Community Spotlight: Savannah Portillo Heap

For as long as she can remember, community was an important part of Savannah Portillo Heap’s life.

A Los Angeles native, Savannah’s journey to becoming a Field Deputy for LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath in Supervisorial District 3 (SD 3) has been informed by her desire to strengthen and support the communities where she lives and works. Savannah's deep appreciation for Community (with a capital C) is one of many reasons she makes such a great subject for this month’s Hollywood 4WRD Community Spotlight.

Growing up in a large family on the east side of Los Angeles, Savannah saw right from the start that life was easier, more joyous, and the challenges more manageable when you had the support of an expansive group of friends and family. Her parents were both public school teachers and they modeled for Savannah the value of always looking out for and taking care of those around you. This upbringing instilled in her an approach to life she describes as “a community-minded way of moving through the world.” 

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Political Economy, Savannah decided to stay in the Bay Area, where she was determined to do more than simply take up space in her new community. Finding work with United Way Bay Area (UWBA) allowed her to contribute in a meaningful way as the Program Manager on the Community Impact team. Her job with United Way lasted four years and validated her decision to devote herself to this type of meaningful “community-minded” work. 

After the pandemic hit, however, Savannah also found herself missing her own community.

Moving back home from the Bay Area to be closer to her family, Savannah continued working remotely for UWBA. But she began to search for work in LA that would give her the same opportunities to engage with and support local communities. As the 2022 election approached, Savannah widened her search to include political offices which would give her a chance to apply the systems-change and policy lessons learned from her undergraduate studies.

One candidate who was particularly appealing to Savannah was Lindsey Horvath, running to take over the Supervisorial District 3 seat vacated by the outgoing Sheila Kuehl.

A resident of Hollywood, Savannah not only lived in SD 3's service area, but she also appreciated candidate Horvath's own community-based approach to tackling many of the County’s challenges, including those around housing and homelessness. This approach was on full display after the election when the newly elected Supervisor Horvath set out to staff her team by issuing a google form to the community.

Without having political connections, Savannah submitted a cover letter and resume and then went through a long interview process which lasted several months. Savannah didn’t mind the process, however, and saw her own candidacy for the position as a credit to Supervisor Horvath’s willingness to break with the traditional norms of hiring only from a pool of friends and campaign operatives. She was rewarded for her diligence when she was hired in May of 2023 as one of the new Field Deputies in SD 3.

As one of SD 3’s six Field Deputies, Savannah covers neighborhoods within the enormous 3rd district that range from the San Fernando Valley to her home neighborhood of Hollywood. She serves as the liaison between the Supervisor’s office and community groups in the various neighborhoods, making sure the communities know how the SD 3 office is trying to serve their needs. Just as important, she’ll bring back field reports to the office documenting each neighborhood’s most pressing needs and concerns. Those reports, she’s proud to reflect, are then used to inform policy decisions.

Community work as a County Field Deputy can be challenging – as H4WRD readers are all too aware, many communities in LA County are in crisis, with housing and homelessness often just the tip of the iceberg of concerns. Savannah is grateful that Supervisor Horvath prioritizes her team’s mental and physical health. “The better we take care of ourselves,” the supervisor shared at a team meeting, “the better we’re able to care for our constituents.”

Savannah is also happy to report that the rewards of the work have easily outweighed the challenges. She points out that Supervisor Horvath proposed a motion to declare a state of emergency on homelessness in Los Angeles County, just as Mayor Bass did for the City of LA. That emergency declaration has helped the County accelerate service delivery, cut red tape, launch the Pathway Home encampment resolution program, and better coordinate the region's homeless services system.

She’s equally proud of the Supervisor’s “care-first” approach to homelessness, which rejects criminalization in favor of offering people treatment and better linkage to services. Savannah gave a special shout-out to SD 3’s Housing and Homelessness team of Amy Perkins, Catherine Landers and Jonah Glickman for their deep knowledge and subject matter expertise, and their dedication to improving the lives of the most vulnerable in our County.

Not surprisingly, Savannah’s advice for folks looking to make a difference is to plug in more deeply with your communities. Make your voices heard at government meetings, join Hollywood 4WRD and local advocacy groups for the issues you care about, and, of course, show up every Tuesday for the weekly Board of Supervisor meetings*. As Savannah will be the first to share, community work isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it, especially working and walking alongside other caring and compassionate community members!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* For constituent help in SD 3 and/or to submit requests for funding (nonprofits), certificates, and buses: https://lindseyhorvath.lacounty.gov/