With less than a week until the votes are counted in the 54th Assembly Special Election on this Tuesday, May 18, 2021.  Heather Hutt is taking nothing for granted.  She has walked every neighborhood in her district for the past two months, explaining to voters why she is the most qualified candidate to be elected to the seat and encouraging voters to make sure they vote in this special election. 

“Voters are tired, this district has been voting for over a year, but I am asking voters to keep voting, keep fighting.  Other states are trying to suppress our vote, our voice, so I am asking and encouraging our community to vote.  We are not Georgia, we can vote; we can vote by mail, or we can vote in person, but we must vote,” stated Hutt.

Heather Hutt has not been walking the district alone.  She has been joined on the campaign trail with the powerful Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Hutt is also supported by one of only two Black women currently in the state legislature, Autumn Burke. 

“We need Heather Hutt in Sacramento.  We need a strong and loud voice who has the experience and understands how to deal with the issues facing our community, our families, our children.  We cannot go backwards. 

In a time when our community our businesses are struggling, in a time when African American Women are standing strong and making such a difference throughout the country not having a strong woman like Heather in Sacramento is disrespectful to all the strong Black Women who came before her.”  Stated Kim Brown and Arlington Heights resident who is supporting Heather Hutt for Assembly.

On Saturday, May 8, Hutt’s campaign trail landed at the parking lot of the Los Angeles Sentinel, where Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, Jan Perry, and a host of organizations and public officials gathered with community members rallying in favor of Hutt.  

Heather is the former Statewide Director for then, Senator and now Vice President Kamala Harris.  She is the first African American woman to ever hold this position in California’s history. 

According to Hutt she declined an opportunity to move to Washington D.C. and serve under the Biden/Harris administration.  Instead, her passion and love for this communi

ty drove her to stay home and fight for the people of her community. 

“I was born and raised in this community.  I raised my three sons in this community, and I have been working and serving the residence of this community my entire life.  I cannot think of a better job for me, a job that combines my years of experience working in Washington and in Sacramento along with my love of this community all to serve for the betterment of all,” stated Hutt.

If elected, Hutt says on day one she has a list of top priorities that she wants to address and here they are:

HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare a wide variety of failures in our healthcare system that need to be addressed. Now more than ever, we are reminded of how connected we all are and how critical the need for universal healthcare is. If elected to the Assembly, I’m committed to ensuring that every Californian—no matter their income level or immigration status— can affordably access the healthcare they need.

Throughout the pandemic, I worked to mitigate the effects of the virus, including advocating for additional protections (Including paid leave) for our frontline workers, who are disproportionately women and people of color and risking their lives to keep the economy moving.

At the onset, I was continuously briefed by the CDC & DHS regarding the coronavirus and helped the state of California formulate plans and precautions to keep us safe.

The pandemic has also highlighted the intense disparities in our healthcare system when it comes to race and socioeconomic status, an issue I am intimately familiar with. In the Senate, I brought together healthcare professionals to discuss implicit bias in the healthcare industry, especially for women and women of color. It’s an issue I’m committed to continuing to tackle in the Assembly.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY & HOMELESSNESS

For years, California has clearly been in a housing crisis, with a dire need for more affordable housing. Over the past several years, our region has passed a lot of bond measures calling for more affordable housing, but few have been built.

We need to ensure that these units actually get built, and that the process happens more quickly. Also, we must really rethink what our community housing looks like to ensure that the so-called affordable housing units are actually affordable for working families, particularly someone making $40,000 who's providing for their family

As someone who has raised my family in this community and turned my house into a home, I know how critical it is that this same opportunity is provided to future generations. Even before the pandemic, gentrification has been a deadly force for many in the 54th District, displacing thousands of families and small businesses.

That’s why while we must build more affordable housing, we must also preserve the integrity of our neighborhoods to ensure our families are not priced out of their homes due to the emergence of luxury high rises.

Our state and our region also clearly need a much more proactive approach to addressing homelessness and housing insecurity by investing in greater affordable housing units and preventative care like mental health and emergency services.

As someone who has personal experience with housing insecurity, I know that we need to combat our region’s homelessness epidemic head-on by prioritizing housing-first solutions and by investing in wrap-around mental health services and other preventative measures

A FAIR ECONOMIC RECOVERY

The pandemic has brought about a devastating economic crisis that has intensified the gap between the haves and the have nots, with millions out of work, small businesses crumbling and the rich getting even richer.

The Governor and the legislature agreed on a package this week that is a great first step for families, but we will need to expand these types of programs, because the economic devastation left by the pandemic will not be erased overnight.

As a former small businesswoman who would’ve been devastated by the pandemic, providing greater aid to struggling small and medium-sized businesses is tremendously important to me. 

We must also ensure that the aid being distributed goes to those who need it most, including businesses owned by women and people of color.

As a SNAP activist and former small business owner, I am deeply committed to repairing and rebuilding our post-pandemic economy in a way that prioritizes the most marginalized during the crisis. The only way to create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, is to properly invest in the working and middle class and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share.

That’s why in the Assembly, I am committed to expanding critical services for working and middle-class communities, including more aid to low-income Californians and vital support to small businesses, and enhancing the rights of working people. Importantly, I will use my intimate knowledge of the policymaking process to ensure that targeted assistance to small businesses and others helps those who need it most, and to continue increased unemployment benefits until we can get back to work.

Additionally, this time has shown us the tremendous importance of essential workers, including often-forgotten service workers who are critical to our day-to-day lives. Particularly given the grotesque way that the health of workers has been threatened like never before, over the past year, it is crystal clear that the rights of working people must be upheld and expanded, which I will fight for in Sacramento.

FIGHTING HATE & DISCRIMINATION

In another way the pandemic has brought out the worst of us, the surge of violence against the AAPI community over the past year is absolutely appalling and must be stopped.

We can’t close our eyes to the epidemic of anti-AAPI violence, egged on by racist dog whistles, and ignore the problem.  If you see an incident happening, don’t be a hapless bystander. We all must engage and say or do something. At the same time, we must call out the racist dog whistles in our politics for what they are.

QUALITY & EQUITABLE EDUCATION

California’s public schools-- still recovering from the last recession and decades of cuts-- face a tremendous crisis confronting the economic consequences of the pandemic. While the state legislature is doing its best to plug the budget holes, our state clearly needs more revenue. The wealthiest among us, many of whom have gained massive amounts of wealth during this crisis, need to pay their fair share to ensure that a high-quality public education is available to every California student.

Clearly, the past year has been devastating for our young kids, with most students falling behind or staying stagnant academically. But we need to make sure the conditions for both students and teachers alike are safe before we return to the classroom. Our teachers are now being prioritized in the vaccine distribution, and we must continue to ensure that they’re at the front of the line so we can get the children back in the classroom.

In the Assembly, I’ll fight to invest in the most underserved schools, restore budget cuts to higher education, and work to make the system more affordable and accessible for lower- and middle-income California.

POLICING & CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

As a mother who has had all three of my sons fall victim to senseless gun violence while in college, I know all sides of this issue very intimately.  I saw how my sons were treated like criminals by police officers after they were shot, but I also saw the good cops who worked tirelessly to achieve justice for my sons. Look, the protests last summer made clear to the world what black and brown people have known for a long time, which is that our policing and criminal justice systems are in desperate need of reform.

That’s why I’m refusing to take a dime from law enforcement unions, because they have frequently been obstacles in enacting transformative change. One example of a policy I’m going to pursue is getting rid of California’s gang database, a misguided policy that provides little public safety value, but serves to criminalize innocent black and brown youth simply for the community they live in.

When I was previously in Sacramento, I also worked to combat high rates of recidivism, including realignment issues, organizing the Assembly Select Committee on Community Resources Impacted by AB109 Re-Entry as well as the Assembly Select Committee on Human Rights, Diversity and Race Relations.

A GREEN ENERGY REVOLUTION

The damage from climate change isn’t in the future, it’s here now. The climate crisis is wreaking havoc on California already, with worse to come. Over the past several years, Californians have experienced firsthand some of the driest and hottest conditions in state history, resulting in an unprecedented frequency of severe droughts and fires. That’s why it’s abundantly clear that we need a green energy revolution that both slows down climate change and provides quality middle-class jobs.

Throughout my career, I have been at the frontlines of this fight. While serving in the Senate, it was an issue I confronted firsthand. When the Thomas Fire struck our state in 2017, Donald Trump denied assistance to the counties as part of his vendetta against California. As a result, I had to work with organizers in local communities to get a FEMA Individual Assistance Declaration so that folks struggling in the aftermath of the fire would have access to resources. After experiencing this obstruction, I worked with then-Senator Harris to institute a new office policy where anytime a fire in the state gets above 1000 acres, we start tracking the fire’s development so that the office is completely ready to reach out to FEMA for assistance once the fire subsides.

Additionally, I also championed a variety of environmental justice issues in the State Legislature, including access to clean water in Watts and other South Los Angeles communities as well as tracking wildfires to ensure resources to combat this ever-growing environmental catastrophe. In Sacramento, I will fight to accelerate California’s transition to clean, renewable energy, making sure that we prioritize communities that have been hardest hit by climate change and pollution.

When it comes to the issue of failing power grids, it’s certainly something that needs to be addressed immediately because the climate crisis will only continue to increase the likelihood of extreme weather events. With the rolling blackouts our state has been experiencing, seniors and other folk dependent on refrigerated medication and other high-level healthcare literally had their lives in jeopardy every time they lost power.

While there are a wide variety of reasons for the power grid’s repeated failures, the problem fundamentally boils down to handing off our electricity grids to private corporations and letting these systems fall by the wayside. Moving forward, we need to enact better oversight policies and invest in maintenance and operations.

IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

California, and Los Angeles in particular, are places that thrive because of our unparalleled diversity, powered by generations of hard-working, enterprising immigrant communities. Growing up here, it’s clear that everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed, regardless of their citizenship status.

As someone who both fought to implement the DREAM ACT and someone who defended immigrant communities from the Trump Administration while in the U.S. Senate, immigrant rights are tremendously personal to me.

During my time in the Senate, I helped then-Senator Harris introduce the DONE Act, which called to immediately prohibit the expansion of immigration detention facilities. Further, I oversaw the creation of one of the most robust immigration casework teams in the nation to address the Trump Administration’s ever-changing anti-immigrant policies, including regularly visiting detention facilities to review the conditions of the detainees. Additionally, I also organized statewide local rapid response networks and deportation defense advocates in Fresno following widespread back-to-back raids throughout California in 2018. This convening led to the creation of the California Rapid Response Steering Committee which directly informed DHS policy on deportations. I also participated in numerous DACA renewal clinics throughout California and provided constituent services to countless recipients.

As your Senate State Director, I worked tirelessly to reform our immigration system, and I would bring the same tenacity to Sacramento if elected to the Assembly. In Sacramento, I’ll fight to not only protect immigrant communities from ICE abuse, but also ensure immigrants have access to critical services, including the COVID-19 vaccine, economic aid, and aid to small businesses.

As Los Angeles begins to recover from the devastation of the pandemic, Mayor Eric Garcetti took time out of his very busy schedule to sit down with the Los Angeles Sentinel to directly address those issues which are impacting the lives of African Americans, communities of color, and those most severely affected by COVID-19.

To say that the past 15 months have been a roller coaster ride for Mayor Garcetti and his office would be an understatement.  For the mayor of California’s largest and most populated city, every decision is picked apart, criticized, and no matter what decision he makes, there surely will be someone or some group that will disagree with that decision. 

But Garcetti has weathered this storm as he has done so many times before by staying focused and following his commitment to make the decisions he believes are in the best interest of all of Los Angeles, and not just attempting to subdue the loudest naysayers in the room. 

As Los Angeles begins to re-open and we return back to some level of “normalcy,” the mayor finds himself rising in popularity throughout the city.  A recent poll shows Mayor Garcetti’s approval ratings are hovering somewhere between 65% and 69%, primarily due to his guidance of Los Angeles through a horrific pandemic.

BASIC INCOME PROGRAM

While Garcetti’s approval ratings are high, he continues working to envision an even better L.A.   He recently launched a guaranteed basic income program which will provide some of Los Angeles’s most underserved and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and families with a guaranteed income for at least the next 12 months. 

While other cities, including Compton and Stockton, have launched similar programs, it is the Los Angeles program launch that will serve as the bench mark for all programs to follow throughout the nation.  Los Angeles is by far the largest city to launch a program of this nature and obviously will also have the largest budget. 

The mayor believes that launching the Basic Income Program will have a dramatic effect on the lives of its participants. “This launch will be the biggest program launch in America.  3,000 households and 10,000 Angelenos will get a $1,000 basic income.” He says the idea, which comes right from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision that the poor in America should receive a guaranteed basic income, will empower and inspire communities. “You will see graduation rates go up, salaries and wages will go up.  You’re going to see housing stability be better and were going to see that small investments have big payoffs,” stated Mayor Garcetti. 

REPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

The mayor, along with the other African American Councilmembers, such as Curren Price, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Mark Ridley Thomas, is looking to form a commission to study reparations for African Americans in Los Angeles.  “We are looking at how we can inspire the national conversation around HR-40 that Congresswoman Lee in Texas has called for a national commission.”

The mayor says this is not a new conversation for him.  He originally had a discussion with Congressman John Conyers of Detroit about this concept and has supported this idea for over 15 years.  But now the conversation is beginning to get traction. 

He is leading a group of mayors from around the country who are willing to get behind this idea of reparations and pilot a program that will demonstrate to national leadership what happens if we were to give Black Americans the financial resources, the educational guarantees, bring an end to housing discrimination, and address everything that has piled on Black people for centuries. 

He says through this initiative, “We can begin correcting racial injustice and not just play around the edges but actually do something lasting that would put Black Americans on equal footing with non-Black Americans.

VACCINATIONS

Recovering from the COVID Pandemic is the largest issue that has ever faced this state, the nation, and in fact the world.  But the mayor has taken great steps in navigating the vaccination into arms.  The city has taken the administering of vaccinations out of the hands of FEMA and is now partnering with local organizations like the Brotherhood Crusade to ensure that those who want the vaccine can receive the vaccine. 

“Early on, you had the eager volunteers who would go to Dodger Stadium or folks who had cars, people who can get the vaccine. 

But there are also people who don’t drive in L.A. or who don’t have laptops, or who just simply don’t trust the vaccine.”  

To address these issues, the mayor implemented a local program he refers to as the 4 – T’s (Truth, Trust, Technology and Transportation):  1) Speak the truth.  Let the people know exactly what’s going on; 2) Work with trusted partners such as Brotherhood Crusade; 3) Use technology where people are; if people don’t have computers, contact them and set up appoints on the phone; 4) Transportation.  Make it easy for people to get to the appointments which is why the city has partnered with Uber and LYFT, as well as established mobile clinics to take away any reason for not having access to the vaccine. 

Using and implementing Garcetti’s 4-T strategy, which Dr. Fauci says has helped Los Angeles to be identified as one of the strongest equity programs in the country, the mayor says, “Using the 4-T strategy has allowed us not to just brag about our numbers overall, but we can brag about our numbers in Leimert Park, we can brag about them in Boyle Heights, we can brag about them in Pacoima, we can brag about them in communities that are always the last and need to be the first because they have been the hardest hit.”   

“The city’s mobile clinics have delivered the vaccine to about 90% people of color.  We have been able to go where they live, into the communities they call home and that is what has made us most effective.  If we don’t do that, we won’t get past covid across the entire city,” Garcetti said.  

BUSINESS

The city has led a huge effort to pump city dollars into community businesses like Dulan’s Soulfood Kitchen and Harold and Belle’s, who operated senior feed and meal delivery programs delivering much needed meals to seniors during the pandemic.  But the mayor says that business recovery is going to be a huge part of making the African American business community whole.  “Black businesses have been so disproportionately affected by the pandemic.” 

But the mayor also says that the pandemic has shed light on unfair and unequal financial and business practices which operated long before COVID-19.  “COVID finally shed a light on justice on race and economic opportunity in America.  Many of us already saw that division, we saw that inequality, but now, all of America could feel it. 

You could see it by who was dying, by which businesses were closing down, by who was losing their jobs. So, to me, this justice budget we established in the city was all about putting these dollars we got from the federal government and those dollars we found in our own budget in the hands of Black and Brown Communities and Black and Brown businesses.”

The mayor is happy to discuss how he has not only been able to support Los Angeles existing businesses through the LA Cares program, but also wants to focus some attention on the $3 million they have put towards youth jobs and youth programs.  The mayor says, “Remember, today’s youth workers are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.” 

Garcetti is proud of the fact that he and his administration have found ways to support so many local businesses at every level.  From administering loans and grant programs to local Black and Brown businesses to amending zoning ordinances to make outside dining available to businesses who previously did not or could not operate outdoors. 

The mayor clearly has demonstrated a commitment to assisting our local businesses to stay afloat and/or start a new business venture as we put COVID in the rear-view mirror.  “We are in the midst of experiencing a renaissance of Black and Brown-owned businesses in this city and this is our moment to do it,” says Mayor Garcetti.

HOMELESSNESS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The homelessness or unhoused problem here in Los Angeles has reached unimaginable levels, but the mayor sees the recent ruling by the courts and the judge’s orders to clean up Skid Row as more of a positive than he views as a negative.    The judge’s ruling reinforced the biggest commitment in the City of Los Angeles history to fight homelessness.  We have allocated over $1 billion to address this issue.  I welcome the initiative and embrace the need to urgently house people, as we have done over this past year.  But I meant what I said when the judge made the ruling, “Stay out of our way.  Anything that helps us accelerate, I’m all for, but anything that slows us down, is not wanted. Stay out of the way,” he said.  The mayor says Los Angeles has about 5000 new units of housing in the pipeline for 2021 and over 3000 beds of shelter that did not exist a few years ago, and this, along with our $1 Billion dollar commitment, demonstrates we are and intend to remain committed to addressing this crisis.  “It’s not the City of Los Angeles that is not doing its part; can the State and the fed match us?    We know how to do this work now.  We have doubled the amount of people we have taken off the street each year for the past five years.  But we have to stop people from becoming homeless,” stated Garcetti.  This was the mayor’s message to his friend and then candidate, Joe Biden and now President Joe Biden.  But he says it is also the message he is taking to the governor and to the State Legislature to take the state’s $50 billion dollar surplus and put at least 1/3 of that to permanent solutions for homelessness now.

The mayor explained that he is leading a 12 big city mayors committee in California.  This committee has requested for $4 billion a year from the State which is four times more than they have spent in the past several years. 

The president of the senate and the speaker of the house have already endorsed the program and now needs Governor Newsom to sign off.  The mayor says that this legislation will pump $20 Billion new dollars into resolving the homeless crisis over the next five years, which will help the State to match the local monies that will help Los Angeles to be off to the races in addressing the homeless crisis that is plaguing our state.

The cost of housing in general is also a huge challenge especially for those here in Los Angeles.  The mayor believes that unfortunately, the cost of housing here in Los Angeles and throughout the state has gone way beyond the middle-class price range, let alone the working class.  But the mayor knows that homeownership is the basic goal of the “American Dream.”  Not only has Garcetti worked with the Proposition HHH Supportive Housing Loan Program to bring forward about 11,000 new homes, but he is also working with the city to amend zoning ordinances to allow for more units as long as some of these units are built and priced to be affordable.  The mayor is also a big proponent for the building of ADU’s which allows current homeowners to build additional units on their existing property to create a rental unit and help Los Angeles achieve a sense of affordability.  The mayor says that not only must you look at what you are building inside of the city, but to look closely at how areas are zoned to make the building of new units easier, more affordable, and more accessible to everyone.

JUSTICE REFORM

The mayor acknowledges that “George Floyd and so many others have lost their lives at the hands of our law enforcement officers.  This points out how far we still have to go,” he said. 

Garcetti also believes that we have to stop throwing so much on to the shoulders of our police department and assume that we are going to receive the outcomes we want.

‘If something doesn’t need a gun, don’t send a gun.”  Garcetti says look at how effective our gang reduction youth development ambassador’s program has been.  These are former gang members working with youth in our communities who have reduced crime an additional 40% beyond what officers have been able to do on their own.  Today, if someone is going through a mental health crisis, the mayor says we no longer need to send police or fire departments to address a non-violent situation, because we now have a 24-hour mental health response team who can actually help that person through their duress.  He points out that we have to co-own public safety. 

If the community thinks just reforming the police department is going to solve the problem, then we are abdicating our collective responsibility.  We are being affective because we are using this method for homeless outreach, suicide prevention, domestic violence, as well as sexual assault.  So now, Los Angeles has civilians who can roll out and address these issues and make the community safer by enhancing our intervention by adding 80 peace ambassadors in the streets of L.A.   “It’s not just the responsibility of the police department, it’s the responsibility of all of us.”

Garcetti feels one bad shooting is one too many; it’s time to daylight those police officer’s disciplinary hearings.  Los Angeles currently has a police chief who wants to fire bad police officers, but that decision often gets overruled by a civilian board with no clear reasons for the decision.  “This law has got to change,” Mayor Garcetti says.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and his administration have about 18 months remaining before he is termed out.  He feels that he has accomplished a lot during his tenure.  But he also believes that he can do so much more.  He envisions a better city for Los Angeles and he remains committed to the promise of inclusion and equity for all Angelenos.  Garcetti believes that is what a leader does.

Children in L.A. County’s foster care system have a passionate booster in Charity Chandler-Cole.  As the new chief executive officer of CASA of Los Angeles, she is fully committed to being a champion for youth and recruiting others to join the cause.

CASAs, Court Appointed Special Advocates, provide guidance and support to children who have entered the juvenile dependency system due to abuse or neglect by their parents.  Chandler-Cole, who is the organization’s first African American CEO, brings a powerful combination of senior management expertise and lived experience to the nonprofit agency.

Chandler-Cole’s background includes creating Transformative Management Solutions (TMS), a consultancy she founded that is focused on aiding nonprofit, public and political organizations in implementing social, educational and racial justice as well as child welfare initiatives; serving as chair of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), a group focused on empowering formerly and currently incarcerated people;and being vice chair of Fostering Change Network, a global consulting body dedicated to improving child welfare policy.

She was also a member of the Juvenile Justice Standing Committee, which was created by the Board of State and Community Corrections to address concerns impacting adolescent offenders; as well as served on the Prop 47 Executive Steering Committee, which she described as “guiding the process for awarding the majority of the state’s Proposition 47 savings to help rehabilitate and provide resources to those coming out of prison.”

In addition, Chandler-Cole was elected president of the Black Los Angeles Young Democrats, a political action committee that trains young African American leaders in advocacy and activism “to strengthen our influence in politics and policies that affect our lives,” she said.

Also, she received a Masters in Public Administration from Cal State University Northridge, a Bachelor’s in Communication Studies from Loyola Marymount University, and is currently finishing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University. She is a mother to four children, and relative caregiver to her nephew.

Critical to her success – both past and future - is her “heart for young people” along with her belief that building awareness about CASAs will help foster children and communities as a whole.  However, key to raising the agency’s profile is persuading more people of color to volunteer with the organization, noted Chandler-Cole.

“We need more Black and Brown CASAs out there, so if we have a little Black kid that’s in the child welfare system, he can be partnered with a Black male or Black female, someone who looks like him and comes from his community and he can say, ‘Wow, I can actually grow up and be like this person.

They’re just not my advocate in court, they’re also my mentor, my friend, my big sister or brother and they look like me.’

“In order to be a CASA, your heart really has to drive this for you.  And being a CASA isn’t for everyone,” she admitted. “It’s for someone that sees the benefit in helping our children and the social responsibility of helping our children and leading from their heart in serving our children. It’s an opportunity to make an impact on someone’s life.”

And positively impacting a child’s life does not take loads of time, said the new CEO.

CASAs donate an average of 10-to-20 hours a month through activities such as regular visits with the child, interacting with foster parents and teachers, and accompanying youth to court hearings and appointments.  Other actions, like online reports and phone calls, can be completed from a CASA’s home.

Also, becoming a CASA is a relatively simple process. After interviews and a background check, volunteers complete 40 hours of training where they learn about cultural sensitivity, child development, psychotropic mood changing drugs and other information that may affect a child.  

“Everyone has the opportunity to spend hours upon hours to help our youth, but the reality is we rely on volunteers to commit their personal time to helping transform a life. We’re very intentional how our CASAs interact with our youth, making sure that those interactions are impactful and meaningful, so that the short amount of time they spend with the youth is memorable and actually helps change their lives in the process,” Chandler-Cole said.

“But for the people that step up to be CASAs, it’s just as rewarding for them as it is for our youth, so it’s worth it for both parties.”

To build the ranks of CASAs, Chandler-Cole’s aims to encourage more older adults to donate time in the volunteer role and seek partnerships with other youth-oriented nonprofits, such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters, to share resources and programs. 

“We have amazing folks at home that are over 60, 65 and 70, that want to get involved. Perhaps they are not always mobile or may be health compromised in different ways, [but we want] to reach out to them to allow them to be active and engaged,” insisted Chandler-Cole, who added that the pandemic has expanded the opportunity to virtually connect with people, which helps advance communication and relationships between individuals.

Expressing optimism about the future in her new position, Chandler-Cole shared, “Having been in the system and seeing the dire outcomes for so many children who feel they have no voice and no one who cares for them, I was drawn to CASA/LA, [which] provides a direct way to change outcomes that so often seem automated in an overburdened system.

“A CASA volunteer sends a distinct message, letting everyone that interacts with that child know that they have someone looking out for them. These children are not alone, and they will not be discarded,” she said. “CASA/LA has the opportunity to upend the status quo of our Child Welfare System and serve as a transformative force in drastically changing the experience of youth in foster care.”

To learn more or volunteer as a mentor, visit casala.org.