Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe

Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe represents District 4 in the County of San Diego. District 4 is home to over 675,000 residents and includes diverse neighborhoods like Kearny Mesa, Hillcrest, North Park, Kensington, Mission Hills, Mission Valley, City Heights, Oak Park, and Encanto in the City of San Diego. District 4 also includes the City of Lemon Grove, the City of La Mesa, and the unincorporated communities of Spring Valley, Rancho San Diego, Casa de Oro, and Mt.Helix. 

Supervisor Montgomery Steppe was sworn in on December 5, 2023, and is the first Black woman elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Her key priorities include housing and homelessness solutions, increasing opportunities for small businesses, strengthening social services, and improving the community’s relationship with law enforcement.During her tenure so far, she has accomplished the following:

• Launched the County’s first ever Emergency Temporary Lodging Program to provide shelter to hundreds of families displaced by the sudden and historic flooding in January 2024.
• Championed the County’s first sleeping cabin program, which would provide temporary emergency housing and services as a bridge to ultimately provide the unhoused with permanent housing.
• Established a Small Business Procurement Program at the County to expand contracting opportunities for local small businesses and non-profit organizations.
• Allocated $7.6 million towards hundreds of community organizations, with a strong emphasis on the Arts and Culture sector for its vital role in the region’s economy and identity.
• Appropriated critical funding to First 5 Commission of San Diego’s Healthy Development Services program for children with developmental and behavioral concerns.
• Strengthened the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board at the County by expanding its investigatory powers to include any county employee or contractor, including health care providers, in connection with in-custody deaths.
• Introduced a comprehensive juvenile justice reform proposal to strengthen accountability and enhance youth protections in the County’s juvenile detention facilities.
• Developed a Summer Youth Academy for high school students to increase civic engagement among local youth.

Before her historic election to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, she served on the San Diego City Council from 2018 to 2023, including as Council President pro Tem. There, she brought over $100 million to her district, to invest in new parks, a new library, a new senior center, paved streets, repaired sidewalks and street lights, and neighborhood cleanups including graffiti removal. She also led on public safety reform as Chair of the Public Safety & Livable Neighborhoods Committee. She worked to pass Measure B, creating a Commission on Police Practices with subpoena power and independent investigators. She led the effort to ban the police carotid restraint, and helped establish the “No Shots Fired” program to reduce gang violence. She was also appointed by the State of California to serve on its Reparations Task Force.

Supervisor Montgomery Steppe is a proud graduate of Spelman College and California Western School of Law. She previously worked as a criminal justice advocate at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, and as a senior policy advisor at San Diego City Hall. She is grateful to her parents for inspiring her political journey with their fight against Prop 209, which in the late 1990s banned race- and gender-based affirmative action in public education, public employment and government contracting. Outside of work, she and her husband enjoy hosting family gatherings, attending church services, going to concerts and plays, and singing karaoke together.

Commitee Appointments

• California State Association of Counties (CSAC) 

• San Diego City-County Reinvestment Task Force
• Harry Griffen Regional Park JPA
• Metropolitan Transit System Board
• Mission Trails Regional Park Task Force
• San Diego County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council
• San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
• San Diego Regional Building Authority
• San Diego Workforce Partnership, Inc., Policy Board
• National Association of Counties (NACo)