'Building Is Healing': Senator Henry Stern Addresses Students

MALIBU, CA — Senator Henry Stern talked state and local politics with students at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy on Jan. 7.

Stern represents the 27th Senate District, which is stretches from Santa Clarita to Malibu and from Encino to east Ventura County. He was hosted by the school's diversity committee, formed in 2020amid the summer of protests following the police murder of George Floyd.

Stern, who grew up in Malibu, covered topics like anti-semitism, homelessness, political attitudes and his upbringing.

Stern was accompanied by two members of his team who graduated from the Pepperdine School of Public Policy: Susie Herrera, district representative, and Jeremy Wolf, district director. Both said their time at Pepperdine was formative.

Stern's Background

Stern's interest in public service dates back to his time in middle school, he told the students. After facing antisemitism at his Malibu middle school, Stern and his friends decided to create educational and outreach opportunities for their classmates by bringing Holocaust survivors to the school for a week of education.

Stern also partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build a house with his classmates in Panorama City. The experience showed Stern the importance of tangible action to resolve conflict, and showed him the incredible diversity in Los Angeles, he said.

"Name your story of how you got to Los Angeles — you realize everyone comes from somewhere and everyone's got that [story]," Stern said.

Stern graduated from Harvard University and received a law degree from UC Berkeley. He was first elected to the state senate in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, and currently chairs the Natural Resources and Water Committee and the Emergency Management Committee.

Stern announced his candidacy for the Third District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in December.

Political Attitudes

"Not all politicians are servants, and many servants are not politicians," Stern said.

Despite stints on Capital Hill, Stern has found local forms of policy-making to be the most efficient and rewarding. The work of a local politician is extremely tangible, and it's easier for constituents to hold their local officials accountable, he said.

"If you call 911 and someone arrives or doesn't arrive, that's a very specific outcome," he said, offering an example.

Politics can be messy and fickle, and real change can't happen through strictly political means, he said. Good policy is a piece to a larger puzzle.

"I'm not optimistic right now about the state of politics," Stern said.

What does give him hope, though, is tangible action. Real change will come when people go back to the "basics" of community engagement on key issues like climate change, public health and affordable housing, Stern said.

"Building is healing," Stern said. He added: "This is a very accessible way into what public policy really feels like and what that kind of service really feels like ... we're not that far away from you. I don't want to be that far away, that's why I did this. the kind of service I want to do is the kind I can see and feel," Stern said.

Key Issues

Stern said homelessness is "the" issue in California right now. Effective solutions will need to be comprehensive and streamlined, he said. They will have to include multiple different approaches that address negative attitudes and stereotypes, mental health needs, affordable housing, medical needs and more, he said.

Politicians will need to be persistent and lead with action, not promises, Stern said.

"If you're going to solve homelessness you can't have 50 different policies in Los Angeles. You have to have some common governing structure," he said. He added: "We are going to have to be comfortable with all kinds of people living in our neighborhoods."

Stern, who was appointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's council on Holocost and Genocide Education, also discussed growing anti-semitism in the country. He has worked to create educational tools that go beyond anti-semitism and speak to a broad range of social justice issues, he said.