Meet Alex Mendez
Alex Mendez has dedicated his life to being an advocate for the community, assuring no voice is left unheard. He was born and raised in Santiago, Dominican Republic, with his parents, brother, and sister. After studying marketing at Universidad Tecnologia de Santiago (UTESA), Mendez went on to work as a marketing and promotions manager for Pepsi in the Dominican Republic. In 2000, Alex and his wife Yohanny Mendez made the decision to move to the U.S. and have been in Paterson, New Jersey ever since. Together they have 3 children: Alexander, Miah, and Daniel.
Entering new life in new territory was not without obstacles. Despite his strong capabilities in marketing, he could not acquire a job in Pepsi for marketing because his English was not good enough. Essentially, Mendez started from scratch working at a grocery store in Paterson. He recalls having to bike every day to work from 7AM – 5PM and attend Kennedy High School from 6PM – 10PM to study English. It was not long until he was finally able to establish himself and pursue jobs related to his field as well as invest in residential properties. He worked for Heineken and a distribution company from 2001 to 2008. Mendez has also completed a certificate program in Financial Planning and Insurance Producer at Rutgers University in 2002 and completed studies at Fox School of Real Estate in 2006. His successful business in real estate granted him the financial freedom to purchase his transportation business, which he owned from 2008 – 2016. As a business owner, Alex Mendez has mastered managing budgets, closing contracts, and operating multimillion-dollar ventures.
Alex Mendez’s involvement in politics and city issues began in 2004, when his son was placed in a bilingual class, rather than a class that would benefit him most academically, based on the sole factor of his last name. Since then, he’s fought for hardworking families in the Paterson community who had little to no knowledge of how the governing system works in Paterson and improved education for the community.
Mendez became the President of the Bilingual Parents Association for the city of Paterson in 2009. In 2010, Alex Mendez was elected as a Commissioner of the Paterson Board of Education where he served as Vice President of the board. He dedicated an average of 20-30 hours a week addressing the critical issues that our children encounter daily in our school system. The safety of the community and the improved professionalism through the policy brought him to the school board. Mendez later got elected from 2014 – 2018 as councilman-at-large for the city of Paterson and Vice President of the city council in 2015.
Some of Alex Mendez’s notable community efforts include scholarship awards to Paterson students, numerous city clean ups, citizenship drives and voter registration campaigns, annual toy and school supply giveaways to the city’s children, and introducing the Matt ESL program – teaching our community English totally free. Mendez has also led seminars and workshops regarding the following issues: 1st time homeownership, tax appeal, immigration, gang awareness and crime.
Alex Mendez gave up his seat as councilman-at-large in 2018 to run for Mayor of Paterson and finished as runner-up. The Paterson community admired Mendez’s efforts and wanted him to get back in the race again in 2020. He is currently the councilman of the 3rd Ward of the city of Paterson and is running for Mayor on May 10th, 2022.