Former Legislator Cheryl Brown Advocates for California Seniors

Former state legislator Cheryl Brown didn’t know how old her mother really was until after she died, confirming her true age while looking through Social Security paperwork.

Brown’s mother, Melba Minter, was of a time where you didn’t ask women, especially Black women, their age.

“She had two or three different ages. She told me she was 16 years old almost until I was 16,” Brown says.

In other words, it was none of her, or anyone else’s, business.

“Age for them was a little different,” added Brown, who served in the California Legislative Black Caucus from 2012-2016. “My grandmother, she didn’t talk about age much. They might say, ‘Oh, my arthritis is getting the best of me right now,’ or something like that. Aging, when I was young, was such a taboo subject. It’s not like it is now.”

Today, Brown regularly discusses the topic as a two-time chair of the California Commission on Aging. She took part in the advisory committee for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Aging and continues to serve on its Equity Advisory Committee on Aging and Disability.

In the state Assembly, Brown represented the 47th District and the Inland Empire area. Her priorities included education, public safety, economic development, and small business growth. Fellow lawmakers initially scoffed at her being named to an aging subcommittee when she first arrived at the Capitol. Things have changed.

“It’s so respected in the Legislature now that they’re starting to look at how our budgets are, they’re starting to look at what they can do for seniors, for older adults,” she says.

The commitment comes from the top, she says. 

“[Gov. Newsom’s] father had Alzheimer’s, so he had to take care of his father at the end of his life. As a result, we have a very strong Alzheimer’s committee,” Brown says.

After his 84-year-old father, Judge William Newsom, died from dementia, Gov. Newsom pledged to create a Master Plan for Aging, or MPA. He also established a Task Force on Alzheimer’s Prevention and Preparedness. 

“He came in and he heard our stories, he heard the caregiving stories about what we needed. He understood. He connected with that because he went through that,” Brown says.

MPA is a 10-year plan that aims to create a “California for all ages and abilities” by 2030. The “blueprint” has been lauded as a gamechanger.

“Without [it], people would not continue to push like we are right now, saying that the fastest growing population of homeless people are older adults,” Brown says. “Why are we not specializing and putting more funding toward prevention of homelessness for older adults? That’s what the master plan allows for. We know that older adults are a large part of the population, and before they were ignored.

“It’s massive,” she continues. “I’m very proud of the work that came out of the master plan and planning on long-term care. We’re still pushing.”

Although they’re no longer required to, members of the advisory committee still meet monthly to see where their efforts are going. The work is hitting home for them.

“We’re all there,” Brown says. “Many of us are already over 60, so we’re committed to our future.

They’re not just thinking of themselves, she adds.

“We know that the populations coming up behind us and the generations coming behind us will need this kind of thoughtfulness about what’s going to be needed as we get older, across the board.”

The MPA faces challenges due to its ambitious scope, requiring many agencies for full implementation. Watchdog groups urge better oversight and sustained support to ensure the plan’s success. 

Gerontocracy

Brown was a featured speaker at a recent day of action surrounding the MPA at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center.

“Since our early days with developing recommendations for the master plan, we have long noted that equity needs to be baked into the Master Plan for Aging, or that you need to sprinkle it on,” Brown says. “Equity is about ensuring that we intentionally uplift the voices of people who are underrepresented, underserved and unheard. That includes Blacks, that includes Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, tribal, and LGBTQIA populations.”

Recommendations include establishing an advisory board on aging and disability lived experience, and developing an equity framework that provides a way to measure how the state is advancing equity in the MPA initiatives.

“If you don’t know how to define or measure equity, then it’s difficult to know if you have met those goals and those objectives,” Brown says.

A lifelong learner, Brown earned a certificate in gerontology from USC in 2020. While she would be happy to see an influx of new eyes and energy focused on aging, she says folks shouldn’t count out those like her with “lived experience.”

In California, a number of older Black women hold leadership positions and wield a great deal of power.  They’re leading by example and are leading well into their senior years. Maxine Waters, 86, is one of the oldest members of Congress. Fellow Rep. Barbara Lee is 78. Former Assemblymember-turned-Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber is also 76. Former assemblymember and state senator Karen Bass, now serving as Los Angeles’ first Black female mayor, is 71.

Brown hasn’t put an age limit on continuing the “good fight.”

“I’m retired. I’m not elected to anything right now, but who knows the future?” she says.

Brown is optimistic about older people’s future in general.

“Our future is bright in California because we’re on a trajectory to take us higher and higher.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of Genoa Barrow’s series, “Senior Moments: Aging While Black.” The series is being supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and is part of “Healing California,” a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California. The OBSERVER is among the collaborative’s inaugural participants.