Vann Jones is a transgender political analyst, community organizer, educator, and caretaker. He was born and raised in the East Bay Area on Muwekma Ohlone land like his father and grandmother before him. He is a direct descendant of Polish holocaust survivors, one whom is still alive. He grew up in a multi-generational household, and is the child of a disabled mother and a blue collar father. He lost both his grandfather and brother in 2024.
Vann got his start in working towards community care at the age of 12 when he became heavily involved in the Castro Valley Unified School District, fighting for LGBTQ+ inclusion and education at every grade level. He is proudly a first-generation college student, graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz with highest honors in Feminist Studies and the History of Art & Visual Culture. During his time in undergrad, he published and presented his own award-winning research and educational website on transmasculine reproduction which has become a staple in transgender health care across the UC system. His research is now permanently preserved by the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.
He has collaborated with a plethora of renowned organizations and activists both while still in college and after graduating. Vann has experience working both at the California State Capitol in Sacramento as a legislative intern and on The Hill in Washington, D.C. as a policy & field intern for the National LGBTQ+ Task Force and a journalism intern for internationally acclaimed reporter Erin Reed. Most recently he has worked at the local level and contributed towards the Alameda County Divest From Apartheid Campaign, which has already seen over $32 million worth of bonds removed from Caterpillar for their involvement in human rights abuses. Throughout his life, Vann has worked with and lobbied at every level of government in order to help pass progressive legislation on a wide variety of intersectional issues in order to protect our most vulnerable.
When he’s not working, volunteering, or studying, he enjoys playing his many string instruments, gardening, sewing, quilting, hiking, making art, and spending time with friends, family, and his cat Mabel.