Mayor Karen Bass has led the nation’s second largest city with unprecedented urgency that has delivered results for all Angelenos.
Thousands more unhoused Angelenos have come inside in her first year than the year before, leading to a reported drop in homelessness for the first time in years.
During her first year, LAPD received record numbers of applicants while homicides and violent crime decreased. 100,000 more city services like pothole repair and graffiti removal have been provided. Thousands of businesses opened. Hundreds of millions of dollars secured through locking arms with state and federal partners as Los Angeles continues to urgently lead on climate.
And she’s just getting started.
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.
After being elected to represent Los Angeles in the State Assembly, Mayor Bass was elected Speaker, making her the first African American woman to ever lead a state legislative body in the history of the United States. There she and other legislative leaders were awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for their work making tough decisions to keep the state from bankruptcy while protecting vital services during the largest economic decline since the Great Depression.
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 is the 43rd Mayor of Los Angeles and the first woman and second African American to be elected as the city's chief executive. She 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.