SYMPOSIUM
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
2 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 2
CALIFORNIA PUBLIC ASSISTANCE POLICY IN AN ERA OF MINORITY RULE Mike Herald This article discusses the recent budget cuts in California and provides an overview of the budget crisis. Herald explains the cuts to California public assistance and how the state arrived at its current budget crisis. | AuthorMike Herald, who joined the Western Center on Law and Poverty in December of 2003, has been an advocate for the poor for nearly 30 years. Mike is a native Californian who graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1978. After a decade long stint as an Alinsky-style community organizer, Mike attended Golden Gate University Law School and passed the bar in 1992. After a short stint at the Department of Insurance, Mike became the lobbyist for Housing California. In 1998, Mike became their Executive Director and helped lead the effort to expand state affordable housing funds (more than $4 billion in new state funds since 2000). Mike also worked on issues of homelessness, community reinvestment, federal housing policy and adequate public benefits for the poor. In
February of 2002, Mike was appointed by Governor Davis as Deputy Director for External Affairs at the Department of Housing and Community Development. He also served as acting deputy director for Legislation. He co-authored reports by Governor Davis’ Interagency Task Force on Homelessness, participated in creating the state’s Olmstead plan and drafted HCD’s Farm Labor Housing Assistance Plan. His subject areas at Western Center include CalWORKs, SSI, Food Stamps, the state budget, fair housing and access to justice. Much of the narration and information in this article comes from Mike’s personal experience at the Western Center. |
