Acquanetta Warren
Elected as mayor in December 2010 and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2014 and 2018, Acquanetta Warren is serving her third term as the mayor of the City of Fontana. Mayor Warren focuses her administrations on bolstering economic development, creating educational opportunities, improving public safety, and advocating for a healthier community.
During her eight years as a councilwoman and now third term as mayor, Warren has spearheaded significant economic growth and infrastructure improvement initiatives, including four reconstructed freeway interchanges resulting in reduced traffic congestion, safer streets, and ease of facilitating the movement of goods throughout San Bernardino County. Ms. Warren has played a critical role in positioning Fontana as a supply chain hub that provides critical goods and services to businesses in the United States and throughout the world.
To continue this economic growth, Mayor Warren created in collaboration with the Fontana Chamber of Commerce the Mayors Manufacturing, Logistics and Transportation Council, where these industries work together to address issues and concerns impacting their growth in helping to increase jobs and the city’s economy.
From the day Mayor Warren was inaugurated, she has emphasized that Fontana is Open for Business and works directly with the Fontana Chamber of Commerce to support the needs of the business community. This effort was rewarded in 2017 with the City being ranked fourth in California in the five-year annual growth of retail sales. To showcase businesses that call Fontana home, Mayor Warren started a television show titled Open for Business. The segment features local businesses and the services they provide. This great show was modified during the pandemic to provide crucial updates to residents impacted by national, state and county shutdowns and is now called Mayor Monday. Both shows provide information on city activities, interviews with local service providers and local businesses. The Mayor is teaming up with Feed me Fontana a community-based show to highlight the many eateries in Fontana.
Ensuring that every child in Fontana receives the highest level of education and career readiness, Ms. Warren declared a State of Emergency on education in 2018. Since then, she formed the Fontana Mayor’s Education Coalition – a network of schools, businesses, unions, non-profits, and local leaders – committed to exposing and preparing students for current and future job and career opportunities after graduation.
Mayor Warren strives to improve public safety. In 2013, Fontana was named one of the top 20 safest communities in the country. Continuing to keep the community safe, the Mayor holds open conversations connecting the community with the police officers that serve to protect them. The Mayor proposed and obtained full Council approval to add 12 additional police officers for 2022. Each year the city will add 8 new officers to ensure enough officers are added to accommodate the growth of Fontana.
As part of her efforts to improve public safety, this year 2022 during her address for the State of the City, Mayor Warren pledged to eliminate homelessness by recognizing the role mental health plays on these citizens. Mayor Warren is working with federal, state, and other local leaders to combine resources to treat and house homeless residents with the tools they need to take care of themselves. The city has several programs and partnerships with local providers.
Realizing that a strong economy requires a healthy community, Mayor Warren founded the award-winning and model program across the nation, Healthy Fontana. The program promotes an active community lifestyle and teaches smart nutrition choices. Stemming from Healthy Fontana is the Fontana Walks! program. What began as a challenge to the community to cumulatively walk 2 billion steps in 2017 has turned into monthly walks with nearly 12 billion steps taken to date. Fontana has 58 parks for residents to enjoy.
Through Mayor Warren’s efforts, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) named the City of Fontana the number one mid-sized city in the nation for eliminating childhood obesity in 2016. The city of Fontana has made major strides in helping with eliminating obesity in all age groups, especially childhood obesity.
Ms. Warren has received numerous recognitions and several awards for her efforts on health education, including the Helen Putnam Award of Excellence in 2008 and 2019, the Health Champion Award for Southern California Elected Officials from the California Center for Public Health in 2017, and the California Health & Public Advocacy Health Champion Award in 2015.
As a nationally recognized leader, Mayor Warren serves as:
• Trustee for United State Conference of Mayors
• Chairwoman of Community Leaders of America
• Vice Chair of (LAFCO) San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission
• Executive Secretary of the (CALAFCO) California Associations Local Agencies Formations Commissions
• Chairwoman of the Workforce, Career and Technical Education Task Force, and Vice Chairwoman of the Youth Issues Committee with the U.S. Conference of Mayors
• Member of California State Treasurer Fiona Ma’s Housing, Economic Development, Jobs, and Opportunity Zone Ad Hoc Committee
• Member of the (SCAG) Southern California Association of Governments Community, Economic and Human Development Committee
• Member of the San Bernardino Countywide Oversight Board
• Member of the Board of Directors, General Policy Committee and Transit Committee of the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority
• San Bernardino County Racial Equity Committee, San Bernardino Council of Government
• Board Member of the (LAFCO) Local Agency Formation Commission for San Bernardino County and the State of California
Ms. Warren was appointed to the Fontana City Council on December 17 of 2002, and was re-elected in 2004 and 2008. Before her appointment, Ms. Warren served as Co-Chairperson of the City of Fontana General Plan Advisory Committee and Chairperson of the Citizen Village of Heritage Development Landscape Committee.
Mayor Warren’s past services includes various council subcommittees and boards and commissions, such as Water/Recycled Water Projects and Development Processing for New Communities, the State Park Commission, Casa Colina Rehabilitation Hospital Board of Directors, and the Upland YMCA Board of Directors.
Mayor Warren earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science/Urban Studies from Occidental College and an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Theology from Next Dimension Bible College. Ms. Warren is a member of the Water of Life Community Church and has three children and three grandchildren.
