Yvette Walker
With 91.9 KVCR News. I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Today, we've invited Jesse Armendarez, Second District Supervisor for the County of San Bernardino to join us. Thank you so much for joining us today Supervisor Armendarez.
Jesse Armendarez
Thank you for having me.
Yvette
Please tell us a bit about yourself and what your role is as a supervisor for San Bernardino County.
Jesse
I was a past city council member, I was a school board member, I was a planning commissioner. Those are just some of the things that I did prior to becoming a supervisor. But more importantly, I'm a life long resident of San Bernardino County. I was born and raised in the city of Fontana. Getting into public service was my way of giving back to my community. So, what I do currently as a county supervisor, I oversee about 40 different departments. Things that you'll be familiar with things such as Fire, Sheriffs, the jails, the hospitals, AMRC. Basically, we cover all the things a city council member would cover. On top of that, I tell people, all the wraparound services. The safety net. So, you know, we are in charge of making sure that that safety net is in place. So, whether it's mental health, whether it's public health, we cover the whole array.
Yvette
Please share some of your goals for the community as Supervisor.
Jesse
So, those who know me know like, like my two top goals have always been homelessness and mental health. Those are the things that I'm passionate about. And that I've strived to make a difference in my first year in office, I wanted to have a huge impact. And the way I did that is I advocated for projects that I believed in. And I was just one meeting past (one year). I was able to designate a $10 million to the west end of the county, my district, city of Fontana, $5 million which was going to house 120 beds that we're going to be ready 60 units with 120 beds that we're going to have 24 hour wraparound services to help those who are either experiencing homelessness or are at risk of being homeless. The second project I worked on was, it's actually a church. Water of Life has a nonprofit called City Link in the city of Fontana also. And they do everything from food distribution, interim housing, childcare. But what's really cool about theirs is they have a track record, they've been doing it for over 10 years. When I was a council member they were working. So, I’ve seen the difference they were making in the community. And a lot of people don't realize like even something as simple as a food pantry. People don't realize like there are people who are deciding every day, whether they're going to feed their family or put gas in their car to get to work the next day just to keep a roof over their head. This food pantry offers that stability for those people. And that's why I believe in stuff like this. I've always told people, you know, we got to have all of us come together. It's not just government. It's not just the nonprofits, it's also our churches, it's everyone who wants to give a hand. So, seeing what they were doing, I wanted to have something other than just wraparound services. Part of their program is they're going to be building 30 permanent units that will be transitional housing also. When we were talking and work through the process, what they committed to us was 20 temporary units that will start effectively this year. And that's what the city of Fontana promised. So effectively, we're going to have somewhere about 140 beds available to 160 beds available before the end of the year, which they're projecting July. So that's how we made an impact this year. And then, you know, lastly, you know, I'm a big public safety guy, I want to make sure that you know, our streets are safe, and we have the infrastructure in place.
Yvette
Are there community events you would like to share where the people can learn more about San Bernardino County's efforts and growth?
Jesse
We do quarterly meetings throughout the community. And we switch from Fontana to Rancho Cucamonga to Upland to make sure that we're hearing the voice of the people in our communities. The other event that we're going to have is we, you know, me being the person who's really committed to mental health, we're actually hosting, along with our San Bernardino County Behavioral Health Department, a telephone town hall where we're going to be talking about suicide, our suicide prevention and our suicide programs that we have that we're putting in place now, after we opened our Office of Suicide Prevention. So those are the two big deals that I'm gonna be working on.
Yvette
Supervisor Armendarez, what are you most excited about as you look at the next few years as Supervisor, and share how the community can connect with you.
Jesse
One of the things I'm doing is I'm doing an infrastructure program that's going to do some connectivity in the unincorporated areas connecting our cities and the unincorporated areas of our community, putting backbone infrastructure so that development can occur. Other things I'm looking at is really, really, really getting into how we can make an impact when it comes to mental health. When people talk about homelessness, I tell people, you know, homelessness isn't just a homeless issue. It's a mental health issue. It's an issue that we have to take from a mental health perspective, but also look at ways that we can stop the bleeding. Whether we're working with our seniors, our foster youth, our battered women, our LGBTQ communities, we have to bring all those in and just stop the bleeding before we can truly be effective with homelessness. So, you're gonna see me being engaged in a lot of that stuff. And just trying to build up our Office of Suicide Prevention, like really get the word out because you know, if we can say one life, it's all worth it. So, you'll hear me talking a lot about that.
Yvette
Thank you so much for joining us today Supervisor Armendarez.
Jesse Armendarez
Thank you for having me.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcr news.org/ielatinovoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO fund at IECF, uplifting and investing in the IE’s Latino community. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
