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Solomon Rivera is the former Associate Director of the Community Coalition. Founded in 1990 in response to the devastating impact of alcohol and other drugs in South Los Angeles, the Coalition has led efforts to convert former liquor stores and other problem businesses in the area, secure public funds to repair schools, craft policy to [...]
Dorothy Thompson is the former Executive Director of Streetlights, an organization she founded in 1992 to promote ethnic diversity within the entertainment industry. Streetlights provides job training and placement for economically and socially at-risk men and women, preparing them for entry-level roles as production assistants in film and television. Before founding Streetlights, Dorothy had a [...]
Rev. Eugene Williams III was the Founder and Executive Director of Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches (LAM), a network of small to midsize African American congregations across Los Angeles County. Founded in 1994, the organization was established to build the capacity of these churches to meet the needs of their communities. Its mission is to address [...]
Father Gregory Boyle is the Founder and Director of Homeboy Industries (formerly Jobs for a Future), initially launched as an initiative of Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission. Located in East Los Angeles, the Homeboy serves as an employment referral center and economic development program for at-risk and gang-involved youth. The organization operates several self-sustaining businesses—including [...]
Anne Bray is the Founder and Executive Director of LA Freewaves, a media arts network that fosters creative connections among arts organizations, cable stations, cafés, libraries, schools, and videomakers. The organization produces a biennial festival of independent video and offers new media workshops and a website as resources for artists, curators, programmers, teachers, and students. [...]
Saundra Bryant served as Executive Director of All Peoples Community Center beginning in 1983. Founded in 1942, the Center is located two miles south of Downtown Los Angeles in a neighborhood that has seen dramatic demographic and social change. Saundra became intimately involved with the Center as a child when she was enrolled in its [...]
Abby Leibman is the Founder and former Executive Director of the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), a statewide policy and support organization focused on women’s rights. The Center specializes in issues of sex discrimination, violence against women, family law, childcare, and reproductive rights. In addition to protecting and advancing the law as it relates to [...]
Bill Watanabe is the former Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), a nonprofit organization that provides a comprehensive array of social welfare and community development services. LTSC supports low-income Angelenos, promotes community revitalization and cultural preservation in Little Tokyo and among the broader Japanese community in the Southland, and serves the broader [...]
Carol Williams is the Executive Director of Interval House, a domestic violence shelter serving Long Beach and Orange County. She has led the organization since shortly after its founding in 1979. Today, Interval House maintains shelter facilities to provide comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence and their children. The organization offers counseling and a [...]
Patti Giggans is Executive Director of Peace Over Violence (formerly the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women), a multicultural, community-based, and volunteer-centered nonprofit organization dedicated to building healthy relationships, families, and communities free from sexual, domestic, and interpersonal violence. Since 1985, Patti has frequently served as a media spokesperson on issues related to violence [...]
