CIV to step down as executive director after 6+ years in role
By The Washington Bus & Washington Bus Education Fund Board of Directors
Cinthia Illan Vazquez (pictured) led the Washington Bus and Washington Bus Education Fund as Executive Director for 6+ years, stepping into the role in 2019.
We have some bittersweet news to share. At the end of the year, Cinthia Illan Vazquez (or CIV to many of us) will step down as Executive Director of the Bus. She shared this decision with the board early this year.
We are incredibly sad to see Cinthia go, and deeply grateful for her work over the last six and a half years. Under her leadership, the Bus has grown into a statewide organization, bringing youth from every corner of Washington into our organizing work and cementing the Bus as a long-term youth political power-builder.
Cinthia’s journey with the Bus has been formative and transformative. She joined as a fellow in 2015 and ran the fellowship in 2017. The Bus has been her political home, and she has helped make it a home for thousands of young people across Washington.
With Cinthia at the helm, the Bus has won major victories. We defeated Brian Heywood’s regressive ballot measures aimed at repealing the capital gains tax and millionaires tax, taking away environmental protections, and outing students. We also renewed Seattle’s landmark Democracy Voucher program and elected progressive pro-youth champions. We also advanced key legislative priorities like college affordability, environmental justice, public K-12 funding, and youth basic needs.
Cinthia’s leadership also developed fierce and fearless political movement-builders, including:
Graduated 6 fellowship classes and welcomed 88 new alumni into our Bus community
Registered over 2,000 first-time voters
Built a stronger youth electorate by engaging over 644,000 voters
During this transition, the Bus board will support our staff and an Interim Director. Please join us in honoring Cinthia and her legacy, and in supporting the Bus as we enter a new era of leadership, by joining us at her celebration on December 8, 2026 from 6-8pm. RSVP here.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Washington Bus & Washington Bus Education Fund is led by a Board of Directors, a group of dedicated and mission-critical supervolunteers who set the strategic direction of our organizations.
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