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Hellen Hong served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (now the Survivor Justice Center) for seven years. Located in Boyle Heights, the Center has provided decades of free legal representation, education, and advocacy for the low-income residents of Los Angeles. Hellen has previously served on the Board of Trustees [...]
Nancy Halpern Ibrahim joined Esperanza Community Housing Corporation in 1995 as the founding Director of Health Programs, and has served as Executive Director since 2006. Esperanza works to achieve comprehensive and long-term community development in the Figueroa Corridor neighborhood of South-Central Los Angeles. Beyond Esperanza, Nancy was a founding board member of TRUST South LA, [...]
Mike Lansing is the former Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor, the largest private child development agency in the entire South Bay. Born and raised in San Pedro, Mike is an alumnus of the Club and served on its Board of Directors for three years. He previously founded [...]
John Maceri is the Executive Director of The People Concern, a nonprofit social service agency based in Los Angeles. Formed in 2016 from the merger of the Ocean Park Community Center and Lamp Community, The People Concern strives to empower the most vulnerable among us to improve their quality of life—ensuring they are housed, healthy, [...]
Lisa Watson is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Downtown Women’s Center, which provides permanent supportive housing and other services for women who would otherwise be homeless. Lisa oversaw the administration of a nationally-recognized model program that provides permanent housing and supportive services to thousands of homeless women annually on Skid Row in Los [...]
Susan Burton is the founding Executive Director of A New Way of Life ReEntry Project (ANWOL), which operates homes and programs in South LA to support women recently released from prison in staying sober, finding jobs, and developing life skills. Susan herself overcame a decades-long history of incarceration and the struggles with reentry. After her [...]
Andy Lipkis began his environmental career at the age of 15 and went on to found TreePeople in 1973, with the goal of empowering Los Angeles residents to plant and care for trees and revitalize their neighborhoods. As President, Andy grew TreePeople into a multi-million dollar organization supported by tens of thousands of volunteers and [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
John Malpede is the founding Artistic Director for the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), a theater collective of homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Founded in 1985, LAPD works to build community in Skid Row and to raise public awareness of the “real deal” of life on the streets. Collaborating with drug recovery programs, transitional housing [...]
