The Latest News from TPA

Orange County Community Colleges Legislative Task Force Veterans Legislation Promoted Into Law

Governor Brown signed AB 2478 (Hayashi) into law. Townsend Public Affairs advocated the bill on behalf client, Orange County Community College Legislative Task Force, a coalition compromised of the four Townsend Public Affairs community college districts clients in Orange County: Coast Community College District, North Orange County Community College District, Rancho Santiago Community College District, and South Orange County Community College District.

The bill provided an incentive for veterans to attend a community college in California by extending the length of time that veterans are able to access in-state tuition rates. The bill was pursued as a state solution in response to changes in federal law that would have severely restricted tuition benefits to veterans. The Governor issued a press release detailing the veterans related bills he signed into law which can be read here.

Christopher Townsend Receives Richard J. O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award

The 18th Annual Truman Awards Dinner was held on Monday, September 17, 2012 at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. The event welcomed Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom as keynote speaker, and recognized then City of Fullerton Mayor, Sharon Quirk-Silva, with the Harry S. Truman award, and Joe Kerr with the Samuel Gompers Labor Award.

A proud moment for Townsend Public Affairs, City of Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Wendy Greuel presented Christopher Townsend with the Richard J. O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor recognized the longtime leadership efforts of Christopher within Orange County government affairs and politics. Past honorees of this award have included Wylie Aitkin, Marti Schrank, and Paul Goldenberg. In his speech, Christopher thanked the long time supporters of Townsend Public Affairs as well as recognized all his wonderful clients and the good work they do.

City of Berkeley Receives $540,000 Grant for Senior Housing

Townsend Public Affairs helped the City of Berkeley win $540,000 in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), all which the City appropriated for low-income senior housing. Congressmember Barbara Lee worked to advocate on behalf of the City to move forward with implementation of the projects. The City of Berkeley is strongly committed to developing affordable housing. Townsend Public Affairs is honored to work with the City and Congressmember on this project

County of Mariposa Receives $800,000 in Funding for Student Pedestrian Safety Projects

Townsend Public Affairs was successful in helping Mariposa County win approximately $800,000 in funding from both the Federal (SRTS) and State (SR2S) Safe Routes to School Programs. These programs were viewed as a perfect opportunity for the County to significantly improve local streets for children and their families walking and biking to school.

Through funding made available by these grants, students no longer have to worry about walking and bicycling on narrow or wet dirt shoulders in close proximity to traffic These projects will be able to address this safety risk/hazard in the most straightforward manner by physically separating vehicles and pedestrians and bicyclists.

Townsend Public Affairs drafted the applications for funding and researched safety factors related to the various routes to school. By coordinating both the State and federal applications, TPA was able to develop a comprehensive approach to bicycle and pedestrian safety for Mariposa children.