Jeffrey Suzuki is running for Town Council. He is also president of the Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition, which the Town has awarded $64,500 since fiscal 2023-24 and which now holds the entire $20,000 rental-assistance grant. That was reason enough to ask how it is governed. We reviewed its public records and still cannot say who its directors are.
That is not targeting. It is what public money invites, and it is as much about the Town’s process as about any one organization.
Mr. Suzuki writes that he welcomes all inquiries and that the concerns are easily addressed. We take him at his word. Nothing below proposes cutting rental assistance by a dollar.
Who is on the board of directors?
The Statement of Information filed May 31, 2026 names Mr. Suzuki as CEO, Ali Miano as secretary and Kinsey Lee as chief financial officer. It does not identify the directors, nor does the Coalition’s website or any other filing we reviewed. Residents should be able to name the people legally responsible for public money.
The bylaws make the president chairman as a standing appointment, let him appoint every officer, and leave his removal to directors elected by the board he chairs. They refer twice to a conflict-of-interest policy that has never been disclosed.
Mr. Suzuki has disclosed that he also sits on the board of West Valley Community Services, which the Town separately funds for rental assistance, while defending the arrangement that gives the Coalition the full $20,000. Sitting on two boards is not improper. It is the kind of overlap a conflict-of-interest policy exists to record.
At the Aug. 18 Council meeting, a Coalition member described joining as showing an ability to volunteer and be “somewhat effective in doing what we do,” then a vote of existing members. The website describes no process at all.
Has anyone been paid?
The Coalition has told the Town it is volunteer-run with no labor costs, and Mr. Suzuki has now written publicly that it is composed entirely of unpaid volunteers. Its 2023 report to the Attorney General, signed under penalty of perjury, lists $12,169 on the line for “compensation of officers or directors.”
That may be a classification error. If not, the Coalition should say who was paid, how much and for what.
The Coalition reported no cash at the end of 2022, then reported 2023 revenue of $19,000 against an ending cash balance of $32,044 — roughly $13,000 its filings do not account for. The companion RRF-1 answers “no” to whether it received government funding, in the year the Town paid it $12,000.
None of this should require a request. The Town’s grant agreement, signed by Mr. Suzuki, already obliges the Coalition to file a publicly accessible report including paid invoices, cash receipts, cancelled checks and bank statements showing how the grant funds were spent.
What is its mission, and how do Town funds support it?
A nonprofit’s governing documents define its charitable purpose. The Coalition’s describe something broader. Article III says it exists to educate and mobilize community members to fight for “concrete and anti-racist change.” Its goals include:
- school graduates with a functional understanding of systemic racism;
- a larger role for unarmed social workers and a smaller one for armed police officers;
- a community where people of all backgrounds can afford to live here and belong.
Housing support appears once, as a way to increase socioeconomic diversity. The bylaws do not mention rental assistance.
These goals are not unlawful, and residents may support or oppose them. The point is accountability: the Town funded rental assistance, and the Coalition should show every Town dollar went to it.
What we are asking
- Who are the current directors, and how were they selected?
- How can a resident join, and who decides?
- Has any officer or director been paid — when, how much and for what?
- Of the $64,500 awarded, how much has reached Los Gatos renters?
- Produce the documents each Grant Agreement requires.
- How do the 2023 filing’s receipts, expenses and year-end assets reconcile, and why does it report no government funding?
- Where is the conflict-of-interest policy the bylaws reference? If none exists, will the Coalition adopt and publish one?
Mr. Suzuki has offered to explain, and we are asking him to do so. Residents should not have to guess who governs the Coalition or how $64,500 was accounted for. The answers need only records it already has. Public money should be spent in public view.
Jak VanNada
Los Gatos Community Alliance
