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Gilda Haas is the former Executive Director of Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). Her work focused on shifting the public conversation around economic inequality by creating popular education materials that used Web 2.0 tools to help people understand the root economic causes of urban issues such as the housing crisis, finance, employment, and [...]
Barbara Hope Langdon was a leading advocate for victims of domestic violence for nearly 20 years. In 1991, she became the Executive Director of House of Ruth, a Claremont-based organization that supports abused women and children by providing shelter, counseling, intervention, and educational programs. Under Barbara’s leadership, what began as a hotline in a family’s [...]
Ralph Lippman became involved in community development and revitalization as a student in the 1960s, when “urban renewal” razed his apartment building. He went on to serve as the Executive Director of the California Community Economic Development Association for over 20 years, a clearinghouse for information and action that advances the field of community economic [...]
Forescee Hogan-Rowles is the former President & CEO of Los Angeles’s first public-private economic development partnership, RISE Financial Pathways (formerly the Community Financial Resource Center). A native Californian, Forescee has decades of community economic development experience. Beginning with her appointment in 1995, the organization served tens of thousands of low-income individuals, provided tens of millions [...]
Raúl Añorve founded the Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) in 1991 to educate and organize low-income Latino immigrants working to solve issues in their own communities. The organization’s projects span popular education, domestic worker rights, and the operation of day labor centers located in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Under Raúl leadership [...]
Brenda Shockley is the former President of Community Build, a nonprofit incorporated in 1992 in response to the Los Angeles civil unrest. The organization’s mission is to revitalize South Los Angeles through human investment and commercial and economic development. Brenda oversaw the development of 16,000 square feet of commercial space in Leimert Park. Serving as [...]
Victoria Ann Lewis is the founder and former Director of Other Voices, a play and community development program for artists with disabilities. Housed at the Mark Taper Forum until 2005, the program provided national leadership for the disabled arts community through writers’ residencies, reading and performance series, master workshops, and cultural conversations. In 1998, Victoria [...]
Johng Ho Song has spent his entire career at the Koreatown Youth & Community Center (KYCC), beginning as a Mental Health Community Worker in 1985 and now serving as Executive Director. KYCC is one of the nation’s largest Korean American community organizations, serving people of all races and ethnic backgrounds in the diverse Koreatown neighborhood. [...]
Dr. Elisa Nicholas is CEO of The Children’s Clinic, “Serving Children and Their Families” (TCC), a system of community health clinics in Long Beach providing care to low-income families. Elisa has led TCC’s growth from a single-site clinic into a network of health centers, all providing tens of thousands of visits annually to low-income families. [...]
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 [...]
