Endorsement: Lola Smallwood-Cuevas for state Senate
A dozen years in the past, because the nation was rebounding from the Nice Recession, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas helped launch a brand new effort to assist Black folks in Los Angeles get extra — and higher — work.
Unemployment amongst African Individuals nationwide was 16.3% on the time, in contrast with 8.7% for whites and 12% for Latinos. Lots of the aerospace and automaking jobs that had as soon as boosted Black households into the center class had lengthy disappeared from Southern California. Smallwood-Cuevas based the Black Employee Middle at UCLA with a mission to enhance employment prospects for African Individuals in Los Angeles.
She rapidly grew to become instrumental in getting extra Black residents into development jobs by connecting them with coaching and pushing authorities contractors to prioritize native hires in constructing infrastructure tasks. A serious success was the Metro Crenshaw line, which employed nearly no Black staff when Smallwood-Cuevas analyzed the mission in 2013. By way of her heart’s efforts, two years later, Black residents made up about 20% of the mission’s workforce. Although California bans racial preferences in hiring, Smallwood-Cuevas displayed problem-solving acumen by pushing for hiring preferences for residents who had as soon as been incarcerated or had been within the foster care system — precisely the individuals who want entry to good jobs to interrupt cycles of poverty.
The group’s success was acknowledged by President Obama and put Smallwood-Cuevas on the vanguard of a nationwide motion to handle racial and financial inequity by strategic coaching initiatives and stronger alliances between labor unions and Black communities.
A Democrat, Smallwood-Cuevas is now operating to symbolize the twenty eighth state Senate District, which incorporates South L.A. and Culver Metropolis, in Sacramento. The seat is now held by state Sen. Sydney Kamlager, who will not be looking for reelection as a result of she’s operating for Rep. Karen Bass’ seat in Congress. Bass, in fact, is operating for Los Angeles mayor.
As a director of the UCLA Labor Middle, Smallwood-Cuevas has a formidable monitor file that blends big-picture interested by financial developments with on-the-ground advocacy to enhance the lives of working folks. She’s supported state insurance policies to extend the minimal wage, strengthen anti-discrimination legal guidelines and spur development of extra reasonably priced housing.
Smallwood-Cuevas’ opponent on the Nov. 8 poll is fellow Democrat Cheryl Turner, an lawyer who owns a non-public follow. She has served on a number of boards and commissions, together with a state board of vocational nursing and an area tourism fee, and is presently the president of the board of the House Assn. of Larger Los Angeles, which lobbies for landlords. Turner has an admirable file of group service however lacks a transparent imaginative and prescient for her marketing campaign.
Smallwood-Cuevas is a mission-driven candidate who has demonstrated the creativity and tenacity that may make her profitable within the state Capitol. Her file signifies that she will likely be a passionate advocate for her communities in addition to a considerate policymaker. Voters ought to give her the chance to place her experience to work to profit all Californians.
