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Tomas Benitez is the former Executive Director of Self Help Graphics & Art, the leading visual arts center serving the Chicano community in Los Angeles. Founded in 1973 and based in the heart of East LA, Self Help Graphics operates a printmaking atelier, presents exhibitions, promotes artwork internationally, provides artists the chance to gain professional [...]
Maria Cabildo was raised by immigrant parents in the same community that she would later serve as Executive Director of the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC). Under her tenure of over 15 years, ELACC developed and preserved quality affordable single and multi-family housing, organized residents, and provided homebuyer and financial literacy education in a [...]
Neal Dudovitz is the former Executive Director of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA), a role he assumed in 1993 following a distinguished career as an advocate for low-income communities. The organization is one of California’s largest public interest law firms, providing legal assistance to residents in the San Fernando, San Gabriel, and [...]
Alva Moreno is the former Executive Director of the East Los Angeles Women’s Center (formerly Avance Human Services), which launched the first Spanish-language 24-hour crisis hotline for survivors of sexual assault in Southern California in 1976. The Center has expanded its services for survivors of sexual assault to include peer counseling, hospital accompaniment, advocacy, self-defense [...]
Bill Rauch co-founded Cornerstone Theater Company in 1986 and served as its Artistic Director for 20 years. Cornerstone is a multi-ethnic theater company whose professional ensemble collaborates with community members to create new and adapted plays in their own neighborhoods. Founded on the belief that everyone is an artist, the company uses theater to bring [...]
Tim Dang is the former Artistic Director of East West Players, a prominent Asian American theater company that produces a full season of plays each year. The organization also offers programs to nurture Asian American theater artists, including Theater for Youth, the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute, and training in stage and film techniques. An [...]
Esther Feldman founded Community Conservancy International in 1997 and served as its President following a long career dedicated to expanding parkland, recreational areas, and open space throughout Los Angeles. Under her leadership, the organization focused primarily on the development of Baldwin Hills Park—a 1,400-acre expanse that now provides much-needed green space in a city second [...]
Susan Kujawa first came to the Families Forward Learning Center (formerly the Mothers’ Club Community Center) as a client, and later served as the organization’s Executive Director for 22 years. The Mothers’ Club was a community-based organization that provided parenting education and support services for isolated, disadvantaged women, as well as early childhood education for [...]
Sister Jennie Lechtenberg is the Founder and former Executive Director of PUENTE Learning Center, a nationally and internationally recognized institution with locations in Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles. Since 1985, the organization has provided educational instruction to thousands of economically and educationally disadvantaged students, from preschoolers to elderly adults. Before founding PUENTE, Sister Jennie [...]
Jonathan Parfrey is the former Executive Director of the Los Angeles affiliate of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR-LA), a national organization dedicated to the eradication of nuclear weapons, global environmental pollution, and gun violence. PSR-LA is one of the lead agencies developing an environmental health and justice network in Los Angeles and has collaborated with [...]
