L.A. County Hall of Administration (Photo – .lacounty.gov)
On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a myriad of motions.
By News Desk
– Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial (Photo – westernprelacy.org, Fred Milikian)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and co-authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis to commemorate the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by proclaiming April 24, 2024 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
“I believe it’s important to reflect and learn from the past,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Remembering the Armenian Genocide gives our diverse communities an opportunity to collectively acknowledge and mourn the loss of over 1.5 million innocent lives. The district I represent is home to the largest concentration of Armenians and Armenian-Americans in the county, so declaring this day of remembrance is also about honoring them. They are resilient people–determined, focused, and dedicated to persevering.”
– Dolores Huerta Day
(L-R) Lindsey Horvath, Juanita Chavez, Marlina Chavez, and Hilda Solis. Juanita and Marlina accepted an award for their mother, Dolores Huerta (Photo – Hilda Solis office)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis to proclaim April 10 as “Dolores Huerta Day” in L. A. County beginning in 2024 and consequently in future years.
Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement.
Born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist. She, along with Cesar Chavez, co-founded the United Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers (UFW).
Dolores Huerta said:
I want to thank Supervisor Solis and the entire Board of Supervisors for bestowing on me this great honor. I am deeply moved to be recognized by the largest county in the United States and to have my birthday proclaimed as Dolores Huerta Day. This is something very special, and I will hold it dear in my heart. I look forward to continuing to partner with the all-women Board of Supervisors for the County of Los Angeles to help move the needle on progressive causes such as workers’ rights, healthcare, and housing.”
Huerta helped organize the 1965 Delano strike of 5,000 grape workers and was the lead negotiator in the workers’ contract that followed. During her time at the UFW, Huerta organized workers, negotiated contracts, and advocated for safer working conditions including the elimination of harmful pesticides. She also fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers. Huerta led the nationwide table grape boycotts in the late 1960s which led to a successful union contract by 1970.
Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, Huerta worked to improve workers’ legislative representation. In 1973, Huerta led another consumer boycott of grapes that resulted in the ground-breaking California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. This law allowed farm workers to form unions and bargain for higher wages and better work conditions. During the 1990s and 2000s, she worked to elect more Latinos and women to political office and championed women’s issues.
Huerta has received numerous awards for her community service and advocacy for workers’, immigrants’, and women’s rights, including the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, the United States Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, in 1993.
Today, Huerta continues to work on developing leaders and advocating for the working poor, women, and children. As founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, she travels across the country fighting for equity and civil rights. Her contributions to California and Latinos across the country have inspired generations of leaders fighting for justice for all workers.
– Home Visiting Day
A motion authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, and co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn, was made to proclaim April 19, 2024, as “Home Visiting Day” in Los Angeles County. Home Visiting programs play an essential role in providing parents with the tools, navigation to resources, and a nurturing professional to partner with them on their pregnancy and parenting journey, with the goal of fostering happy and healthy families.
– National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
“The theme for this year is ‘How would you help? Options, Services, and Hope for Crime Victims’ and I believe it’s so appropriate because it gives us the opportunity to assess ourselves as organizations and agencies as well as individuals in the role we play in supporting crime survivors,” said Supervisor Solis. The motion directs the Chief Executive Office – Countywide Communications to promote National Crime Victims’ Rights Week events throughout the County.
– Reentry Week
Reentry Week is a week dedicated to supporting individuals who are exiting the jail system and reintegrating into the community as well as those who provide essential services to the reentry population, while aiming to reduce recidivism.
– Sam Lewis
On April 9, Supervisor Hilda L. Solis appointed Sam Lewis to the Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC).
The JJCC is a 28-member public body that assists the Chief Probation Officer in developing and executing the Comprehensive Multiagency Juvenile Justice Plan to provide a continuum of responses and priorities for the use of the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) funds. The JJCPA was created by the Prevention Act of 2000 and provides a stable funding source for local juvenile justice programs aimed at curbing crime and delinquency among at-risk youth and juvenile offenders.
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