OCTOBER ARCHIVES

Yaroslavsky Wins Board Approval for "Healthy Student Partnership" Proposal

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rzzy.tif (71256 bytes) On Tuesday, October 20, Supervisor Yaroslavsky won unanimous Board approval to pursue implementation of the "Healthy Student Partnership," a major new program Yaroslavsky developed which, if approved by federal health authorities, would use federal dollars to extend basic health care services to some 271,000 currently uninsured students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The program would be funded through a proposed expansion of the County's existing Medicaid Sec. 1115 Waiver, which matches every dollar spent locally on outpatient care for the medically indigent at free-standing (i.e., non-hospital-based) clinics. Yaroslavsky estimated that the "Healthy Student Partnership" may yield as much as $30-50 million annually in new federal matching funds for the program, which could be up and running by July 1, 1999. Click here for a copy of the motion and accompanying press release.

Yaroslavsky Breaks Ground for New Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center - On Friday, October 23, Yaroslavsky was joined by County health officials to break ground officially for the new Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center, a 52,000-sq. ft. state-of- the-art clinic to be constructed as a replacement for the original facility, which was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and subsequently demolished. The new facility will be located on the same site as its predecessor, at 7515 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys. It is scheduled for completion and opening by March, 2000. Click here for further details.

Yaroslavsky Breaks Ground for New Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center

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Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (center) is joined by Mark Finucane, Los Angeles County Director of Health Services, and Gretchen McGinley, Chief Executive Officer of ValleyCare (the County’s San Fernando Valley public/private health care network) to view an artist’s rendering of the County’s new Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center. Yaroslavsky and other officials were on hand to break ground for the project, a 52,000-sq. ft. state-of-the-art replacement for the original facility which was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and subsequently demolished as unsafe for occupancy. It will be rebuilt on its former site, located at 7515 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys, and is scheduled to reopen by March 2000. (10/23/98)

Board Takes Up Yaroslavsky Call for Tougher Federal Hate-Crime Legislation - In the wake of the brutal slaying of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead, the Board adopted Yaroslavsky's call to urge enactment of tougher federal hate-crime statutes as one of the County's highest legislative priorities in the coming congressional session. Click here for a copy of the motion.

Board Adopts MacLaren Children's Center Reform Plan - Acting on a package of reforms spawned in part by series of Yaroslavsky motions from 1997, the Board unanimously initiated the most sweeping overhaul ever undertaken of MacLaren Children's Center, the County's short-term residential facility for troubled and hard-to-place dependent children. Yaroslavsky noted that too many youthful MacLaren residents are not receiving adequate health, mental health, and counseling services to which they are entitled, and said that the reforms should go a long way toward strengthening overall management of the facility and ensuring that each child will be evaluated appropriately to obtain needed services and medical attention.

Yaroslavsky Announces Upcoming Household Hazardous Waste Collections - Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has announced three upcoming Household Hazardous Waste Roundups for the convenience of Third District residents.

Yaroslavsky Announces Approval of Home-Based Child-Care Training Pilot Project - Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has announced Board approval of an innovative pilot project to train former welfare recipients to become home-based child-care providers. Yaroslavsky called the effort an innovative program with the potential to break the cycle of welfare dependency for participants, and provide communities an essential service that will similarly enable others to seek and find gainful employment. Under the program, a joint venture between the City and County of Los Angeles, the human-resources agency known as "B.A.S.E." (Basic and Adult Spanish Education) will offer 40 participants from the Latino community in Van Nuys and the Russian community in West Hollywood six months of training in early childhood development, child safety, CPR courses, entrepreneurial skills and micro loans for small-business start-ups.

Yaroslavsky Announces $2.99 Million Environmental Education Contract - Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has announced the award of a three-year $2.99 million contract to continue the "Generation Earth Secondary School Environmental Education Program" first launched in 1996. The program is widely considered the state’s most effective high school environmental education program, aimed at providing students with an overall environmental understanding to encourage their willingness to change habits and behavior that affect the environment. Click here for further details.

Yaroslavsky Announces Commission Appointments in October (+ designates reappointment)