2024 Accomplishments and Highlights

County of Orange, California sent this bulletin at 01/17/2025 04:33 PM PST

January 17, 2025

2024 Accomplishments and Highlights

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

I am proud to represent the residents of the Second District – which include residents from the entire City of Santa Ana, and portions of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Orange, and Tustin.

As we move further into the new year, I want to reflect on the priorities we accomplished together in 2024. Despite the challenges we faced, my team and I tackled each issue head-on. Below is a list of the achievements I am most proud of, and I know these successes would not have been possible without our partnerships and, most importantly, your support.

I look forward to continuing these efforts, launching new initiatives, and building on the progress we made in 2024. Your input is invaluable to me, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office and speak with my staff.

Thank you for your continued trust and collaboration.

Vicente Sarmiento
Second District Supervisor
Orange County Board of Supervisors

Affordable Housing

The cost of housing remains a major concern for all our residents.

As a Director on the Orange County Housing Finance Trust, I have supported allocations of over $32,000,000, over the last 2 years, to enable the construction of 1,266 units with rents capped at 30% of the Area Median Income.

The demand for affordable housing is high. I am committed to fulfilling the County's promise of providing such housing and essential supportive services to our most vulnerable residents, including seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

The following affordable and supportive housing projects, that I supported, reached major milestones in 2024:

• Center of Hope - Anaheim (72 units)
• The Orion - Orange (166 units)
• Valencia Garden – Orange (62 units)
• Marks Way - Orange (50 units)
• The Crossroads at Washington - Santa Ana (86 units)
• Estrella Springs - Santa Ana (91 units)
• FX Residences - Santa Ana (17 units)
• WISEPlace Supportive Housing - Santa Ana (48 units)
• Archways Santa Ana (85 units)

As Chair of the Commission to Address Homelessness, I have focused on ways to address the needs of the unhoused in innovative ways, including:

Launched a Homeless Prevention and Stabilization Pilot Program to help families stay housed.

Created an intervention program designed to support homeless families in the Second District by providing emergency motel/hotel accommodations, transportation, meals, and access to essential services during extreme weather conditions.

Spearheaded a study on the use of small-scale housing as a creative option to quickly and cost-effectively provide additional affordable housing.

Health and Social Services

Access to quality healthcare and social services programs is paramount. Supporting families and connecting them to preventive services not only addresses immediate needs but also fosters stronger, healthier communities.

This year my office has:

Hosted a series of events to connect residents to health and social services and reached over 30,000 people.

Supported health collectives that bring social and health services to disenfranchised communities facing barriers to access.

Partnered on a resource fair to support the refugee community and connect residents to resources.

Held various events in schools including back-to-school and resource events for families in conjunction with county social services and healthcare agencies.

Hosted an education superintendent's roundtable to strengthen our partnership and foster further collaboration with Second District school districts.

As Vice Chairman of the Board at CalOptima Health, I supported:

Annual back-to-school event to provide back-to-school supplies and health care services for over 5,000 members.

$50,000,000 in grants aimed at supporting the education and training of safety net health providers in the County. Including $5,000,000 to Chapman University to fund scholarships for academically qualified Orange County students from under-resourced backgrounds to attend Chapman’s physician assistant program.

Contributions to affordable housing and permanent supportive housing for Orange County and funding for 1,220 units.

Participation in the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program. In addition to $72.9 million from the state to address the crisis of homelessness, CalOptima approved an investment of $87.4 million.

Mobile lab services including mammography to serve members in their communities.

Expansion of the street medicine program, which provides medical care to the unhoused.

Expansion of Medi-Cal to our undocumented residents to help improve overall health outcomes.

Public Safety

Community safety is a priority for all of us the Second District and I have worked to help create safer neighborhoods. In 2024, I partnered with our cities to fund and support important safety efforts:

Partnered on a gun buy-back event for residents to dispose of unwanted firearms - over 450 guns were turned in and destroyed.

The event was supported by the Orange and Anaheim Police Departments and the state’s Attorney General.

Closed the funding gap for the City of Orange Crossing Guard program. Helping kids, from Orange Unified Schools, walk and ride safely to and from school this year.

Improved the safety of river channels and funded improvements.
- Increased cleanups from 50-70 per month to 150-200 per month, county-wide.
- Installed 6,000 feet of safety fencing and provided security guards at identified safety “hot spots”.
- Increased the number of Sheriff Behavioral Health Bureau officers assigned to support public works encampment cleanups to a total of 10 officers in 2024.

Championed the efforts of the County’s Office of Independent Review to help our agencies implement best practices and to be able to have an independent body to review incidents related to our agencies and receive and investigate complaints from the public.

$15,000,000 for purchasing and distributing 148,661 boxes of Naloxone (2 doses per box) - to help prevent overdose deaths overdose deaths in the county.

Government Accountability and Transparency

Since joining the Board, I have taken a leadership role in improving accountability and transparency in how we conduct County business and address the ethics and criminal violations that have shaken the County.

I have taken the following actions:

Held budget workshops to allow residents to share their priorities during the budget process.

Hosted first-ever forum on the Truth Act to support immigrant families.

Introduced reform policy to the Board of Supervisors to ensure elected officials have to disclose familial relationships when approving contracts.

Introduced County policy to address corruption by censuring a corrupt Supervisor, calling for his resignation, and co-authoring extensive ethics and contracting reforms.

Introduced an item to conduct an independent forensic audit of county contracts.

Introduced reforms to bring additional needed ethics rules to Board processes and protect whistleblowers.

Community Connection

Since joining the Board, we have been able to shine a light on the historic contributions of our diverse ethnic communities, through arts and cultural events and supported civic and community events to ensure all communities feel valued and can obtain important information and services.

Supported the creation of the new County department, Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, which connects residents from all ethnic backgrounds with vital services.

Funded voter education efforts, in the Second District, to encourage voter participation in elections.

Held events for seniors, with faith-based partners, to provide resources regarding the importance of wills, trusts, and medical directives.

Supported pet lovers by hosting a free pet food distribution event and a cat spay and neuter clinic to assist pet owners in need of assistance.

Recognized the courage of the Mendez, Guzman, Ramirez, Estrada, and Palomino families who fought discrimination in our County and who had an impact all over our nation to desegregate schools.