Manny’s: Leading Our Cities: A Conversation with Mayors London Breed and Karen Bass

Join us at Manny’s for an exciting conversation between two California mayors: San Francisco’s own, Mayor London Breed, and Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass!

Collectively, these two women represent about 12% of all Californians and manage more than $25 billion of city budgets. Los Angeles and San Francisco are major international cities with storied reputations and vibrant futures, but both leaders face complex and unique challenges when it comes to steering our cities forward. From housing and homelessness to transit and economic recovery, now more than ever we need creative solutions for our biggest municipal challenges.

We are so excited to welcome these two leaders to Manny’s for a discussion about their administrations, visions for their cities, and to answer all your questions about the ins and outs of city government!

About Mayor Karen Bass

Karen Bass is the 43rd Mayor of Los Angeles and the first woman and second African American to be elected as the city’s chief executive. With an agenda focused on bringing urgency, accountability, and a new direction to Los Angeles, she has started her term with a focus on housing people immediately and increasing safety and opportunity in every part of Los Angeles.

A daughter of our city, Mayor Bass was raised with her three brothers in the Venice/Fairfax neighborhood and is a proud graduate of Hamilton High School. After serving as a front-line healthcare provider as a nurse and as a Physician Assistant, Mayor Bass founded the Community Coalition to organize the predominantly Black and Latino residents of South L.A. against substance abuse, poverty and crime, and to pioneer strategies to address the root causes behind the challenges faced by underserved neighborhoods.

She then went on to represent Los Angeles in the State Assembly and was elected by her peers to serve as Speaker, making her the first African American woman to ever lead a state legislative body in the history of the United States. Her time in leadership intersected with the Great Recession, and she was honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for reaching across party lines and making tough decisions to keep the state from bankruptcy while protecting vital services.

While representing Los Angeles and Culver City in Congress, Mayor Bass helped protect small businesses during the pandemic, created policy to drive local jobs from federal infrastructure funding, and led the passage of what the Los Angeles Times called “the most significant child welfare policy reform in decades.”

Mayor Bass earned her bachelor’s degree in health sciences from CSU Dominguez Hills before graduating from the USC Keck School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program and earning her masters degree in social work from USC.

Mayor Bass’s oldest daughter Emilia planned to follow in her mother’s footsteps working for social change. The Mayor continues to be inspired by Emilia and her son-in-law Michael’s passion for life. She has three other children, Scythia, Omar and Yvette, and two grandchildren, Michael and Henry, who live in the Los Angeles area.

About Mayor London Breed

London Nicole Breed is the 45th mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. Mayor Breed is the first African-American woman Mayor in San Francisco’s history.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Mayor Breed’s experiences growing up in Plaza East Public Housing and living in neighborhoods impacted by redevelopment, has lead to her commitment to creating opportunities for all San Franciscans to live and thrive.

During her administration, she has prioritized policies and programs to address some of the most crucial issues facing the City, including public safety, economic recovery, housing and homelessness, workforce development, transportation, and climate change.

Mayor Breed led the City through the COVID-19 pandemic, during which San Francisco had the lowest death rate of any major city in the country. Mayor Breed has dramatically expanded housing and shelter for the homeless, leading to a significant reduction in unsheltered homelessness, and expanded solutions for those struggling with addiction and mental illness. She has issued bold plans to reimagine Downtown’s future and to help build 82,000 new homes over the next eight years to strengthen San Francisco’s long-term recovery.

To read more about the Mayor’s priorities, visit: https://sf.gov/mayoral-priorities

Mayor Breed has championed safety initiatives to build back police staffing, implement police reform and support alternatives to policing through community ambassador programs and the Street Crisis Response Team. To help eliminate barriers to success, Mayor Breed launched Opportunities for All to provide San Francisco youth with paid internships and the Dream Keeper Initiative to address economic and other disparities in San Francisco’s diverse Black communities.

Mayor Breed has worked closely with City departments to develop her Climate Action Plan, a strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, and a city-wide Children and Family Recovery Plan to address the impacts of the pandemic.

To ensure San Francisco has a just and equitable future, Mayor Breed continues to support San Francisco’s arts and culture, small businesses, and vulnerable communities.

Prior to serving in public office, Mayor Breed served as Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner and San Francisco Fire Commissioner. Mayor Breed then served for six years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, including three years as President of the Board.

She was raised by her grandmother in the Western Addition. She graduated from Galileo High School and attended the University of California, Davis, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science/Public Service. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.