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Long Beach mayoral candidate Terri Rivers is positioning her campaign around a simple but expansive idea: invest in children to solve the city’s most persistent problems.
In a one-on-one interview on The Jackie Rae Show, Rivers, a longtime child care provider and union member, said her approach to public policy is rooted in early childhood development and prevention.
“If we really do give them the options that they need, it will reduce crime, it will reduce homelessness,” Rivers said. “Those kids become us. So why not spend all that energy toward the children?”
Rivers, who was born in Chicago and raised in Long Beach, has spent more than two decades working in child care. She also founded a nonprofit focused on training child care providers and created a digital platform to help families find care more easily.
Her entry into politics, was driven by frustration with what she describes as a lack of meaningful progress on key issues such as homelessness, public safety and housing.
“I can’t even stay in my lane because my house is getting broken into, we’re having deaths on the street, and there’s more homelessness on the block,” Rivers said. “I decided to run so I could make those changes.”
Learn more about Rivers, and her policies on this episode of The Jackie Rae Show.