Emily Lintner

Los Angeles, CA — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis to explore creating a pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County, with the goal of keeping more families safely together and reducing racial disparities in the child welfare system.

“We need to do everything we can to protect children from abuse, but far too many families are separated for reasons that actually stem from poverty, and these families are disproportionately Black and Indigenous,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Pre-petition advocacy will mean connecting parents with resources and support early, help us prevent unnecessary and painful family separations, and ultimately help break the cycle of poverty that has kept so many families stuck in the child welfare system.”

In Los Angeles County, legal advocates are court-appointed to represent children and families only after a petition alleging child abuse or neglect is filed with the Dependency Court seeking court intervention. However, across the country a “pre-petition advocacy model” is being embraced, which enables legal advocates to represent children and parents before a child is removed and before a petition is filed with the Court.

This form of preventative legal advocacy is proving effective in keeping families together safely, keeping children at home, supporting social workers, and preventing the need for foster care. By providing prevention services and legal remedies for low-risk issues (such as counseling, respite care, help with evictions, protective orders, etc.), this model results in reducing the trauma of unnecessary child and family separation and reducing the disproportionate number of Black and Indigenous families that become system involved.

“This motion is exactly the innovative and worthy initiative our County needs to take on to reimagine the child welfare system. It’s what our families deserve,” said Supervisor Solis, who co-authored the motion. “Providing legal services early in a case can keep families together and ensure they have the support to thrive. To that end, I’m proud to co-author this motion, which seeks to support families outside of the child welfare system – at an earlier stage in the process. I thank the Reimagine Child Safety Coalition and the many stakeholders instrumental in this work.”

Today, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisors Hahn and Solis to advance a countywide pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County. The board instructed the County CEO’s Service Integration Branch to report back to the Board on the feasibility of creating a pre-petition advocacy model in Los Angeles County with a goal of keeping families safely together and reducing racial disparities in the child welfare system. The work will be done in consultation with community stakeholders, including people with lived experience in the child welfare system.

Lynwood, CA — Today, a gun buyback sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office in partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Community Advisory Council took 365 guns off of the streets.

“This was a success,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. “There are 365 fewer guns that can be used in a violent crime or a tragic accident in our communities. I am grateful to everyone who came out today and turned in a weapon. It was the right thing to do and your families and your community are safer because of it.”

The event was held from 9 am to 5 pm today at the parking lot of the Metro Park and Ride in Lynwood. Anyone willing to turn in a gun could do so completely anonymously, no questions asked, and receive gift cards for Food4Less, Amazon, Superior Market, and North Gate Gonzalez Market in exchange. The gift cards were purchased by Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office.

Gift card amounts differed depending on the weapon returned:

•  $50 – Non-working firearm or part
• $150 – Working rifle/pistol/shotgun
• $200 – Working ghost gun
• $300 – Working Assault rifle

The guns collected ranged from hand guns and pistols to semi-automatic and automatic assault rifles.

Los Angeles, CA – During Thursday’s regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the 13-member Board unanimously approved a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn that instructs the agency, responsible for bus and rail services and major highway and rail transit construction projects across the County, to develop a policy to protect existing trees and plant more trees as it develops its transportation projects.

“Our communities are facing increasing average temperatures, more air pollution, and other serious environmental challenges. A Metro Tree Policy will mean cleaner air, more shade for pedestrians and cyclists and people taking transit, and more walkable, livable, and beautiful neighborhoods,” said Supervisor Hahn, who serves as member of the Metro Board.

Trees provide multiple far-reaching benefits, cooling streets by between two and four degrees Fahrenheit and improving air quality and reducing stormwater runoff.

“Neighborhoods that lack green infrastructure are more often lower-income and communities of color, with higher transit ridership,” added Supervisor Hahn. “Those communities stand to benefit the most from this policy. I’m thankful to my colleagues for their support and look forward to delivering cleaner, healthier air for the residents of LA County.”

The motion instructs Metro to present a plan by August 2022 for the Board’s approval. The motion was co-authored by LA County Supervisors Solis and Mitchell, and Metro Board Directors Dutra, Bonin, and Krekorian.

South Whittier, CA – On Thursday evening, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn was recognized with the 2022 Cesar E. Chavez Spirit Award for her continued commitment to the movement for workers’ rights. Hahn received the award during the fourth annual Cesar E. Chavez Remembrance Event and Community Service Project, held at Liberty Community Plaza in South Whittier. Paul Chavez, son of the labor leader for whom the event and award are named, gave the event’s keynote address and presented the award.
“Cesar is a towering figure in the history of California, and an icon of the movement to demand dignity for all workers,” said Supervisor Hahn. “To be recognized by his family with this award is such an honor for me.”

Following the presentation of the 2022 Cesar E. Chavez Spirit Award, Supervisor Hahn presented Paul Chavez with an official commendation in recognition of his own work as president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

The Cesar E. Chavez Remembrance Event and Community Service Project is an annual event founded by local activist and Mrs. South Whittier, Margie Rodriguez. The event was attended by elected officials from across Southeast Los Angeles County, community leaders, and students from California, La Serna, Whittier, and Pioneer High Schools. The event concluded with a video presentation of projects completed by area students centered on the theme of social justice.

“It’s clear that his message continues to hold a lot of power for the next generations of leaders in our communities,” added Supervisor Hahn.

Los Angeles, CA — Supervisor Hahn wants LA Metro to be prepared for the possibility that LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva follows through with his threat to end his department’s contract with the transit agency and pull his deputies from buses and trains in July.

“We can’t take the Sheriff’s threat lightly,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who serves on the Metro Board of Directors. “If he chooses to pull his deputies from our trains and buses, we need to be prepared and have other law enforcement agencies ready to step in. At the end of the day, we are responsible for the safety of our riders.”

Today, the Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors Operations Committee unanimously approved a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, and Inglewood Mayor James Butts directing the Chief Executive Officer to report back to the Metro Board in May on how Metro can modify its existing contracts with the LAPD and Long Beach Police Department to ensure continuity of service and continued law enforcement services coverage throughout the Metro Bus and Rail Transit System should the Sheriff chose to end his department’s contract at the end of June.  The motion will go in front of the full Metro Board of Directors next week.

Background:

In 2017, Metro adopted a multi-agency approach for its law enforcement contract, with the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Long Beach Police Department. This multi-agency contract has brought about increased presence of law enforcement on the Metro Bus and Rail System as the three law enforcement agencies patrol and provide services in their respective jurisdictions.

In December 2021, the Metro Board of Directors voted to increase the law enforcement contract by $75.2 million and to extend it by 12 months, from June 2022 to June 2023. While the Board authorized an extension, the three law enforcement agencies must also each agree to the extension in order to continue these services on the Metro Bus and Rail Transit System through June of 2023. The 12-month extension allows Metro staff additional time to procure a new law enforcement contract. Further, the Board has authorized additional funding to supplement the law enforcement contract with initiatives that include transit ambassadors, customer experience improvements, mental health outreach, and resources for people experiencing homelessness on the system.

On April 13th, the Los Angeles Sheriff held a press conference, followed by a submission of a formal letter to the agency, stating that he will not extend the existing five-year contract beyond its original June 30, 2022 expiration date, if Metro continues to also contract with LAPD and LBPD. If the Sheriff opts to decline the opportunity offered to him by the Board to extend LASD’s contract with Metro through June 30, 2023, he will leave a void in law enforcement services on the Metro system.

Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has released the following statement about LA County’s Fiscal Year 2022-23 Recommended Budget which was advanced today by the Board of Supervisors:

“A government budget is a moral document that outlines our values and priorities. Today, our board advanced a $38.5 billion budget that invests in everything from our infrastructure to public safety, to the health and well-being of our residents.

I am particularly proud that this budget includes funding to keep our public pools open through September, to bring mobile healthcare clinics to underserved communities, to expand the Therapeutic Transport Program so we can send mental health professionals directly to people in crisis, to hold additional academy classes to recruit new deputies to fill vacancies in the Sheriff’s Department, and to launch the County’s first department dedicated to supporting older adults and residents with disabilities.

Our residents deserve the best services we can provide, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the CEO to fulfill our responsibility to the ten million people who call Los Angeles County home.”