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400 County Center
Redwood City, CA 94063
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(650) 363-4653 Main line for Board of Supervisors'
 

Supervisor Richard Gordon: Biography

Supervisor Richard Gordon, District 3
Biography
 
Richard Gordon was first elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on April 8, 1997. He has been re-elected three times and will be in his third term from January 2007 to December 2010.  
 
Supervisor Gordon represents the Third District which includes the San Mateo County coastside and the bayside cities of Redwood City ( Redwood Shores), San Carlos, Atherton, Woodside, and Portola Valley. He represents 95% of the unincorporated area of San Mateo County including the communities of Pescadero, La Honda, the Midcoast, Emerald Hills, Palomar Park, Devonshire Canyon, Sequoia Tract, West Menlo Park, and Menlo Oaks.
 
Prior to his election to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Rich Gordon served as a member of the County Board of Education. He was first elected to this Board in 1992 and re-elected in 1996.
 
Rich Gordon received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970 from the University of Southern California where he majored in Sociology. Mr. Gordon served as a minister in the United Methodist Church and received his Masters of Divinity from Garrett Theological Seminary at Northwestern University in 1973.
 
In 1976, Rich Gordon began work in the nonprofit sector in San Mateo at the Sequoia YMCA in Redwood City. He went on to found Youth and Family Assistance, where Mr. Gordon created some of the most innovative social programs for at-risk youth including Daybreak, the first suburban shelter for homeless youth in the country, and MiMe’s Café, a job training restaurant which operated as a partnership between two nonprofit agencies and the public sector.
 
Rich Gordon has been active with the Redwood City/San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce since 1991 and during 1998 served as Chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. He was named the Redwood City/San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce “Person of the Year” in 2005.
 
As a County Supervisor, Rich Gordon has worked to develop government accountability through outcome based budgeting and has been instrumental in the formation of regional partnerships including the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust and the County Library Joint Powers Agreement. Supervisor Gordon’s other major accomplishments include:
  • The County purchase of 49 acres at Mirada Surf for a county park.
  • The initiation of the Children’s Health Initiative to guarantee that all children have health care coverage and the re-direction of First Five funding for young children into specific strategic initiatives on health, child care, and early brain development.
  • The creation of a Youth Development Initiative to focus on asset enhancement and the construction of a Youth Campus to provide a comprehensive approach to at-risk youth.
  • A Planning and Building Task Force that addressed solutions to permit delays in that division.
  • Facilitating the purchase of the El Granada Mobile Home Park by a nonprofit group on behalf of the park residents.
  • The passage of an Equal Benefits Ordinance which requires county contractors to provide the same benefits for registered domestic partners as they provide to married spouses.
Currently Supervisor Gordon serves on several commissions and boards including the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the First Five Commission, the County Transportation Authority, the Local Agency Formation Commission, and the San Mateo Health Commission. Supervisor Gordon served as President of the California State Association of Counties in 2008, and continues to serve on the Association’s Executive Board.
 
Supervisor Gordon is the proud recipient of the 2004 Housing Leadership Award, the 2004 “Bev Miller” Civic Service Award (Half Moon Bay/Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau), the 2000 Outstanding Commissioner Award from the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions, and the 1999 La Raza Centro Legal Appreciation Award.
 
Supervisor Gordon is a third generation Californian – having been born and raised in San Mateo County. He currently resides in an unincorporated neighborhood in Menlo Park with Dr. Dennis McShane. Supervisor Gordon and Dr. McShane were married on August 16, 2008 and are now celebrating their first year of marriage and their 26 th year of commitment to each other.
 
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