- Welcome to Inland Edition, where we have community conversations with people who make decisions that affect our everyday lives.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm a community member, an attorney, and your host.

And, today, we're going to chat with one of the Inland Empire's newest mayors, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, a mother of three, and the youngest director of human resources in San Bernardino's history.

Helen Tran was elected mayor of San Bernardino in 2022.

She's energetic, reliable, and compassionate, and it's time to meet her.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] Mayor Helen Tran!

How are you?

- I'm good!

How are you?

- Oh, I'm good.

I'm better that you're here!

(laughs) Thank you so much for being with us.

Nobody just snaps their fingers and becomes mayor, right?

Tell me about your aha moment-- moments!

You know?

That really got you on this path.

- Many, many aha moments for me.

You know, I-?

Growing up as you know, refugees, first generation born here in the U.S. to parents who are immigrants, hardworking, humble beginnings, and going to school.

I didn't speak English when we first got here to the U.S. so I had to learn English at Arrowhead Elementary School in San Bernardino.

I was inspired because of the teachers.

One of the teachers I've met to become a third grade teacher, specifically.

And, that was my track and my passion and my first aha moment's when I met my mentors, 1999, and I was a Key Club, community service, you know, just kid who's just helping the community, cleaning up and so forth.

We had a day where we were engaged in some engagement, and we showed up to a campaign office.

It was Joe Baca, - Wow.

- Special congressional campaign, 1999.

My mentors were the consultants and the field folks who worked on that campaign because they saw me, and said, "Hey, would you like to volunteer?

Hey, would you like to be paid to canvass?"

I was like, "Oh, sure!

Money, yes!

Help my family."

And, I think that began the path of not becoming a teacher, because I didn't know where I was heading.

They were the ones who encouraged me to college and I ended up working on so many campaigns up and down California, even some out of state.

But then, when I realized, you know what?

This whole campaign thing, even post-college, I was getting exhausted because it was 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

I decided to come back home in San Bernardino, 2006.

So, I went through this temp agency, AppleOne, off of Hospitality, and I got assigned to a temporary position in city hall of San Bernardino, senior secretary to the HR director.

(Joe chuckles) That was another aha moment, because my mom was jumping up and down screaming because she said, "Oh, my God!

"I've been wanting you to find a job like this "because your grandparents-- you're in Vietnam, "were community service-driven, public service individuals in Vietnam."

- Right, right.

- So, I actually ended up falling in love with the human resources.

This was the department that I fell in to.

And, it's dealing with people, solving problems, helping folks.

And, I ended up moving up into different positions.

I remember sitting in my HR manager's office.

She said to me, "You're gonna be director one day."

I said, "No!

I'm fine as an analyst.

I'm good."

(Joe laughs) You don't have to talk...

I don't need to take- - Little did you know!

- Little did I know!

- So, was there a particular moment there?

What I'm imagining now is that moment where the clouds open up and the sun comes out, and the music in the background goes up an octave where you actually realize that you are actually supposed to be an elected government official.

It was the furthest thing from your mind, but you've done two HR departments in two cities.

You've been intimately involved in San Bernardino.

You saw it go through what it went through with bankruptcy.

A lot of cities have struggled, but not a lot of cities at that time had filed bankruptcy.

You know, when's that moment where you actually realized the light shining on you?

- You know?

It was phases, I have to say.

Because, there's moments when I was a staffer and I wanna throw in the towel, and "I'm done with this city!"

Because, it was just so-- it was very challenging, and I had to go through my obstacles and challenge myself.

And, it was so many moments where I just wanna give up because I had leaderships above me that really made it very difficult for someone who was a young leader.

But, I think when I start seeing the political shift, and that was right when we're on the cusp of exiting bankruptcy, I decided to resign and leave the organization after 14 years.

I got-- I took another job in another city organization and decided to run for office.

And, my mentor, Sue Burnside, she said to me, "Helen?

If you're gonna do it, go all the way."

And so, a lot of folks who started engaging me when I started getting out there and campaigning doubt it.

And, she said, "Well, you never ran for office.

Why are you gonna jump this high?

You know, position?"

And, I just thought, "Why not?"

If I know the city and this community intimately-?

I've worked for the city for 14 years and understand how this organization work and how it can deliver the service effectively, why couldn't I be in this position to help facilitate that?

And, that's how I saw the mayor's role.

- Right.

- And, that's what got me to really, just really focus on that.

- Right.

So, connecting that: you are the daughter of immigrants, you went to elementary school, learn English as a second language.

Frankly, people of color that are in leadership- everyone should have to be bridge builders- but people of color have to be bridge builders.

- Yes.

- And so, for all you had to accomplish and for all you have to do, for all it took to be mayor, and for everything that you wanna do going forward, as difficult as it may be, you exemplify possibilities just by being here.

Talk a little bit about the bridge building that you used, not only in what you did for the city of San Bernardino up to this point, but in getting elected and the bridge building that you have to use every day.

- You know, when you say "bridge building", and I love that because that is exactly what I do every single day.

It's how do I bridge the relationship?

How do I bridge the connection that's needed?

And, I have to say, in my profession as human resources, risk management director, or even that profession alone, that's what I have to do already in that capacity, is to figure out how do we mediate the issues?

How do we make sure that we get to a point where we create progress and productivity, but also everyone wins?

So, for me, in this capacity as mayor, it is so critically important to bridge the community to the government, to the relationships that we need to have with other government entities between city, county, state, federal, even to stakeholders.

You have the universities that exist here, hospitals, nonprofits, churches.

Everyone, right?

We all value the same things that we want, is a good quality of life.

We all value that.

It is so important for me to recognize where people are coming from.

And, it took some time because, you know, I'm the type where I come in with great energy.

I'm like, "Okay, let's get to work!

Let's do this."

But, sometimes it's overwhelming when I do that to some folks (chuckles) and they're like, "Whoa!

We're not used to this, "and I'm not sure where you're coming from.

"Do you have something up your sleeves?

Who's paying you?"

And, I get that sense.

And so, I have to be mindful where they're coming from and what has happened with them.

And so, what I try to do is really garner a lot of support within the organization, staff, and so forth, or within the community and say, "Okay, what are the efforts it takes for us to create the progress or develop the city in such a way where we're result driven, and people are seeing the results?

And, that's where you build trust, because it's hard to build trust with just people when they have been burned.

- Right.

- I think that's really hard.

And so, I tell-- I remind folks, "okay", if they're having a hard time trusting, "why don't we just show them?

"Let's act on it.

"Let's figure out how we can make this happen.

Who is ready to just take action?"

- Give us a 101 on "city government."

- Whoo!

(laughs) - Like, you know, people drive by the-- drive by city hall all the time.

Or, you know, somebody says they saw the mayor on television.

Or, somebody might say there's a city council meeting.

But, you know, what would you tell all of our 11-year-old selves, those of us that may not be connected to government, or just see government in passing, hear about it, but don't know much about it?

What would you tell them in terms of, you know, what it is that you do, and how the cogs are supposed to work?

- Excellent question.

City government!

You know, my husband and I, we talk about it every other day almost, because he'll run into, folks say, "Oh, can you tell your wife to do this and that?"

He say, "But, my wife doesn't work for the county."

(Joe laughs) And, really this is a county question, so why don't you-?

And-- but again, I told my husband, "People don't know."

- Right.

- But, here's the thing, and I think this is where we as government leaders can help educate by being more present and being out there really informing, pushing information out, and to really show the people, and 11-year-olds!

Even my own children, I have to really tell 'em, "Hey, by the way, this is how it works.

"You know, filling a pothole?

You gotta do this, this, this.

You gotta submit this, you know, this request."

And, they're "Oh, you can't just do it?"

It's like, "No, you can't.

Here's why."

Because it takes, you know, everything's held accountable.

It's taxpayers' money.

It's everyone who lives in the community.

It's their money that we're being held responsible so we have to be very transparent.

We have to make sure that we are being responsible with how we're spending the money, how we're doing the work with their money and that is responsibility.

But, being able to educate folks about the process of things, it's important.

Also, updating progress.

I don't-?

You know, folks tend to think that we're sitting idly, right?

But, I tell staff, if we're not telling them what we're doing, and we have so many projects-?

We just had a capital improvement plan program meeting last Monday, and we have over 141 projects in the city.

And, that equates to about $200 million.

I think it's 172.

I was like, whoa!

But, again, people don't know that if we don't update, if we don't give them progress update and that's very, very critical.

It's really providing information that's easy to understand.

I always tell folks: make it simple, easy to follow, like you're giving someone an elementary school information.

Because, it's a lot to take in and digest 'cause if they're not from that background, especially city government, they're not gonna understand it.

- [Joe] Vision is huge.

The Inland Empire cannot be as successful as it needs to be without a good San Bernardino-- without a strong San Bernardino.

So, talk about kind of what that means for you and your vision for San Bernardino and its role in the Inland Empire.

- Oh, absolutely.

You know, when folks ask me, "What's your vision, Mayor?"

And, I said, "Well, the vision really "is not Helen Tran or mayor's vision.

"The vision of the city is this vision of the city, "which encompasses the community's needs and wants, and reflective of that vision that we can all agree on."

And, the council represents the constituents to bring forward those vision in a common way.

And so, far, the vision of the city has been to really address the homeless issue that we're facing.

The crisis, the housing, the economic development, ensuring that our city has the quality of life that it deserves being safe, clean, healthy, right?

So, a lot of those things are very basic things that we need to spend our energy on.

And so, I know that everything that we do, as long as it ties into those focuses, we're good.

So, let's drive the results.

Let's go.

And so, what I'm also seeing as we're having these efforts, driving these efforts, this community has been so easily lost into the noises.

When I say "lost into the noises," there has been outcries of certain things or certain issues, or just unnecessary drama that gets created.

And, it's-- those are the noises that tend to just prevent progress in our city.

And, that's what I always remind folks every single day: that's noise.

Let's stay focused.

These are things that we have to do.

- Now, let's talk to that young person's mom or dad who is just dealing with life.

You know?

"Government": the idea of it might be a passing, you know, thing in their life because they're just too busy gettin' the bills paid.

How would you let them know about how this government is actually working for them in a way that makes it visual and real for them?

- You know, if they only know how it works to achieve the results that they want to see in the community that they choose to live in, I didn't know what government was when I was a kid.

I was like, "I don't know what you're talking about."

And then, even when my mom made me realize, your family in Vietnam was just like a public servant, just like you.

And, she made me connect the dots like, "oh!

that makes total sense now."

It's really making sure that they are staying informed about what's going on.

"Here.

Let me tell you how you could be informed just by following social media; by just, you know, attending these meetings or if you sign up for updates of the city so you know what's really going on.

If you have a situation, let me show you how to submit a request to fix the potholes, a traffic light issue.

Anything, right?

Street lights, parks, what have you.

It's really walk them through what it means to address an issue.

They understand that the government does work.

And, I just recently had a business owner, you know, just reported the graffiti.

And, I said-- I shared with him how to report it.

Then, the next day the graffiti was gone.

He was just so floored.

And, I said, "It works.

It does work."

And then, you know, he was just like, "I can't believe this works.

There's a response to an issue that I reported!"

And, it's one of those things where you just-- and I tell folks, "sometimes you gotta report multiple times 'cause it could have just been lost in the system or there's just a backed up backlog.

Just don't give up."

Continue to really engage with how government works the process, and be informed.

And so, I hope as mayors that what I can do is really make sure that we are being as informative as we can and as a city government in different ways.

Not just website or social media outlets, or you know, in-person engagement with the community members, working with their-?

What is it?

Neighborhood associations.

Using your influencers in the community to help push that information out, too, is what I find was helpful.

- Yeah.

- Is that who are your influencers in your community that you could say, "You know what?

"Can you do me a favor by pushing this out to the folks that you can touch?"

Especially churches, pastors, those folks who are really engaged.

It's finding ways to use the power and influence is key.

- Right.

San Bernardino's role, or your role as mayor- - Yes!

- for, on behalf of city government, as city government, how it connects with county, state, and federal.

Because one of the big things is, hey, about resources!

- Yes!

- You know what I mean?

Resources coming down or resources going up but not coming down, et cetera.

Talk about the connection between the levels of government and how you see that.

- [Helen] San Bernardino plays a very, very critical role in this region.

And, I say "critical" because we are the county seat; the largest county in the nation, landmass wise.

And, the county seat-?

We're not only are the county seat, we, you know, we are a city that is 62 square miles, huge.

And, where we're located, what we have in the city.

But yet, we are so far behind on where it needs to be.

You know, everywhere I go, I've gone to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, met with a lot of officials, other mayors and their communities and what they've done.

We're missing out.

We've been missing out 'cause we are qualified for so many things because we're disadvantaged, we have high poverty.

We have-- we qualify for so much.

But so, what I see is San Bernardino is just prime right now to just blow up, but we have to do it right.

- Right, right.

So, that connects to the next thing I wanna talk about.

So often when you, you know, frankly, when you hear "San Bernardino," it's in the context of bad news.

Tell us about some of the good news, some of the stuff that San Bernardino is doing.

- What bad news?

- You know?

- That's the past!

(laughter) - That's all in the past!

- Tell us about the good news.

Tell us somethin' good!

- Ohh!

I could share all great news!

- That's right.

- You know?

You know, people say "bad news" and I think the media has done such a great job pushing that bad narrative to the public.

You know, I just had the sister city Tachikawa, Japan and I got one from my staff say that "they're afraid to come to San Bernardino and visit you."

I'm like, "Why?"

"Because they're just afraid."

I'm like, "No!

Don't-!

They shouldn't be afraid.

"Get me on the phone with them so I can tell 'em to get, make sure they get here so I can welcome them."

When they finally got here, they were just so excited 'cause I shared with them what the city is doing and what can't, what we can do and will be doing.

We have an opportunity to develop our downtown being a large downtown in the I.E., and we could design it the way we want it.

And, with the community's collaboration, with stakeholders' collaboration.

So, there's that happening, economic development, working with the county, which they're in the middle of building their $300 million new government center.

- [Joe] Hmm.

- [Helen] Whoa!

That's just blocks away!

Let's talk about how we could really build out, you know, downtown in a beautiful way.

And so, you know, there's just so much great things that are happening, you know, and engaging with our stakeholders and folks who want to be part of that renaissance is key.

- [Joe] San Bernardino has a history that is vast.

It's been around for a long time.

It's the county seat.

What are some of the things that people need to know about San Bernardino in terms of its uniqueness?

This is San Bernardino.

You know?

"Fill in the blank."

This, the "this"; "this" is San Bernardino.

This is what we have, this is who we are.

What are some of the things that make San Bernardino unique and special?

- San Bernardino is so special.

San Bernardino is a gateway to the west of us.

Everything that happened to the west of us, to LA, has to cross through San Bernardino.

So, we were the starting point for everyone to the west of us.

So, I mean, we have so much history.

We're beautifully located.

Again, we are just prime and ready to develop and lock, but it was just waiting for the right leadership.

I think that, that time is now with me being in the mayorship and really making sure that we work with everyone who needs to be part of this transformation that needs to happen?

That is happening literally right now in the city.

So, you know, not only, you know, we've-- 1800s?

So, you know, and for the city and you know, the history that the city has gone through.

We had, you know, we have international airport and we just have Breeze Airways that you'd have a flight to Vegas for 49 d-?

Was it 49?

I think it's $29 a way.

- [Joe] Oh, my gosh.

- And, $5 parking lot.

You can't beat that!

(Joe chuckles) You can go to San Francisco, $49 each way, $5 parking lot!

You know, you could go to-?

I believe it's Connecticut, you can go there.

Provo, Utah.

Whoa!

- Yeah.

Like these, it's happenings but we continue with that momentum and launching of the city the right way and relation-- bridge making, right?

- Yeah.

Building those relationships.

Say, "Hey, "please don't turn a blind eye on San Bernardino.

"Look at San Bernardino and find reasons that you want to be part of this transformation."

And then, that's what I-- you know, I'm doing very well right now as the mayor of the city, as the chief spokesperson, just really marking the city in a way where, "Look, it's time."

- Absolutely.

What do you do when tough moments come?

Because they do!

(both laughing) Where you say, (she laughs) "why on earth did I do this?"

Or, "how are we gonna solve this problem?"

Whatever the case may be.

What do you do in dealing with tough moments?

- Dealing with tough moments.

I would have to say I deal with that daily!

But I-- you know, where I go to and escape to really get through those tough moments, I have an amazing husband who I use as a soundboard and really kind of let it all out!

But, my biggest escape is in my garden, landscaping.

- Mm!

- My hands into the dirt, pulling weeds.

And, there's weed whacking.

Go like "weed whack?"

Yes, I even broke my (laughter) window a couple times because the rocks were flying all over the place!

And, I even-- or early morning gym.

I love to work out to- - Oh, good!

- kind of really get it out to make sure that I take care of 'cause I always remind myself, if I can't take care of myself first, how do I take care of others?

- Yeah.

- And, that's what my parents always remind me, too.

My dad reminds me all the time, "Helen, "you're meant to see this.

"Don't let this put you down.

"You're meant to see this challenge "and this difficult situation at hand or this difficult person."

Because, he'll joke with me.

He's like, "You probably owed them in your past life.

"You probably mistreated them in your past life so they've now to come back to try to get your payback!"

So, he'll give me ways to really cope with things.

My dad?

I love him, and he gives me good advice.

So, it's just finding your balance so that way you don't lose yourself.

'Cause I think that's really important 'cause your mental health is so important and you can't get so lost into the work when it's very difficult.

It's not an easy job.

And, I even tell my staff, one staff member that I have, I said, "I don't know who else can do this "if they don't have the ability to manage all of this that comes at you all at once."

'Cause it really impacts your mental health, well-being, your emotional state, and how you carry yourself, too, in response to a situation that could be very difficult or very frustrating.

- You know, you talk about all of your mentors and we've all had them, people that really changed our lives just by being who they are.

Now, fast forward a little bit and I'd be willing to bet that for one or two people or for hundreds or thousands, you could be that person, whether you know it or not, whether you know them or not, because of what you're doing.

- Yes.

- So, if somebody's comin' up and they say, "you know?

I wanna be like Mayor Helen Tran", or "I want to be in government and I want to be involved"; someone that's young.

How would you encourage them to do that?

What would you tell them to do?

- I would so encourage them to follow your dreams and follow your dreams big.

Because, did I ever think that I was gonna be in this position, this capacity, to run a city, to lead a city that has given my family and I an opportunity to live life?

Right?

And, I think about that all the time.

I'm thinking if I can help inspire our young, our youth, to be a future leader, be a future mayor, I'm all about that because I'm going to continue to encourage that.

Do not let these struggles that you face to be where you want to be one day.

Whether it's a mayor, whether it's the president, whether it's the governor.

Don't let anything slow you down because you're meant to see those challenges in order to build you.

It makes you stronger.

And, it certainly did with me, but I did have moments when I was with staff where I just wanna throw the towel in, all the damn time.

All the dang time!

(both laughing) - Maybe you needed to say "damn"!

(both laughing) - And-- but, you know?

But, having a support system that reminds you, you're meant to see this, you're meant to go through it.

Don't worry.

But, don't give up.

- Yeah.

Well, I know you long enough to ask for a favor!

And so, in closing, give us some homework.

You know, we're excited.

We watched you.

We're inspired.

I know I am.

And, I'm honored to be here with you.

What are the things that people that are watching us now can do to follow up on city of government, on city government, on what's going on with San Bernardino?

How can someone pick up the ball now and get more information to fill out even all the more, all of the things that you been tellin' us?

- I think I would love to say that, you know, if they could follow us on social media 'cause I know that's the biggest thing that folks are on now.

Either it's Facebook, Instagram.

I do have a page, @MayorHelenTran or even our city website's page, but also subscribe and sign up for newsletters or updates with our city because there's ways that we could push out newsletters to let them know what's going on.

I'd say just be as engaged as possible.

Talk to folks.

If you're not familiar with city government, talk to someone who is.

Or, reach out to my office and then we can start that dialogue.

Because I think the more that you are informed, the more that you will take more pride about what's going on in our city.

- Fantastic.

Mayor Helen Tran, I thank you so much.

Thanks so much for comin', and hopefully we see you again soon and we'll continue to watch and support, and learn.

And so, I wanna thank you guys as well for watching us here on Inland Edition.

And, let's keep makin' the community better goin' down the road, one conversation at a time.

See ya.

[uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ [music fades]