil unrest for social justice. The year of a global pandemic. Regardless of how you look back on the year 2020, it will undoubtedly go down in history as the year society looked to its leadership for answers. On the local level, Los Angeles residents – specifically Filipino-American Angelenos – sought out solutions from the LA City Mayor’s office. Thankfully, they had a Fil-Am representative on their side to field their questions and facilitate their understanding. Jessica Caloza is a Commissioner on the Board of Public Works in the City of Los Angeles. Born in Quezon City in the Philippines, she came to the US as a young child. She was appointed by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti in February of 2019 and confirmed by the City Council in March. She also happens to be the first Filipina American to serve on the Board. The University of California, San Diego-grad is a proud first-generation immigrant, living in and serving the community of Historic Filipinotown (HiFi). The diaspora of Asian-Americans took note of Jessica’s quick work over a short time of serving, honoring her with SIPA’s (the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, an LA-based non-profit organization) Lingkod Bayan Award for Public Service. Literally meaning “town servant”, the award is intended to recognize individuals that demonstrate outstanding public service and community leadership. With respect to the CDC’s guidelines and acknowledging that a mass gathering was not possible, SIPA was the first in the Fil-Am community to transition its gala into an online format in order to remain Covid-compliant. On the virtual celebration, Jessica commented “While it is difficult to maintain the energy level [online], they did an amazing job accomplishing...... Read more on Full Issue!