Business Groups & Organized Labor
Business Groups & Organized Labor
Homelessness
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Sponsored State legislation to provide humane treatment for those who are suffering from mental illness and are unwilling and/or incapable of accepting care.
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Developed the Housing for Public Health model, which deploys resources to clean-up high-risk encampments in the Fifth District.
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Established Employment Initiatives to connect homeless individuals with jobs and opportunities in each region of the Fifth District.
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Opened the only existing homeless shelter and 2 emergency shelters in the Antelope Valley and funded the development and operation of 256 interim and permanent housing units.
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Identified opportunities and allocated funding to develop new mobile home parks, repurpose existing county facilities into multi-use housing developments and develop over 500 housing beds.
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Secured $2.5 million for 100 temporary bridge housing beds for veterans experiencing homelessness which will include the necessary supportive services to exit the cycle of homelessness.
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Provided gap funding to extend Bridge to Home’s Winter Shelter Program, propelling it into year-round 24/7 operation to serve 60 individuals and 8 families in need in the Fifth District.
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Allocated $80 million for the continued implementation of the County’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund used to increase the number of permanent supportive and traditional affordable housing units.
Health
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Expanded the number of Mental Health treatment beds in the County
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Built a Mental Health Urgent Care Center at the existing High Desert Regional Health Center in Lancaster. The 9,000 square-foot facility will be open seven days a week, 24 hours a day offering services for which Antelope Valley residents now must travel to Sylmar.
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Dramatically increased the number of Mental Evaluation Teams from 10 to 33 which have successfully linked persons suffering from a mental health crisis to services with less than 2% of these encounters resulting in incarceration.
Public safety
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Championed and led creation of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Safety; examined consequences of state criminal justice reforms on recidivism and public safety;
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Preventing recidivism and protecting public safety; leading effort to convert a juvenile camp (Challenger Youth Memorial Center) into a residential vocational facility for young men and women to train them in job skills needed by Antelope Valley employers.
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Allocated funding to purchase two additional Firehawk helicopters and continued the annual leasing of two SuperScooper fire planes and pilots from Quebec.
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Prioritized funding for Sheriff recruitment and retention efforts to reduce deputy shortage and increase patrol within the community.
transportation
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To improve mobility and air quality, Supervisor Barger led the effort to secure over $200 million in federal funding for I-5/SR 14 interchange and $88M for other projects in the Fifth District.
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Championing effort to extend the Gold Line (San Gabriel Valley); rail access to airports and improve the Antelope Valley Metrolink line for shorter travel times.
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Facilitating more than $200 million worth of projects to widen the Antelope Valley Freeway and improve nine frequently congested interchanges in Lancaster and Palmdale.
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More than $13 million in resurfacing work is being done in summer 2019 on roads in unincorporated areas around the Antelope Valley. The 2019 work is among roughly $70 million worth of street resurfacing work scheduled this year and over the next five years with state gas tax money in the unincorporated Antelope Valley.
environment
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Secured a $100 million settlement with Gas Company for residents impacted by the gas leak disaster at the Aliso Canyon gas facility and worked to carve out $25 million for a long-term health study for impacted residents and $3 million for air monitoring.
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Stopped years of illegal dumping by 100-140 trucks on a daily basis at Brown’s Canyon creating community blight and significant harm to the environment.
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Secured funding to extended swim season at County pools and lakes.
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Secured funding to expand the Parks After Dark program to 7 parks in the fifth district.
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Allocated over $5 million in Proposition A funding to open-space projects across the Fifth District
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Banned the use of a herbicide commonly used for weed abatement and ordered the investigation of safer alternatives.
community development
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Secured a $1 million grant to assist in the build of the Armenian-American Museum and Cultural Center.
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Allocated over $7 million to more than double the size of Arcadia Live Oak Library.
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Secured a home field for Santa Clarita Youth Baseball.
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In order to ensure quality of life is maintained Supervisor Barger ordered county departments to create an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals.
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Connected 85 nonprofits (nonprofit social service and health organizations, municipal departments and institutions of higher education) to over 130 grants totaling $1.54 million in funding to accomplish their mission of solving civic problems through arts programming.
children and families
With 30,000 foster youth in Los Angeles County, Supervisor Barger is leading the charge to ensure positive outcomes for those emancipating into adulthood:
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Initiated the Self-Sufficiency Initiative; includes online resource hub for Transitional Aged Foster Youth to better prepare them for adulthood. Leading effort to identify programs and services to help foster youth secure housing, academic achievement and employment.
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Created county policy to maximize academic success for foster youth that keeps them in their school of origin rather than change schools each time they move to a different foster home or congregate care placement. Positively impacted thousands of foster care students.
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Launched the faith-based program that partners the faith communities with foster youth through mentoring and visitation programs; volunteer opportunities and foster parent recruitment.
economic development
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Addressed the state’s housing crisis by increasing housing supply, Supervisor Barger guided the approval of a 19,300 unit housing development that will create 25,000 construction jobs and 19,000 permanent jobs, in addition to roads, police and fire stations, a 30,000 square foot civic center, funds, for future library and animal control facilities, and a Public Works yard
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Approved the creation of nearly 3,500 new affordable housing units, more than two decades of combined new units in Los Angeles County.
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Created a new business preference program that promotes growth opportunities for small and medium-size businesses.
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Built a new mentor-protégé program for small and medium-size businesses to successfully compete for and secure government contracts.
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Established the LA Connect working group of monthly meetings to enhance one-stop services to small businesses, homeowners, and developers.
Veterans
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Hosts Veteran Service Officer in her East San Gabriel Valley field office two days a week to provide direct access to experts who provide information on veteran benefits and process VA claims.
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Hosts thousands of veterans and their families at her “Annual Tribute to Veterans and Military Families” during Memorial Day weekend which includes over 100 exhibitors that offer access to services, resources and entertainment.
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Allocated $20 million for veteran housing and services, with $5 million being used for the establishment of a Veteran Peer Access network to connect veterans through a peer to peer network to help achieve wellness and to lead lives of dignity and purpose.
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Directed the County Department of Mental Health in coordination with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to execute a Memorandum of Agreement between Los Angeles County and the Veterans Health Administration to facilitate inter-agency collaboration and referrals to maximize access to mental health care and reduce veteran suicides.
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Secured $2.5 million to partner with the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide 100 temporary bridge housing beds for veterans experiencing homelessness.
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Celebrated the history and legacy of WW2 Veterans by proclaiming, June 6, 2019, as D-Day Remembrance Day and directing the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to host celebrations in recognition of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day and WW2 Veterans.