Mia knows what it's like not to have a voice. That's why she is working so hard to represent yours.
Mia Livas Porter is a mother, gun violence survivor, activist, community organizer, and a progressive Democrat running to represent the 52st District for the California State Assembly. As the youngest of five children born to Filipino immigrants, Mia grew up watching her parents work hard to achieve their American Dream. They instilled in her the importance of giving back to her community and taking care of each other. She witnessed her father, a doctor, and her mom, a nurse, waive payments for those who couldn't afford office visits and make house calls to elderly patients who couldn't leave home. They raised her to prioritize people before profit.
COVID-19 and gun violence are two major public health crises our country is still facing. The pandemic has had a profound impact on gun violence in our country. In 2020, the gun violence epidemic also surged. Both homicides and unintentional shootings increased to record levels. Record increases in gun sales, children homebound like never before, social isolation, and economic struggles due to COVID-19 put many people at increased risk for gun violence.
California has consistently ranked in the bottom half of states in per-pupil spending. As a proud LAUSD public school parent, Mia knows the unique struggles students, teachers and families face due to lack of resources and funding.
The pandemic has further exacerbated the education gap for our underfunded schools, with students struggling with distance learning and Latinx, Black and low-income students disproportionately affected by lack of access to technology and the public health crisis during COVID-19.
2020 ranked as one of the hottest years on record, with the world's seven-warmest years have all occurred since 2014, with 10 of the warmest years occurring since 2005. In 2021, California is currently experiencing some of the worst effects of a human-induced climate crisis with dual crises of severe drought and a fire season that has already scorched three times more land than in the same period of last year's record season. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the state recorded its worst fire season in 2020, with around 4.1 million estimated acres burned.
In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, California cities spent $12.4 billion on policing, counties spent $6.2 billion, and the state itself spent $2.5 billion. At the same time, vital social services like childcare, education, and healthcare have been systemically defunded. We know that police are not keeping us safe as homicides reached an all-time high in 2020, even as we spend billions on policing.
One in five Americans cannot afford necessary medical care in the event of an emergency. That is especially true in our district, where 18% of our community members live in poverty and more than 45% make less than $50,000 a year. As recently as 2017, nearly 20% of Northeast and East LA was uninsured.
In Los Angeles and across California, we have been deprived of the benefits of a strong public transportation system. In AD-52, nearly 90% of residents drive to work. That isn't because everyone loves sitting in traffic, but because we do not have access to high-quality, free, and easy-to-access public transportation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the lack of access to resources for our elders and seniors. Over the course of the last year, we have seen the full extent of how little investment there is to ensure the emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing of our elderly neighbors. Mia is no stranger to caring for the elders in our community. She understands that California needs to care for our elders in the way that we do in our own families.
Mia supports investing in more affordable housing, public housing, and local rent control. She will fight for tenants' rights and stand against violent sweeps of our unhoused neighbors.