Trustee wants to take service to the county supervisor level

After 13 years as senior pastor at St. Stephen CME Church in Fairfield and nearly 10 years as a trustee on Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District’s Governing Board, Rev. David Isom is seeking to continue his community service on a bigger level. He is running for a seat in the 5th District of the Solano County Board of Supervisors.

“I believe that Solano County needs a supervisor who really is concerned about the people,” he said. “I believe that this is an extension of the services that I’ve been providing to my county, specifically the kids of the FairfieldSuisun Unified School District.”

With incumbent Supervisor Skip Thomson announcing that he would not seek another term this past summer, Isom saw a

chance to bring his service to the board.

“(It) gives me a better opportunity to do better work, larger work on behalf of the members of the community,” he said.

An Army veteran who completed his undergraduate studies using the Veterans’ Educational Assistance Program and received a Bachelor of Science degree in English literature, Isom’s devotion to community service goes back decades. He began his pastoral leadership in 1984 at Laymen Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama and has continued his ministry at six other CME churches since, moving to Fairfield in 2007 where he became the senior pastor at St. Stephen CME. Not long after, Isom started becoming active in the school district by serving on various committees and attending school board meetings.

Following the resignations of two school board trustees in 2010, Isom was appointed to fill one of the seats. He ran unopposed in his three subsequent elections.

During his time on the school board, Isom said the board’s biggest achievement has been the opening of the Public Safety Academy (PSA) in 2012.

“We opened that during a time of some serious economic uncertainty,” he said. “We were able to get it open, established (as) a school that focuses on young people that are interested in law enforcement, firefighting, emergency services, other public agency-related fields.”

Isom is proud of the fact that PSA has received high national rankings and produced a graduation rate of 98 percent since it opened.

Additionally, Isom said has worked as an advocate for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse. He helped to establish the Solano Family Justice Center, which provides assistance to victims

and survivors of family violence. He also served as the interim director of SafeQuest Solano, which provides services for people dealing with domestic abuse.

“I personally wrote the first grant that got the Courage Center funding through Kaiser to be able to do forensic testing on children and developmentally disabled adults that might have experienced sexual assault and/or abuse where they didn’t have to go to the hospital or the police department to get services because it’s pretty scary doing that,” he said. “I have extensive background in working with victims.”

Isom said the biggest issue facing Solano County is homelessness, and he wants to bring the community, nonprofits and other stakeholders together to find solutions.

“We’re working in silos and we’re competing for various grants that are offered by the feds and the state,” he said. “Instead of us pooling our resources and working together as a community to address this

community issue, we’re working separately…I don’t think we’re able to affect much change.”

Isom believes that different groups working together will help accomplish the issue.

Another top priority is providing more affordable housing.

“We need to look at those places that we have that people can actually move into and afford to live there,” he said.

Other goals for Isom include ensuring public safety, keeping farmlands maintained and water clean, and working with the local trades and unions to provide solid programs for students seeking another post-high school option apart from college.

“There ought to be some very, very, very good trade programs put in place across Solano County to address those kids who want to be valuable citizens but don’t want to go to college and get a college degree and major in some career field,” he said. “They can do a career outside of a college.”

“It’s a lot to do, and I’m up for it,” Isom said of his goals.

Isom has received endorsements from groups like Napa-Solano Central Labor Council and SEIU Local 1021 as well as elected officials like Thomson, Assemblyman Jim Frazier, Suisun City Mayor Lori Wilson, several past and present FSUSD trustees and numerous other school board trustees throughout the county.

“I believe that as a person who has been working to directly and positively impact people’s lives for over 30 years that I would be well-suited to continue that work on the Board of Supervisors,” he said.

For more information on Isom’s campaign, visit davidcisom.com/.

The primary is March 3. The only other candidate in the race is Mitch Mashburn, Vacaville city councilman and Sheriff’s Office lieutenant.