Liberty Hill Blog: News from the Frontlines

You Oughta be a Commissioner

 

Liberty Hill Commission Training Program sponsors and speakers include, clockwise from top left: Honorary Sponsorship Committee Co-Chair, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas; speaker Madeline Janis, co-founder and national policy director of LAANE; speaker Jonathan Parfey, Director of Climate Resolve and a Commission at Dept. of Water & Power; Sponsorship Committtee Chair Sheila Kuehl, Director Public Policy Institute at SMC and former State Senator.

By Shane Goldsmith, Executive Director

Q: Whose vote to approve a contract enabling L.A.'s Dept. of Water and Power "to completely transition out of coal power from the Intermountain Power Plant in Delta, Utah by 2025" was the final piece of the city's move to become coal-free?

A: The Board of Water and Power Commissioners.

Q: Who approved a plan to move one of the runways at LAX 250 feet to the north?

A: The Board of Airport Commissioners.

Q: Who produces a regular report on campaign contributions in Los Angeles?

A: The Ethics Commission.

Los Angeles has more than 50 boards and commissions with more than 300 appointed members who oversee key city agencies and advise the mayor on core policies and programs that impact the quality of life for local residents. Decisions made by these agencies have a major impact on policies and projects throughout Los Angeles.

Liberty Hill is offering a Commissions Training Program to ensure that these appointees are drawn from diverse communities and can help civic leaders make good decisions for all communities. The Training Program is an intensive, full-day, large-group session for community leaders from across sectors and issue areas.

Individuals who participate in this program will gain insight into the opportunities and challenges of commission service in the City of Los Angeles, will understand the process for appointment, and will have an overview of key skills needed for successful service. Graduates will also have the opportunity to participate in priority registration for subsequent Liberty Hill Foundation events focused on boards and commissions advocacy.

Sessions will be facilitated by well-known city advocates who have served on commissions, worked in City Hall, or staffed city agencies. Former commissioners will talk with you about setting priorities and getting the right information for decisionmaking as a new commissioner. To apply, please click here for an application. You must be a City of L.A. resident.

Applications must be submitted by May 17, 2013 to Commissions@LibertyHill.org. You will be notified no later than May 31 as to your application’s status for the June 22 training. If you are offered a seat in the training, you must reserve it by submitting the enrollment fee of $250 no later than June 12. A limited number of scholarships are available. If you have questions, please contact Commissions@LibertyHill.org.

Liberty Hill Commissions Training Program Sponsorship Committee members: Sheila Kuehl (Chair), Director, Public Policy Institute at Santa Monica College and former State Senator; Dean Hansell President, Board of Fire & Police Pension Commissioners; Lara Bergthold, Principal, Griffin Schein; Aileen Adams, Deputy Mayor of Strategic Partnerships Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa; Stewart Kwoh, President, Asian Pacific American Legal Center; Kathay Feng, Executive Director, Common Cause; Tom Saenz, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF); Torie Osborn, Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood and Community Services Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa; Larry Frank, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa; Pascual Romel, Deputy Mayor for the Environment, Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa; Nolan Rollins, President & CEO Los Angeles Urban League; Helen Torres, Executive Director Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE); Regina Freer, Professor, Occidental College, Vice President, Planning Commission; Sharon Delugach, Community Engagement Coordinator, American Federation of Teachers; Roxana Tynan, Executive Director Los Angeles for a New Economy (LAANE). Honorary Co-Chairs: Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez, Assemblymember Holly Mitchell, Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield.

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Will LAUSD Ban Harsh School Discipline Today?

(Los Angeles) Hundreds of youth, parents and community leaders will descend on LAUSD headquarters to demand the passage of the School Climate Bill of Rights—a resolution that would enact common sense approaches to school discipline and expand programs that support all students in becoming healthy, thriving adults. If passed, the landmark proposal would ban “willful defiance” suspensions from LA schools -- a first for a major school district.

The School Climate Bill of Rights also calls on the district to enact research-based alternatives to suspension that have been proven to create positive learning environments and increase academic achievement. In addition, schools will no longer rely on School Police for day-to-day discipline and instead focus on strengthening relationships between students, parents, teachers, and school administrators.

California suspends more students than it sends to college. Research has shown that harsh discipline methods are counterproductive to making schools safer, and unfairly target boys and young men of color, damaging their opportunities to thrive and succeed. In 2007, the Los Angeles Unified School District adopted the Positive Behavioral Supports policy to improve school discipline practices across the district.

Passage of the School Climate Bill of Rights is another a key step to further transform disciplinary approaches that hold back young people into practices that create learning environments that are safe, healthy and supportive for all students.
WHAT: LAUSD will vote on whether to ban willful defiance suspensions and adopt the School Climate Bill of Rights. Hundreds of youth and parents will rally outside of LAUSD headquarters with music, picket signs, and bullhorns.

WHO: Hundreds of youth and parents from across LAUSD

WHERE: LAUSD Headquarters, 333 S. Beaudry Ave., Los Angeles, 90017

WHEN: Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 4-7pm

For more information, interviews or to secure a press pass for the event, contact Lester Garcia at 323-633-7288 or lestergarcia@icloud.com.

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Every Student Matters is a campaign of the Brothers Sons Selves initiative at Liberty Hill Foundation. Brothers Sons Selves is a coalition of L.A. community organizations working towards a common agenda to improve the lives of young men and was created in partnership with The California Endowment.

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Pros Say Suspensions Don't Work

Garfield Principal Jose Huerta with students.

This opinion piece was written in support of the proposed "School Climate Bill of Rights," the first campaign of Liberty Hill Foundation's Brothers, Sons, Selves initiative..

School Discipline and the Future of LAUSD

An Op-Ed By Jose Huerta, Principal, James A. Garfield High School and James Ream, President, Los Angeles School Police Officers Association.

Today, the Los Angeles Board of Education will vote on whether or not to adopt the School Climate Bill of Rights, a policy aimed at redefining how schools discipline students. As Board Members discuss the initiative we would like to offer some advice:

Educators and policymakers need to understand two things when it comes to school discipline: 1) suspensions don’t work; and, 2) supporting students and holding them accountable for their actions are not mutually exclusive. 

Last year California suspended more students than it sent to college. Of the over 700,000 suspensions that were handed out, nearly half (48%), were for what schools call “willful defiance”. Students who talk back, chew gum in class, and in extreme cases, don’t do their homework, can be placed on suspension. If it sounds ludicrous, it gets worse. School Police are regularly called to campuses to deal with incidents of willful defiance, like students not sitting in their seat. 

When students are suspended they miss an entire days worth of valuable instruction time. Increasing student attendance and improving graduation and college-going rates, take a back seat to punitive practices that do nothing to address the root causes of misbehavior. What’s more, students lose a sense of self-worth and develop animosity toward education. School Police work diligently to focus on very real issues. When they are called to minor incidents that can and should be handled administratively, it significantly reduces our efforts and ability to handle or prevent more serious problems. The School Climate Bill of Rights takes “willful defiance” off the table, and works to clarify the role of police on school campuses.

Schools will no longer be able to rely on suspensions or school police to deal with minor infractions. There are students that are suspended for more egregious offenses and that is where the School Climate Bill of Rights is most beneficial. In addition to eliminating “willful defiance,” the policy calls on schools to enact Restorative Justice practices that help teachers, school administrators, and school police to work with students and parents to create a more positive learning environment.

Case in point: Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Readers may remember Garfield as the gritty backdrop for 1988’s Stand and Deliver, in which Edward James Olmos portrayed Jaime Escalante, a calculus teacher who refused to give up on his students when the rest of the world had written them off. He saw in his students the potential for greatness and provided them with the motivation and instruction they needed to succeed.

During the 2008-2009 school year, Garfield had 683 suspensions. Garfield decided to take a lesson from Mr. Escalante, and focus on combining effective instruction with positive reinforcement. Without any major funding and in the face of the arguably the most dire budget cuts this district has ever faced, they began implementing a form of restorative Justice called School Wide Positive Behavioral and Intervention Supports (SWPBIS) to address discipline.

Unlike Jaime Escalante’s story, this was not the effort of a lone individual. Every adult on that campus -- teachers, administrators, counselors, classified staff, school police officers and community-based organizations -- decided to challenge decades old thinking that removing students from school was the best solution to disciplinary problems. Instead, they focused on building understanding and respect among students. Garfield actively promoted dialogue over detention and chose support over suspensions. Students involved in altercations were brought together to discuss and resolve their issues. Adults made themselves more accessible and changed their relationship with students. While students may have an uneasy relationship with law enforcement outside of school, students have embraced their school police officer as a counselor and a friend.

The result: a more positive school climate, greater safety, and improvements in academic achievement and attendance. The school gained 75 points on Academic Performance Index, outperforming dozens of high schools across state of California. In fact, suspensions dropped from 683 to 1; Garfield’s graduation rate went up nearly 20% propelling them past the district average; and the percentage of students passing the high school exit exam jumped from 69% to 83%.

The primary function of any school system should be to produce well-rounded individuals that are prepared for college, careers, and civic life. The School Climate Bill of Rights is not about letting students off the hook for their actions. It is about adults doing everything possible to help students learn from their mistakes and understand their worth.

As the School Board comes to a decision on the School Climate Bill of Rights we ask you to consider the words of Mr. Escalante: “If we expect kids to be losers they will be losers; if we expect them to be winners they will be winners. They rise, or fall, to the level of the expectations of those around them.”

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Harsh School Discipline in the Spotlight at Select Committee Briefing

The Brothers, Sons, Selves initiative is involved in an important event this Friday, May 10, 2013. Here is the advisory for this event. 

 

 

 

 

(Los Angeles) State Assemblymembers, LAUSD officials and civil rights advocates will convene in downtown Los Angeles to discuss local and state legislation to end harsh school discipline policies. More and more evidence demonstrates that harsh discipline methods do not work to promote school safety or better-run classrooms, but unfairly target boys and young men of color, damaging their opportunities to thrive and succeed.

As the majority of students in Los Angeles County, young people of color have a vital role to play in making our neighborhoods safer, our economy stronger and steering our city and state towards success. But each year we lose talented and gifted youth who are pushed to drop out of school because of ineffective and harmful policies such as “zero-tolerance” and harsh disciplinary measures. Due in part to such policies, the state currently suspends more students than it sends to college – more than 700,000 students annually.

As school districts move toward a common sense discipline approach that promotes academic achievement and youth development, several promising policy initiatives have emerged. New California and Los Angeles proposals would limit the use of willful defiance as a suspendable offense, minimize the criminalization of youth on campus for non-threatening offenses and create a district-wide school climate bill of rights.

WHAT:	The California Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color will showcase promising policy in the field and existing work to advance positive school discipline reform in Los Angeles and across California. This is part of the 2013-14 Select Committee's briefing series aimed at implementing policy solutions.
WHO:	The briefing will feature: Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, with moderator Committee Chairperson Assemblymember Steven Bradford; Angelica Salazar, Children’s Defense Fund; Carlos “Elmo” Gomez, Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition; Mónica García, LAUSD Board President; Michelle King, Deputy Superintendent, LAUSD; Ruth Cusick, Public Counsel; Maisie Chin CADRE; and Cesar Castrejon, Long Beach Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition.
	Media , stakeholders, practitioners, and decision-makers are invited to attend.
WHERE:	JW Marriott Los Angeles, 900 West Olympic Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90015 USA
WHEN:	Friday, May 10th, 12:00 – 2:00 PM

For more information, interviews or to secure a press pass for the event, contact Lester Garcia at 323-633-7288 or lestergarcia@icloud.com.

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The Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color was formed by Speaker John Pérez and is chaired by Assemblymember Steven Bradford. Members include Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian (AD35), Assemblymember Rob Bonta (AD18), Assemblymember Cheryl R. Brown (AD47), Assemblymember Beth Gaines (AD6), Assemblymember Richard S. Gordon (AD24), Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (AD59), Assemblymember Holly J. Mitchell (AD54), Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (AD80), Assemblymember Anthony Rendon (AD63), Assemblymember Philip Y. Ting (AD19) and Assemblymember Scott Wilk (AD38).

Every Student Matters is a campaign of the Brothers Sons Selves initiative at Liberty Hill Foundation. Brothers Sons Selves is a coalition of L.A. community organizations working towards a common agenda to improve the lives of young men and was created in partnership with The California Endowment.

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April 2013 Frontlines to Headlines

On the heels of this week’s May Day marches we’ve compiled news of Liberty Hill and Liberty Hill grantees. April showered Liberty Hill and its grantees with press attention, including coverage of May Day marches (and the immigration reform news in preceding weeks) and grantee actions relating to workers rights, tenants rights and environmental justice. In addition, there were stories about Liberty Hill’s Upton Sinclair Dinner, the launch of our Brothers, Sons Selves campaign, and City consideration of the Clean Up Green Up policy proposal. 

May Day

May 1: Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, traces the history of May Day protest revivals to the year 2000 in L.A. for the Associated Press story, picked up here by the Wall Street Journal blog. The live video report from NBC TV in L.A. is embedded in a written report with quotes from Korean Resource Center and CHIRLA representatives.The L.A. Times music blog covered CHIRLA’s pre-parade press conference with  big-name bands that support immigration reform with a concert, while the Pasadena Star News showed preparations for the march underway at Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) and also spoke to CHIRLA’s Xiomara Corpeño (a 2011 Liberty Hill Leader to Watch)

 Liberty Hill’s training and policy work

April 10: Liberty Hill is mentioned in this Wave Newspapers article as a partner in managing California Community Foundation’s BLOOM initiative for boys and young men of color. Our role is providing capacity building through the Wally Marks Leadership Institute.

April 8: Ed Source described a new UCLA study showing that school suspensions jump from about 2.4 percent in elementary school to 11 percent in middle school, and discussed Liberty Hill’s  Brothers, Sons, Selves campaign in that context. 

 April 11:  Los Angeles Times covered LA Unified School District President Monica Garcia’s appearance at the kick-off of Liberty Hill’s Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition’s citywide campaign for a School Climate Bill of Rights that would roll back harsh punishments that disproportionately impact students of color. The Times followed with an editorial in broad support of the resolution. 

 April 17:  Witness L.A. wrote about the campaign and the Times editorial, calling the School Climate Bill of Rights “carefully worded.” 

 April 15: National Resources Defense Council blogger Adrian Martinez writes about the Liberty Hill-facilitated Clean Up Green Up Campaign on the eve of its successful policy consideration by the LA City Council Planning & Land Use Management Committee (PLUM). The proposal moved on to the Budget Committee.

Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration

April 24: Red carpet reception coverage included L.A. Confidential’s slide show of honorees, presenters and Liberty Hill supporters and a blurb in Variety.

Liberty Hill Grantees in Action

April 28:  A writer for the Daily Trojan talks to Coalition for Economic Survival about the downside of gentrification.

April 27: The Global Nation Inquirer describes Pilipino Workers Center’s work on improved labor practices for domestic workers.

 April 26: Interviews labor leaders including representatives of  Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) about expected near-future municipal campaigns for paid sick leave are part of an article in the Business section of the L.A. Times.  

 April 2: Trust South L.A. was one of the groups that organized the participatory creation of a “food resources” map for South L.A. created through the collaboration of large numbers of residents on bikes and foot. See the results:  

 April 13-18

As the U.S. Senate immigration reform bill was sneak-peeked, leaked and finally made public, CHIRLA organized rallies on both coasts covered by media including abs-cbnnews.com (a globally-focused Filipino publication), L.A. Times and Talking Points Memo.

 April 9: Khmer Girls in Action and East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice were among the community groups that the Long Beach Post reported would gather for the second annual “People’s State of the City”, where residents discussed jobs, housing, education, immigration, the environment, and the health and safety of neighborhoods.

April 2: The Daily News reports that Coalition for Economic Survival and Union de Vecinos are continuing legal appeals to prevent the consolidation of LA Superior Court courthouses that would result in LA County’s annual 70,000 eviction cases being held in just five sites. 

April 13: Members of Latino Equality Alliance, Bus Riders Union/Labor Community Strategy Center and other groups are profiled by young Latina photographers in a collection of photo slideshows of community activists working for LGBTQ equality in Boyle Heights published by the national Hispanic online publication Vox XXI.

April 6: EGP News, a chain of newspapers covering local communities throughout L.A., focused on Latino Equality Alliance’s outdoor fair/conference “LGBTQ Forum for Youth, Families and Community Services” held at Mariachi Plaza.

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Gala Dinner Highlights!

Liberty Hill's 2013 Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration isn't quite over yet!

The program Tuesday night with our amazing honorees was fast-paced but so thought-provoking you might like to review remarks by Alison Morgan, Parke Skelton, Charles F. Johnson, or Howard Gordon (on behalf of himself and Alex Gansa). You'll find the videos in featured position on our YouTube channel: 

www.YouTube.com/ChangeNotCharity.

 You'll find our first album of photos-- from the reeption and red-carpet arrival time-- up on our Facebook page. Please feel free to tag and share with your friends.

And there are still a few days left to bid on outrageous concerts, collector's items and other goodies on our online auction. GIve in to temptation! Go for a Grateful Dead baby t-shirt! Compete for tickets and backstage passes! You'll be supporting L.A.s best grassroots organizers at the same time. 

Thank you to all who came to the gala dinner Tuesday night. It was a rousing success, thanks to you!

 

 

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Introducing Christine Dean

Liberty Hill welcomes our new Chief Development Officer, Christine Dean. She sends greetings and shares some of her background by way of introduction:

Dear Liberty Hill supporters, allies and friends:

In 2009, I volunteered on a Liberty Hill Community Funding Board.  From this experience, I saw firsthand the rigor and strength of Liberty Hill’s grantmaking.  Liberty Hill jump-starts the change process by making meaningful investments in grassroots organizations in addition to well-established agencies, empowering the leaders of tomorrow and enhancing powerful collaborations.  When a position became available, I seized the opportunity to join the Liberty Hill Foundation family and begin the next chapter of social justice work. 

I look forward to seeing familiar faces and making new friends while advancing positive social change across Los Angeles.  The more years I spend in philanthropy, the more I witness the differentiation of funder and recipient breakdown.  Giving and receiving go hand-in-hand and it is a joy to be a part of this process with you.

Liberty Hill is a natural next step in my career arc after spending 16 years fundraising at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times Family Fund and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.  My time at Planned Parenthood and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center emphasized the nexus between services, education and advocacy in creating social change.  My experience at the Los Angeles Times Family Fund gave me the dual perspective as both fundraiser and grantmaker.  I enjoyed launching the Times’ first donor advised giving program.

Prior to my fundraising career, I received an M.A. in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College, taking classes such as Equality, Justifying Difference, Deconstructing Gender and the Politics of Identity.  My thesis focused on the themes of identity and representation from a queer and feminist perspective.  I hold a teaching credential from S.D.S.U. and an A.B. in Art from Occidental College.  Occidental College has a knack for attracting and graduating students with a commitment toward community service.

My wife, Rose, and I live in Silver Lake with our two cats and enjoy trying new restaurants, taking walks around the reservoir, visiting galleries, bird-watching and celebrating Halloween with 800 trick-or-treaters.

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Liberty Hill Creative Vision Award honors Charles F. Johnson

On April 23 at the Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration, Liberty Hill will present the 2013 Creative Vision Award to a discerning filmmaker and producer, Charles F. Johnson.

As producer of such genre-defining television shows as NCIS, JAG, and Magnum, P.I., Charles F. Johnson has built pathways within the entertainment industry to create balanced and equal opportunities for people of color.

Charles grew up hearing stories of the Tuskegee Airmen from his father, Orange Maull Johnson, who was a member of the American cavalry in North Africa during World War II. Building on this history, Charles nurtured the story of the African American fighter pilots for more than 20 years and worked with executive producer George Lucas to bring the film to life.

The result, 2012’s Red Tails, won the NAACP Image Award for best picture.

Red Tails is “a story that has resonance with a lot of people,” Charles says.

“These young men were not encouraged to fly for their country. They were not expected to succeed. But they triumphed over adversity. These were men who fought racism at home and fascism abroad. They did it successfully and they were heroes, not victims.”

Charles’s activism began in the late 1960s, when he attended Howard University alongside such classmates as Stokely Carmichael. During the Civil Rights Movement, he was active in protests and marches and later worked on John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.

Charles earned his law degree from Howard University, was drafted during the Vietnam War, worked as a copyright lawyer for several years, and finally decided to “follow his dreams” and in 1971 embarked on a new career in entertainment. He attended the Professional Theater Workshop in Hollywood, then found work in Universal Studios’ Mail Room, and soon became employed in the studio’s Business Affairs Department. His successful and accomplished career as a producer on television shows at Universal soon followed, and continues to this day.

Deeply committed to social justice, education, and the power of community engagement, Charles advances social change through creativity, passion, and philanthropic investment in a broad range of organizations, including his leadership as a Trustee of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and his support of the Samburu Project, which builds wells in Africa and whose mission is to enhance lives of men and women in developing countries.

 

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An Activist Rooted in the Ecology of Justice

You can’t help but think in garden metaphors when talking to Glen Dake, a landscape architect, prominent advocate for “green agenda” issues in Los Angeles, and one of Liberty Hill’s most active donor-activists.  

Because, really, he seems to work on a vision of  L.A. the way he works on a vision of a particular community garden or landscape—with lots of practical, hands-on effort. He has a deep working knowledge of the complex components—irrigation or neighborhood politics, mulch or policy initiatives—that will be acting on the health of the ecosystem in question.

“The important thing is to not just give money but really participate,” says Glen, “It can be a real source of richness in the sense of learning more about L.A. and finding your place in it.”

On one hand, Glen embodies management-level philanthropic activism by frequent board membership at organizations he supports. On the other hand, as a volunteer, Glen has personally watered, weeded, mulched and attended meeting after meeting in community gardens throughout L.A. His friendships as well as his giving strategies have been formed by his experiences in those gardens.

Glen is on the boards of the L.A. Neighborhood Land Trust ( http://www.lanlt.org/index.php), the L.A. Community Garden Council (http://lagardencouncil.org/) and the California League of Conservation Voters (http://www.ecovote.org/). He supports nonprofit organizations not only through Liberty Hill’s Fund for Change, but also, with his sister Renee Dake Wilson and her husband Brian Wilson, through a donor advised fund (see below) housed at Liberty Hill.  “The donor advised fund allows time to do grantmaking over time in a way that’s best for the objective rather than just throwing a chunk out all in one year, the year you take your profit. Unfortunately we don’t take profit every year,” he explains.

The objective? “We focus on youth issues and community development. We do some LGBT and women’s issues. We’re not fooling around. Renee and I try to participate—as is the wont of our generation. We get involved. We’re on boards of the groups that we give to. Each of those boards presents a lot of difficult decisions to the board member. Board service is a very serious responsibility.”

Glen has done public-sector service as well. In 2001, he temporarily stepped away from his design practice, where he created high-visibility projects such as for UCLA and Scripps Institute of Oceanography, to put in a four-year stint on L.A. City Councilmember Eric Garcetti’s staff. There he: helped bring the city into compliance with the Clean Air Act; successfully campaigned for 2004’s Prop O, which funded a $500 million cleanup of L.A. waterways and ocean to meet federal Clean Water standards; worked for requirements for increased use of renewable energy sources; and helped develop 13 new parks. From there, he segued into, among other actions, service on Liberty Hill’s Community Funding Board, and also  a role as an activist and advisor to the Green L.A. Coalition, (http://greenlacoalition.org/about-us/) formed in 2005 and incubated and nurtured by Liberty Hill.

Glen got involved in community gardens when he “got organized by Jackie Goldberg’s office” as a Silver Lake resident. “They were looking for ways to make Echo Park a better working class community. Gardens were one way.”

Since then, he’s seen people’s lives transformed by their participation in community gardens.  “Right now there are a lot of community gardens in South L.A. Why is that? Because there are so many people there who are restricted from entering job market because of age or contact with the criminal justice system. But they don’t just sit around. They’re contributing to improving their lives through the work they do with their own hands at the gardens.  

“A community garden allows people who have so little to make a difference in their lives through their effort, through their time. In a community garden a homeless person is the best! Or an old person. The world says, ‘Oh look at that homeless person, they’re of no use, but in a community garden, they’re the best. They have all that time.”   

Glen mentions an unemployed cook who found a new job through connections she made gardening. He’s seen other people overcome isolation and loss. “One of the reasons you become more impoverished,” he says, “is because of life events—big disruptions in your life like illness, a car breaking down, loss of childcare—so you can’t get to a job interview or even to work. But by participating at a community garden you’re creating a wider and more complex net of relationships. That is a defense against those disruptions.”

Neighborhood residents find literal common ground in community gardens.  “You’re out where you can be seen doing something honorable. Anyone passing by can say ‘What’s that you’re growing?’”

Community organizing is a crucial aspect of community gardening for Glen, and participatory design is a vital part of his extensive involvement with parks, children’s playgrounds and other public spaces. He helped to found the L.A. Community Garden Council, and helped to build not only the Echo Park Community Garden, but also the Stanford Avalon Garden in Watts and the Florence Firestone Garden. He’s a leader in community-designed landscapes but he understands the challenges. “Especially in L.A.—where it seems like before you do anything you have to talk to everybody—it’s hard for people who have gotten a little bit of power to let it go.”

Today Glen’s “main volunteer garden” is Stanford Avalon Garden.  “It’s an unusual garden,” he says, “Large plots, a lot of very experienced, older growers, growing a lot of produce.  But it has its problems. The growers want to have the patron/boss who runs everything efficiently and a lot of them stop coming to meetings because they get no redress there. Many of these older guys who spend a lot of the day there are making a big contribution to the household budget with all this produce. They are doing something very positive but they have a lot of internal stress. I advise the leaders and encourage them to be their best selves.”

Is he a community organizer? “Not really. Maybe I’m a junior community organizer. To be a community organizer requires a discipline to your goals. You have to be the bad guy a little.  I am not able to do that very well.”

Learn more about Glen in this brief video portrait:

Liberty Hill is a donor–inspired foundation, created and powered by the vision and commitment of its individual donor-activists. In addition to our Fund for Change, our primary competitive grantmaking program, Liberty Hill is home to more than 60 Donor Advised Funds, grantmaking accounts set up by individuals and businesses.  Information: https://www.libertyhill.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=344&frcrld=1#da

Liberty Hill Founders Award honors Alison Morgan and Parke Skelton

Liberty Hill presents its annual Founders Award to those whose philosophy and philanthropy embodies the spirit of “Change, Not Charity.”

On April 23, at Liberty Hill's Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration, the 2013 Founders Award will be presented to Alison Morgan and Parke Skelton. Alison and Parke, the fundraiser/strategist duo, are one of L.A.’s power couples.  They bring unparalleled energy, commitment, and smarts to their political and philanthropic work, throughout their extensive reach, independently and together, into California’s social justice and political communities.

Soon after moving to Los Angeles from New York as a performer, Alison became engaged in the AIDS, movement.  She then found a niche as a progressive political fundraiser for candidates, including Senator Barbara Boxer, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former State Senator Sheila Kuehl, State Senator Fran Pavley, former Assembly member Mike Feuer, Congress member Karen Bass, and former Assembly member Jackie Goldberg.  She now serves the broader community through the cultivation of financial resources and board development in the nonprofit world.  She is the Major Gifts Consultant for the civil rights advocacy organization Advancement Project, following her stint as Development Director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty.  Now on Liberty Hill’s Advisory Board after a six-year stint on the Board of Directors, Alison also serves on the Board of the Sequoyah School in Pasadena.

Parke is one of California’s pre-eminent political campaign consultants.  His firm, SG&A Campaigns, has run campaigns for such progressive Democratic candidates as Controller John Chiang, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Congress members Karen Bass, Julia Brownley, Judy Chu, Alan Lowenthal, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman and Hilda Solis, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sheriff Lee Baca and District Attorney Jackie Lacey.  Capitol Weekly named Parke one of the 100 Most Influential Californians.

Parke is a competitive table tennis player, although too old and slow to be much of a threat anymore. He is an indiscriminate reader and an enthusiastic fan of traditional American music with a special passion for collecting old Folkways records. Parke loves the politics, history and neighborhoods of Los Angeles. 

 For tickets and information about the 2013 Upton Sinclair DInner and Awards Celebration, please visit http://www.libertyhill.org/dinner.

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