Los Angeles, CA (January 29, 2024)-Effective January 1, the Durfee Foundation has announced that Paula Daniels, Co-founder, Chief of What’s Next, and Founding Chair, Center for Good Food Purchasing and Saundra Bryant, former Executive Director of All Peoples Community Center, have been elected to serve on the Durfee Foundation’s Board of Trustees, effective 2024. Having served previous terms on the Durfee board, Paula and Saundra will lend their experience to help the foundation navigate its upcoming leadership transitions.
Paula Daniels is Co-founder, Chief of What’s Next, and Founding Chair of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, a social enterprise non-profit founded in July of 2015 as a national spin-off from the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, which Paula founded in 2011. After decades as a successful private-sector attorney, Paula transitioned to a full-time role in the public and social sectors. Her areas of leadership are in environmental food and water policy. Paula served as Senior Advisor on Food Policy to Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles; as a Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner (a full-time executive position overseeing a large city department); a commissioner with the California Coastal Commission; board member of the California Bay-Delta Authority (overseeing the California State Water Project); and as a commissioner with the California Water Commission. Paula previously served on Durfee’s board from 2018-2019.
Saundra Bryant is the former Executive Director of All Peoples Community Center, a position she held for forty years. All Peoples is a multi-service non-profit serving children, youth, and families in South Central Los Angeles since 1942. Her first experience with All Peoples was as a two-year-old in their daycare facility. Saundra attended Cal Poly Pomona and received her BS in Social Work. She attained her Master’s Degree in Social Work Administration and Planning from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She retired in 2023 and looks forward to spending more time with her husband and grandchildren. Saundra enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling. Saundra previously served on Durfee’s board from 2013-2014.
The Durfee Board of Trustees, made up of a majority of descendants of R. Stanton and Dorothy Durfee Avery, began electing non-family Community Trustees in 2010 with the goal of obtaining fresh perspective on Durfee’s operation and programs, deepening community ties, and increasing diversity. Saundra and Paula have both previously served terms as Community Trustees. Other Durfee Community Trustees have also included: Robert Sainz, Nike Irvin, Leslie Ito, Vera deVera, Robin Kramer, Cristina Regalado, Bruce Saito, Belen Vargas, and Bill Watanabe.
The profiles of the current Board of Trustees can be found here.
The Durfee Foundation’s focus is on extraordinary people who are making a better Los Angeles. For more information, visit our website.