Dear Friends,

This week marked a significant milestone for our Board of Supervisors. After hosting meetings entirely online during the pandemic, we gathered for our first meeting back in the Board room, all five of us on the dais, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, I was proud to introduce two motions that prioritized mental health. One supports a bill that eliminates the mandatory spending categories counties currently have to follow through the Mental Health Services Act. This change will allow us to be more flexible with funding streams so we can ensure our mental health care budget goes where it’s needed most. We also supported the 9-8-8 Implementation Act, which will launch the suicide prevention emergency lifeline to complement 9-1-1. The bill provides guidance to states and sends federal funding to help with local operational costs of the new system. A call to 9-8-8, once fully operational, will dispatch unarmed mental health professionals instead of sworn law enforcement officers to assist people in crisis and provide them with a safe place to get the care they need. L.A. County is working to establish the infrastructure and staffing to ensure we’re ready to implement this life-saving tool when it rolls out.

I was also proud to support a motion to declare April as Arts Month. Through the motion, our Board also voted to double the amount of funding currently available through the Organizational Grant Program, which equips arts nonprofits with the funding they need to provide communities with programming, performances, productions, exhibits, and arts education. We also declared April as Donate Life Month and Armenian History Month, which you can read more about below.

These are just a handful of the motions I introduced and supported this week. You can get look at more motions in this week’s Board Meeting Highlights. I encourage you to stay engaged with our Board meetings, which occur every other Tuesday. Head to bos.lacounty.gov to see what’s on the upcoming agenda and to participate or listen in on a meeting. Thank you for engaging with causes you care about!

Best wishes,

Kathryn Barger
Supervisor, Fifth District

Los Angeles County’s Fifth District includes the Santa Clarita Valley.