Given Jennifer’s business background and data-driven approach to governance, as well has her expertise in Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) issues, she is uniquely positioned to lead meaningful improvements in the district, which includes LAX and the Port of Los Angeles – major components of the transportation and goods movement industries, and the global supply chain.
Following are details on the issues Jennifer is prioritizing in her community and campaign for office, which includes the economy, housing & infrastructure, and the environment. These are Jennifer’s priorities because they are the priorities of District 35, which includes LAX, Inglewood, Compton, Watts, Hawthorne, Lawndale, parts of Gardena, Carson, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Wilmington, San Pedro and unincorporated communities of East & West Rancho Dominguez, Del Aire, Lennox, West Athens, West Carson, Westmont, and Jennifer’s hometown of Willowbrook.
Of those who are of voting age, the 35th District is majority women (52%), people of color (76%), and folks who are 18-54 years old (64%). Significantly, Jennifer is the only millennial in the race.
Economy
The Issue
This district has a higher poverty rate than 90% of California. Many families in the district struggle to make ends meet and are forced to make decisions with no good options. As a global leader in travel and the goods movement industries, and as sports and entertainment continue to grow in the district, everyone should have the resources they need to thrive and build generational wealth. Sadly, that’s not the reality
The Solutions
To create an economy that works for everyone, we must invest in equitable small business development and retention, increase equity in our tax system, support paid Job Training and Placement Programs for Groups that Face Barriers to Employment, fund financial wellness coaching programs, create pathways for worker collaboratives and middle-wage job creation, and forge sustainable partnerships with businesses, community-based organizations, and educational institutions in our district.
Why Jennifer
Jennifer has the personal experience of growing up in poverty. There were times her mom had to work 3 jobs to provide for her and her siblings. And, she has the professional expertise to bring innovative ideas to the table that work for everyone. As a policy advisor in her own small business, Jennifer is influencing system-changing work in the space of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Jennifer is designing a unified approach for corporations in all industries to play important roles in achieving racial and economic equity.
As a Senior Advisor for PolicyLink, she helped create a Corporate Performance Standards for Racial & Economic Equity. She also contributed to the Investor Blueprint for Racial & Economic Equity, aiming to catalyze investors on the imperative of integrating racial and economic equity holistically within their institutions.
Housing & Infrastructure
The Issue
Everyone deserves a roof over their head. Everyone should be able to afford adequate housing without giving up healthy food, medical care, or other necessities, or accepting unsafe housing conditions. And yes, about 95% of low-income Californians have greater housing affordability than those in this district. This district has seen the largest increase of homelessness in all of LA County.
The Solutions
For everyone to be housed, we need more units of housing for all income levels. California’s housing shortage demands subsidizing moderate and affordable income housing development.
We need statewide policies that hold local jurisdictions accountable for meeting housing needs, and where there is a surplus of market rate housing, incentives should be created to convert it to very low, low, and moderate income housing. To quickly meet the demand, state agencies should enhance efficiency for statewide affordable housing development, local jurisdictions should contribute their fair share of affordable housing across the state and every community should have the funding it needs to get the unhoused off the streets.
Why Jennifer
Having overcome homelessness twice in her own life, Jennifer knows the housing crisis doesn’t impact everyone equally. Jennifer has led coalitions both in the district and in Oakland, bringing businesses and community-based organizations together to advocate for housing and infrastructure policies with a racial equity lens.
In service to her community, Jennifer authored an advocacy letter and built a coalition of community-based organizations to support a feasibility study for an Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District (EIFD) in our unincorporated communities. From that work, Supervisor Mitchell put forth a motion for the feasibility study that passed unanimously. This policy can provide up to 45 years of funding for community-wide benefit projects for communities that have suffered from generations of disinvestment. This advocacy effort is inspired by the policy work Jennifer led on as a CEO Action for Racial Equity founding fellow.
Environment
The Issues
Everyone should be able to live, work, and play in neighborhoods where it is safe to breathe – where they can live long, healthy lives. This district is exposed to more diesel emissions than 90% of Californians. The communities in this district were also developed on unregulated landfills and oil tank farms. Exposure to pollution causes chronic nosebleeds and migraines, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, poor birth outcomes, and premature death.
The Solutions
To create a sustainable environment there are things we need to stop doing and things we need to do more of. We need greater accountability for GHGs and pollution, and we must invest in renewable energy, more carbon recapture, urban greening, and equitable electrification, create policies that incentivize changed behavior without penalizing frontline communities, and transition to a just, green economy that builds bridges between workers and businesses in a way that protects the health of our communities and environment
Why Jennifer
Jennfer has lived experience with environmental racism. She was born in the Ujima Village community in unincorporated Willowbrook, which has a long history of environmental contamination with a lack of financial accountability for the polluter and simultaneous displacement of families, most of which were Black.
In her advocacy, she has been leading her community by organizing around a shipping container issue in unincorporated West Athens in the hopes of repurposing the sites for community-owned agri-solar. Her work includes advocacy for state-level funding to decontaminate both sites, working with the County to possibly purchase the sites from Caltrans, and bringing in other stakeholders like the LA Neighborhood Land Trust.