About Us

For more than three decades, Mr. Bustamante has advocated on behalf of consumer interests, worked for some of California’s most successful elected officials, and represented many of California’s most influential companies.

The former Press Secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Gray Davis, Bustamante was involved in myriad issues affecting California consumers. A tireless advocate on behalf of the Latino community, he has worked with some of the Latino community’s most important organizations.

Bustamante has a long and successful history of public service which has led to a deep understanding of policy issues affecting California, including green technology, energy conservation, health care, K-12 education, land use, development and environmental issues, agricultural and farm labor matters, immigration reform, transportation initiatives, and voting rights. A Los Angeles native, he was the first Latino to serve as Press Secretary to a California Governor, appointed by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger to serve as a Board Member to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and was a gubernatorial appointee to the state’s Voter Modernization Board.

Julissa Gómez is a Vice President at Street Level Strategy, where she specializes in coalition building, internal communications programs, grassroots engagement, and campaign management. She has 20 years of public affairs, communications, and grassroots organizing experience working with non-profits and government agencies such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, California Association of REALTORS(R), MomsRising, Center for Justice and Accountability, Amnesty International USA, American Lung Association, Energy Upgrade California, High-Speed Railway, San Francisco General Elections, and Clean Power San Francisco. She has directed several successful statewide ballot initiatives and outreach programs across the state and country.

Prior to joining the firm, she served as Director of Member Mobilization at the California Association of REALTORS®. In that role, she led the advocacy and member mobilization efforts across the state, administered a statewide affordable housing trust fund, and helped pass Prop. 19 – a statewide ballot measure to close tax loopholes for the wealthy.

Previously, Julissa served as the Statewide Advocacy Manager for the American Lung Association in California, where she managed advocacy programs on tobacco control and air quality issues throughout California. In addition, Julissa worked a successful ballot measure to add a new tobacco tax to benefit various programs, including cancer research expansion.

Julissa has also directed outreach efforts for Interethnica, leading marketing, and public engagement consultancy, for various clients, including Energy Upgrade California, High-Speed Railway, San Francisco General Elections, and Clean Power San Francisco. She also served as campaign director for MomsRising, advocating for family-friendly policies like the Affordable Care Act and equal pay legislation.

In her free time, Julissa serves as Vice President for Latinas Lead CA, the only statewide political action committee dedicated to electing Latinas to elected office and advancing Latina leadership. She has advanced Latinas to leadership positions throughout the state through this work. In addition, she’s an active parent volunteer at her daughter’s school.

Julissa received her Bachelor’s in Chicano/a Studies with a minor in History from California State University Northridge.

Victor Franco, Jr. is a Partner in the Los Angeles office of California Strategies. Victor delivers a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

For over 20 years, Victor has built an extensive network of key relationships across many disciplines in the Los Angeles and greater Southern California region including leaders and officials from all sectors of government and public affairs, public safety, land use and planning, public health, information technology, procurement assistance, and more. Franco has extensive experience working on myriad issues with the Latino community as both a volunteer and staff person. His proven abilities to analyze and represent both community and client needs on complicated projects or issues has set a standard of demonstrated, problem solving.

Victor has held several government affairs, marketing and lobbyist positions within the private sector and worked as a Congressional staffer in Washington D.C. In addition to his work with clients, Victor has served on a number of public commissions and non-profit boards in cities throughout LA County including Padres Contra El Cancer; Chicano/Latino Youth Leadership Conference; Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI); Team Rubicon/San Diego; University of Southern California Hispanic Alumni Association, among others.