CWS Identified Internships

Office of LA County Board Supervisor Gloria Molina
American Cities Internship Program- Los Angeles

Organization Description:

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Gloria Molina is one of five elected members. The Board’s responsibility includes the management of a $23 billion budget that includes the administration of public health, public protection and welfare programs for the 10 million residents of LA County.

The Office of Supervisor Molina has a staff of over 30 that covers 2 million residents of the First District representing the east part of the County and including Downtown LA.

Supervisor Gloria Molina
On February 19, 1991, Gloria Molina became the first Latina ever elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. To many observers both at home and across the nation, Molina’s election to the board represented both the growing formidability of the Latino electorate and the determination of voters of all backgrounds to elect a leader to office who understood their needs.

A daughter of a Mexican mother and a Mexican-American father, Molina grew up in working-class surroundings. Molina has prioritized the development of new parks. She has been an influential force behind Los Angeles River revitalization projects, which include the Los Angeles River Center, the Los Angeles Bikeway Plan, and numerous pocket parks from Marsh Street Park in Elysian Valley to Clara Street Park in Cudahy. She also has helped bring to fruition greening projects along the L.A. River from Bell and Cudahy to Maywood and South Gate.

Molina grew up in the Pico Rivera area and is the eldest of ten children. She understands that children of working families rely on public libraries to function as de facto after school programs. As a result, Molina has fought and prevented 16 county libraries from closing in 2003. She proceeded over the grand opening of the longawaited East Los Angeles Civic Center, which includes a new childcare center, state-of-the-art library, (including a children’s amphitheater and a Chicano Resource Center), and a new “county hall.” Molina is committed to fighting for working families. Molina was a major force behind the construction of Centro Estrella (which is Spanish for “Center of the Stars”), a facility designed primarily to assist children with special needs who reside on the Eastside. She made it possible for 222 youngsters to receive daycare via her Infant Care Expansion Grant. It is thanks to her persistence that Los Angeles Universal Preschool—better known as LAUP—is increasing preschool capacity in areas of greatest need so as to level the early education playing field.

Since her political beginnings during the 1970s Chicano movement as a woman’s health advocate, Molina recognized that just because you hold a job does not mean you have health care access. She was instrumental in acquiring a $1 billion federal commitment from President Bill Clinton in 1995 to rescue L.A. County’s public health care system.

In the 1970s, Molina served in the Carter White House and the San Francisco Department of Health and Human Services. She was elected to the California State Assembly in 1982 and the Los Angeles City Council in 1987. Name one of the Democratic Party’s “10 Rising Stars” by TIME magazine in 1996, Molina served as one of four vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through 2004. During the 2000 Presidential Election, Molina was one of 15 top women leaders nationwide to be named as a possible vicepresidential candidate by the White House Project, a non-profit and non-partisan group dedicated to raising awareness of women’s leadership in American politics.

Internship Description:
The intern will be responsible for three tasks during her tenure at the office,
Responsible for the policy formation of homeless issues in the County “known as the Capital of homelessness”. Identify gaps in the service delivery by revamping the existing 120 day hotel voucher for TANF families. Also includes revamping the year around shelter program. Also provide assistance in housing policy by doing case management of HUD-Section 8 cases. Provide assistance in the preparation of the annual budget. Intern will spend time in the field offices in El Monte as well as the Hall of Administration (Downtown LA).

Ideal Internship Qualification: