ACCOMPLISHMENTS

By Fernando Armenta

Healthcare, Youth, Transportation, Veterans, Social Services and Jobs

In 2006 Natividad Medical Center lost $25 Million.
Supervisor Armenta stepped in to hold community meetings, meetings with local healthcare experts, and consulted with healthcare consultants.
Successfully assisted and turned Natividad into a flourishing hospital with a positive cash flow and a national model for public safety net hospitals.

Integrating Our Mental Health Services Into Our Community...

In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Supervisor Armenta went out in the community and held several workshops and community meetings in District 1.
Informed community about Mental Health Services Act, received feedback from community to develop better services, and lastly informed community of new services and programs for the community regarding mental health.

Securing Health Care For Seniors...

Has stood by seniors, the disabled and home health care workers in making certain that In-Home Supportive Services are provided in Monterey County.
Making certain that our senior and our disabled citizens get the best quality care we can provide them.

Healthy Water for All...

In 2007 concerns about the water quality as well as issues pertaining to the expansion of local water provider were brought up to various jurisdictions. Supervisor Armenta chaired a committee that was formed by both the City of Salinas and the County of Monterey. Various community meetings were held in East Salinas to deal with the issue and with complaints. Various public meetings were held and the concerns and the information were relayed to the Califonia Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and they reviewed and made recommendations along with the County of Monterey Health Department. Most of the issues were addressed with the residents and the local water provider addressed many of the concerns and worked through the CPUC.
Fernando took the lead on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors in making certain that a new water filtration and a new well as well as pipeline was built in order to make sure safe, healthy water was available to the residents of the San Jerardo Housing Cooperative. Now all the residents have safe drinking water to be able to live healthy lives.

Youth

Providing Safety on our streets and making our future brighter...

Bringing Millions of our Tax Dollars from Washington D.C. and Sacramento back to our community to deal with Gang Violence-through prevention, intervention and suppression programs such as Silver Star, Gang Task Force, and CASP to name a few.
Assisted in developing a partnership between the County of Monterey, City of Salinas and six soccer leagues in developing a soccer complex in Salinas.
Worked with local baseball league and assisted them with necessary repairs to field and ballpark to make certain they had adequate facilities for our youth.
Has participated in the annual National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. In Monterey County Fernando Armenta, Supervisor for the 1st District, honored national Children's Mental Health Summit Day at Maya Cinemas for the screening of "Short Movies For Youth By Youth.
Supervisor Armenta has assisted in raising funds for the International Young Women's Conference, held at Alisal High School over the past two years. In addition he has raised funds for the Caminos del Arte of Salinas for their Annual Performing Arts Festival over the past four years. Fernando has helped Salinas LULAC Council #2055 raise thousands of dollars for student scholarships for local high school and college students. Finally he assisted in acquiring over $50,000 for the Salinas Pool Foundation that helped to build the new Salinas Sherwood Aquatic Swimming Facility.
Fernando has a 20 year voting record for making certain that gang prevention programs are at the forefront of policy makers at both the County and City of Salinas. He has been a member of a number of committees and task forces over the years trying to figure out how to best address the issues of gang violence in Salinas. He was a founder of the Monterey County Gang Task Force.

Transportation

Serving the community as an advocate for public transportation...

Supervisor Armenta has made certain that services for our District and the entire County are accessible and affordable. He has made sure that public meetings have been put together within the City of Salinas and that they are accessible. He has pushed for more bus stops, more frequent bus service and bus shelters. In addition to this he has pushed for easier and quicker ways for fares to be paid.
Supervisor Armenta also helped to make certain that South County had bus service and now it is the highest utilized route in the County.
Along with this, Fernando has pushed to try and make a commuter train become a reality for connecting Salinas to Silicon Valley. He is looking out for all of the citizens of our County but in particular for Salinas residents.
Fernando has been a Board Member for the Monterey Salinas Transit (MST). He has been for the past eight years the Chairperson for the Board of MST. Supervisor Armenta has been on the Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC.) He has been on the TAMC board for the past 13 years. He supported Hartnell Students by making sure that they have a "Free Fare Zone" and that public transportation is available to and from the Alisal Campus to the Main Campus.

Supervisor led the way in fundraising nearly One Million dollars for the Vietnam Memorial Park on Laurel Drive. His efforts have made it possible to have a granite flag commemorating our veterans along with a gold star mother's memorial, a purple heart memorial and just a very beautiful and peaceful park honoring our veterans.
Has assisted in making certain that Veterans are receiving services from the County of Monterey Veterans Affairs Office and that they are accessible. Supervisor Armenta has made certain that the Veterans Affairs Hospital from Palo Alto has a mobile unit in Monterey County making it accessible to our local veterans.
Supervisor Armenta led the way to hold a Monthly Welcome Back Veterans from their tours of duty, they are now being held quarterly. This was done to ensure that our veterans are not forgotten and that they feel that they are appreciated and it is a ceremony ensuring that there families are acknowledged as well.

Social Services

Making Certain Families and Seniors Are Treated with Dignity...

Fernando has been instrumental in making certain that Social Services are available to all those that qualify and are in need of services. In particular he has been working on making certain that Seniors and Children receive benefits associated with their needs.
For example for the CalFresh Program, he has made sure that those that those that qualify receive their benefits to be able to buy food at the grocery store. Over the years, Supervisor Armenta has brought forth concerns from constituents regarding this program and indirectly assisted in developing ideas of how to make this program more successful.
Supervisor Armenta's mother was a recipient of In Home Supportive Services and he truly believes that the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program is not only a good program serving seniors and children with disabilities, but that it is a program that is saving the State of California and the County of Monterey millions of dollars in health related costs. In addition he has made sure that the matches between providers and recipients is arranged and that training occurs to make certain that quality supportive services are available.
That a strong Area Agency on Aging exists in Monterey County to assist our seniors with services they most need are available and that they coordinate and advocate for quality senior services.
Advocating for SSI, and Adult Protective Services is something that Supervisor Fernando Armenta has done for years. In addition as a former Child Protective Services Social Worker he understands directly the impacts that this work can create.
Family to Family and foster care services goes hand and hand and Supervisor Armenta has made certain that the time and resources needed for those programs continues even through the toughest of financial times.
Supervisor Armenta has made certain that the Monterey County Food Bank has received funding from the County of Monterey consistently and has encouraged our County employees to contribute directly to the Food Bank donations and that has made a true difference over the years.

Jobs

Pushing to Develop Local Jobs and Jobs for Youth...

Fernando was instrumental in supporting the summer youth employment program in the past 11 years. For the past 11 years he has taken the lead in protecting this program and in trying to increase the amount of youth that work each summer. However, due to the federal decrease in funding for this program the amount for this program has fluctuated and it is currently on a downturn. However, he truly believes that this must be a strategy used to help out youth violence and he will continue to lobby and push for more money for these programs.
Has pushed for making certain that County jobs are protected when looking at new jobs in the County and when making cuts.
Supervisor Armenta has taken the lead in looking at creating a Local Job Preference Ordinance when there are bids for County Projects and purchasing supplies. This is all in an effort to make sure our local people have jobs.
Supervisor Armenta has made certain that the County of Monterey has been working with other cities and as a region when looking at Economic Development and has been very supportive of the creation of the Economic Development Department that was created in 2011.