Liberty Hill Blog: News from the Frontlines

City Committee Supports Green Zones

Byline: Susan LaTempa

How many employee hours are lost every year to California's air pollution? 

1.4 million!

There is a way to save money and go green. That's why Liberty Hill has helped to support and facilitate a coalition of environmental justice organizations who are promoting a policy to “Clean Up and Green Up” three toxic hot spot communities where pollution is worst. By establishing pilot “Green Zones” in Boyle Heights, Pacoima and Wilmington—all neighborhoods with high concentrations of hazardous pollutants—the initiative would provide financial and technical assistance to small businesses to modernize their operations and reduce impacts, while setting stronger standards for new and expanded industries.

In a major City Hall victory, on May 15, the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee voted in favor of the Clean Up Green Up motion. With the vote, PLUM Committee Chair Ed Reyes and Councilmember Jose Huizar directed City departments to draft a work plan for developing Clean Up Green Up strategies and policy recommendations in Boyle Heights, Pacoima and Wilmington.

More than 150 supporters attended a pre-hearing rally and the hearing itself. Residents from the three Clean Up Green Up communities gathered on the sunny Spring Street steps, carrying brightly-colored signs and banners in support of clean, healthy communities. Councilmember Jose Huizar, who sponsored the Clean Up Green Up motion, spoke of the need for government, communities and businesses to work together. He praised the policy as an innovation that might serve as a model across the United States. "It's about building strong, healthy and economically viable communities by addressing pollution and identifying resources and support for businesses," he said. 
 
Also appearing at the rally: Councilmember Eric Garcetti; Leonardo Vilchis, Co-Executive Director of Union de Vecinos ; Janet Laredo, student leader at Banning High School, Wilmington; Dina Cervantes, Business Owner, Triumph Precision Products in San Fernando; and Adrian Martinez, Natural Resources Defense Council.
 
At the hearing Jose Huizar introduced the motion and then commented on how forward-looking the proposed policy is because it combinines economic development incentives with familiar local planning tools. He said the initiative is grounded in collaboration among residents, community groups, government and business. His concluding remarks touched on the historic significance of the Clean Up Green Up policy in that it addresses pollution at the local level by drawing upon the City's unique powers and resources.
 
City Planner Faisal Roble spoke about the need to address incompatible uses in new ways and described the value of Clean Up Green Up performance standards for future updates of community plans  as well as for use in the proposed Health and Wellness Element to the City's General Plan.

Other speakers included Nury Martinez, Executive Director, Pacoima Beautiful;  Jim Sadd, PhD, Professor, Occidental College; Manuel Pastor, PhD, Professor, USC Program for Environmental & Regional Equity;  Don Spivack, LA Collaborative consultant; Jane Warner, President and CEO, American Lung Association in California; Mario Rosales, Pacoima resident; Alfred Carrillo, Wilmington resident and Pastor, Apostolic Faith Church;  Dina Cervantes, Owner, Triumph Precision Products;  Michelle Garakian, Vice-President of Programs and Policy, LA Business Council; amd  Joe Lyou, Executive Director, Coalition for Clean Air.
 
Not surprisingly, there were some opposition speakers. Both committee members pointed out that the hearing represents the first step in a longer process and many of their concerns would be addressed as the Planning Department engages the impacted communities and sectors as part of the policy development process.
 
In the end, the PLUM Committee directed the Planning Department to take the lead with other departments to develop recommendations to implement Clean Up Green Up strategies and policy provisions in Boyle Heights, Pacoima and Wilmington including but not limited to:
•    Financial and planning incentives
•    Inspection and enforcement protocols
•    Administrative funding mechanisms; and
•    Design standards.

The Planning Department was directed to report back to the PLUM Committee within 60 days. The City Administrative Office was directed to work with the Planning Department to prepare a report within 60 days that provides a cost estimate to implement the Clean Up Green Up strategies and policy recommendations.
 
A separate motion was also passed by the PLUM Committee directing the City Attorney to prepare within the same 60 day period an ordinance to create a trust fund allowing the City to accept and disburse funds, including donations from private donors, philanthropic and other contributions, for the development and implementation of Clean Up and Green Up strategies.
 
This report is adapted from the Clean Up and Green Up newsletter.

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Manuel Pastor Accepts Changemaker Award

Manuel Pastor accepts Liberty Hill's 2012 Changemaker Award at the 30th Anniversary Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

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Wendy Chang Accepts Founders Award

 

Wendy Chang accepts Liberty Hill's 2012 Upton Sinclair Award at the 30th Anniversary Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

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Dustin Lance Black Presents Paris Barclay with Liberty Hill's Upton Sinclair Award

Dustin Lance Black presents Liberty Hill's 2012 Upton Sinclair Award to Paris Barclay at the 30th Anniversary Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

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Best Online Auction Ever

As a companion event to Liberty Hill's 30th Anniversary Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner, we're proud to announce that Liberty Hill's 2012 Online Auction goes live at p.m. tonight, Wednesday, May 9. Even if you can't be with us at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, you can bid on celebrity experiences and memorabilia from Elton John, One Direction, Katy Perry, Garth Brooks, Norah Jones, Foo Fighters, Tim McGraw, Elvis Costello and more on eBay to benefit Liberty Hill.

The online auction runs until 6 p.m. May 19. Help us meet our goals to raise money to fund community organizers working for economic justice, LGBTQ justice and environmental justice in Los Angeles!!

We'll be posting photos and notes as our honorees TV producer-director Paris Barclay, philanthropist Wendy Chang, and scholar-activist Manuel Pastor are celebrated by the vibrant, diverse community of Liberty Hill supporters and allies.

Meanwhile, why not bid a little?!

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White House Looks Beyond Model Minority Myth

Byline: Preeti Kulkarni

In April, I was one of three Liberty Hill representatives to attend the first-ever National Philanthropic Briefing on the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community at the White House. I was joined by my colleagues Kristin Aldana-Taday and Carol Lee (we're pictured above with Chris Lu, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary & Co-Chair, White House Initiative for AAPIs and below with Seema Patel, Policy Advisor for Labor & Civil Rights, White House Initiative for AAPIs) .

It was an historic occasion. 

There is a dramatic imbalance between the amount of philanthropic dollars that go to the AAPI community (less than 1/2 of 1%) and our representation in the general population (6%). White House staff appear to understand how grave the situation is, and that the model minority myth helps perpetuate this disproportionate allocation of resources. We also discussed how the aggregation of AAPI population data results in overlooking urgent needs in our communities and the importance of sharing these problems with others in philanthropy.

We believe this is a critical time to make philanthropy more inclusive. Without strong AAPI leaders at the table, the needs in our communities will continue to be distorted and under resourced.

We were very proud to share Liberty Hill’s efforts to address communities in need.  Liberty Hill has not shied away from focusing on communities of color and our efforts include partnering with the Latino and African American communities. As Liberty Hill is L.A.’s House of Justice, we are founded in diverse communities. The AAPI community is a part of this.

Over the last three years, more than half a million dollars (between 10 and 15% of our annual grantmaking budget) has been invested in AAPI communities including urgently needed support for the Khmer population in Long Beach, the Korean population in Koreatown, and Pilipinos, South Asians and AAPI lesbian and gay individuals throughout L.A. County.

Few foundations in attendance could boast the commitment to AAPI issues that Liberty Hill has.

Our pride was only underscored when White House staff dimmed the lights for a video produced by one of our grantees, Khmer Girls in Action. The video is a powerful statement about the needs in the Khmer community. You can see it here.

New census data indicates that the AAPI poverty population is increasing. Between 2002 and 2010, the Asian American poverty population increased in real terms by 46 percent! Most of those AAPI families are living in a handful of metropolitan areas including Los Angeles. This alarming news only reinforced our commitment to strengthen the work Liberty Hill does to invest in local, low-income AAPI communities.

The meeting at the White House was just the first step in what promises to be an ongoing effort to address the needs within AAPI communities. You can be sure that we at Liberty Hill will be at the frontlines of that action.

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Council on Foundations honors Michele Prichard of Liberty Hill

Liberty Hill is thrilled to announce that the Council on Foundations  is presenting its Distinguished Service Award to Michele Prichard, our Director, Common Agenda.

The Distinguished Service Award, the Council’s highest honor, recognizes an exceptional individual who embodies the intellect, integrity, leadership, and accomplishment that define absolute excellence in the field of philanthropy.

Michele, who began working with Liberty Hill Foundation as a volunteer in 1982, was our executive director from 1989 to 1997 and then transitioned to special projects in 1998. She helped create new grant programs addressing poverty, racial justice, and environmental health. As Director, Common Agenda, she oversees projects relating to Liberty Hill-facilitated alliances of community organizations working on "common agenda" issues including environmental justice and bettering the lives of young men.

Michele serves on the board of the Venice Community Housing Corporation and the steering committee of GREEN LA. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed her to the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation in 2011. She has served as a senior fellow in the UCLA School of Public Affairs since 2007.

“I deeply appreciate receiving The Council on Foundation’s Distinguished Service award," says Michele. "What is most meaningful to me is that this honor is a validation and celebration of the core ideas I have worked long and hard to champion within philanthropy: investment in community organizing to advance change, not charity; and engaging community leaders and residents as critical partners in foundation decision-making.”

The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Michele at the Opening Plenary of the Council on Foundation's Annual Conference Sunday, April 29 at 11:30 a.m. at the JW Mariott at L.A. Live. Formed in 1949, the Council on Foundations is a nonprofit membership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. Council members include more than 1,700 independent, operating, community, public and company-sponsored foundations, and corporate giving programs in the United States and abroad. The Council's mission is to provide the opportunity, leadership, and tools philanthropic organizations need to expand, enhance, and sustain their ability to advance the common good.

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Liberty Hill Honors Social Justice Leader Wendy Chang

On May 9, at Liberty Hill's 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner, Wendy Chang, one's of L.A.'s most influential social justice leaders, will receive the 2012 Founders Award. This award honors an individual whose philanthropy
embodies the spirit of change, not charity.

Wendy, who has worked for more than 23 years in the world of nonprofits and foundations, is passionate about equality and justice for all, a commitment she has expressed through her inspiring professional and personal work in civic engagement and philanthropy.

When she was just five years old, Wendy Chang’s family immigrated from where to the United States seeking freedom and a better life, a journey that took courage and determination. Wendy remembers that “once we made the leap, however, there was no going back – so there was built-in commitment. I’ve since realized that  commitment holds a very strong truth in each of our lives. If you hold yourself responsible to your commitments, you’re living your life’s purpose.”

 

As a nonprofit professional, Wendy’s focus has been on grant making, program development, public policy, technical assistance, and training.Currently, Wendy directs grant making, initiatives, and capacity building activities at the Dwight Stuard Youth Fund. Originally established as an independent foundation in 2001, the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund was endowed by Dwight L. Stuart, Sr. to benefit and serve the needs of children and youth in the greater Los Angeles area.

Wendy’s previous positions include Executive Management Academy Director at the Whitecap Foundation; Director of Training and Advancement at Public Corporation for the Arts; Special Projects/Membership Director for the California Association of Nonprofits; and Director of Consulting Services for CompassPoint Nonprofit Services.

Wendy Chang is an active volunteer, donor, and long-time board member in many local organizations. For Wendy, contributing is the answer for achieving personal growth. As she has acknowledged “leadership and growth are manifested and come to life through the act of service.”

Wendy’s community contributions include serving as executive board member and chair of the Investment Committee and Audit Committee of the Liberty Hill Foundation; member and past chair of Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Los Angeles; executive committee member of the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment; founding board treasurer and president-elect of the National Charity League, Inc., Westside Chapter; project lead and advisory member of the Trustee Initiative: Effectiveness through Diversity; as well as advisory board member of Foundation Boys. She is also a Cohort 3 Member of America's Leaders of Change of the National Urban Fellows.

Previously, Wendy was a founder and president of the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership; president of Leadership Long Beach; membership vice president and training chair of Junior League of Long Beach; president of Asian Heritage Council; and chair, Financial Literacy of Women’s Leadership Circle. She was also a member of Los Angeles Urban Funders, as well as Family Foundation Committee and Program Advisory Member of Southern California Grantmakers.

Wendy is a founding member of five community giving circles: Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy’s National Donor Circle, Women of Color Giving Circle, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Giving Circle, Circle of Change, and the OUT Fund, which she currently co-chairs. Wendy believes that giving circles have been a great vehicle to leverage resources for the community.

Wendy Chang  has also produced a number of  MarquezSTAR youth musicals, written and directed by Marquez Elementary teacher Jeff Lantos including: “Plymouth 2.0,” premiered at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage; “Water and Power,” an official selection for the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival; and “Carry On,” showcased in the Festival of New American Musicals.

Wendy is the recipient of the Leadership Long Beach Jim Ackerman Alumnus of the Year Award, Distinguished Leadership Award from California Association of Leadership Programs, Distinguished Leadership Award from Community Leadership Association; Community Pride Award from Children’s Nature Institute, and Business Associate of the Year from American Women’s Business Association. She is a graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz, with majors in Business Economics and Computer Science.

 Wendy’s intense commitment to social change is evident in her professional and volunteer life. She not only talks the talk but walks the walk. Wendy notes, “Being involved in Liberty Hill has taught me that change doesn’t just happen, it’s something you do. When you want change, actively seek it. We all have the power to make that choice.”

Join Liberty Hill at the 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner on May 9, 2012 as we honor Wendy Chang with the Founders Award. Purchase your tickets today! 

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Liberty Hill Honors Scholar-Advocate Manuel Pastor

On May 9, at Liberty Hill's 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner, Manuel Pastor, one's of L.A.'s most influential authors and forward-looking researchers, will receive the 2012 Wally Marks Changemaker Award. This award honors an outstanding individual whose work in the community illustrates Dr. King's insight that while "the arc of history is long, it bends toward justice."

Manuel Pastor is truly a changemaker, making a critical connection between the interests of low-income communities of color on the one hand, and the economic and social future of entire metropolitan regions on the other. Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, he directs the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, research centers that work with and for community-based organizations working for social justice. 

Manuel, long an advocate (and sometimes an organizer), found his life – like so many others – changed dramatically by the 1992 civil unrest. The days of rage made evident the depth of despair in Los Angeles. The inadequacy of top-down responses made it clear that old models – including those many progressives had held dear – had to be reinvented. And the creative responses that emerged from the ground up – and continue to evolve and expand today – inspired and guided Pastor to work with others to forge a new approach to university-community partnerships for social change.

Manuel Pastor’s research in environmental justice, for example, has been conducted in direct collaboration with a wide range of activists in both Los Angeles and the Bay Area. After a decade of documenting disparities in both locales, Pastor and co-researchers developed a way to preemptively identify overburdened and socially vulnerable communities – and then worked directly with residents to “ground-truth” the toxic reality on the ground.  The results – community-based participatory research that offers an accurate picture of where hazardous sites are located and how they affect the health of nearby communities – have fed directly into a campaign to "Clean Up Green Up" three of the most environmentally stressed areas of Los Angeles.

But that’s just one example.  Manuel's work on low-wage Latino workers and the positive impact of unionization helped to support the campaign for a living wage in Los Angeles.  His work on regional equity – the inclusion of everyone in metropolitan prosperity – helped to inform organizers across the country as well as efforts for better workforce systems here in L.A. His work on immigrant communities has helped to support campaigns for comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act.  And his work on America’s changing demography and the importance of Black-Latino relations has both foreshadowed our national future and offered new models for community organizing.

And he writes.  In 2009, he co-authored This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity are Reshaping Metropolitan America, a volume that helped chart contemporary organizing and explain the rumblings that produced the Obama victory in 2008.  In 2010, he co-authored Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future, a book that documents the gap between progress in racial attitudes and racial realities, and offers a new set of strategies for both talking about race and achieving racial equity. And just this year, he co-authored Just Growth: Inclusion and Prosperity in American’s Metropolitan Regions, a book that uses an innovative mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to assert that equity is actually key to growth – a timely message for a U.S. economy still seeking to recover from economic crisis and distributional divides.

With his deep commitments to both activism and academic rigor, Manuel Pastor has become a critical translator between philanthropy and social movements.  Comfortable in the board room, the university, and the street, he has facilitated connections, helping to explain to funders how grassroots organizing works, how it builds the power necessary for justice, and why funding change, not charity, is a framework that needs to go beyond Liberty Hill.

Marqueece Harris-Dawson, President of Community Coalition in South LA, says, “Manuel Pastor has the heart of an organizer and the vision for social justice research that makes a wide-spread impact on people’s lives. Lifting him up as a leader means lifting up Los Angeles as the nation’s most important model of organizing, research, and policy that works for social justice.”

Join Liberty Hill at the 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner on May 9, 2012 as we honor Manuel Pastor with the 2012 Wally Marks Changemaker Award. Purchase Your Tickets Today!

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Liberty Hill Honors TV Luminary-Activist Paris Barclay

On May 9, at Liberty Hill's 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards and Dinner, one's of television's most acclaimed and multi-talented creators, Paris Barclay, will receive the 2012 Upton Sinclair Award.

This award is presented to a person of unwavering idealism and vision, a person like Upton Sinclair, whose lifelong crusade for equality and justice inspires us even today.

Paris Barclay's life and work are infused with his desire to tear down the walls between us, a lofty goal as expressed by Barbara Jordan, who said, “For the rest of the time on this planet, I want to bring people together…We, as human beings, must be able to accept people who are different from ourselves.” 

Whether he is vividly characterizing the disabled (in the Emmy-nominated “Wheels” episode of Glee), revealing the patriotism that drives the fictional White House (in The West Wing), or looking death unflinchingly in the eye (in Jimmy Smits’ final episode of NYPD Blue), Paris has used the medium to reach deeper into the hearts and minds of people around the world.

Born in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Paris earned a scholarship to attend The La Lumiere School in Indiana as its first African-American student (just one class behind future Chief Justice John Roberts). Accepted at Harvard, he honed his talents on the theater stage where he wrote 16 musicals before graduation (sometimes working alongside previous Upton Sinclair honoree John Manulis.)

After Harvard, Paris turned to advertising -- and for the first time (in 1986) bent the media to his message by writing and directing Elizabeth Taylor’s first television commercial: a dramatic PSA for the recently established American Foundation for AIDS Research. A few years later, he formed a music video and commercial production company, with the specific goal of nurturing and developing more people of color behind the camera. Black & White Television, as it was called, quickly became a major force in the field, and his videos for Bob Dylan, Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson, and most especially his 8 videos for LL Cool J won acclaim. (The MTV Award-winning “Mama Said Knock You Out,” LL Cool J’s black and white boxing video, is still recognized as a classic in the field.)

 And while the company “brought people together,” Paris found a bigger canvas in directing, writing and producing film and television.

Over 120 episodes later, Paris has overseen crimes-solvers (NYPD Blue, CSI, The Shield, Law & Order, Monk, Numbers, The Mentalist, NCIS: Los Angeles, Cold Case), doctors (ER, City of Angels, House, In Treatment), lawyers (The Good Wife, Law & Order) and outsiders (Weeds, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, Glee, and Smash). City of Angels, in particular, co-created with Steven Bochco and Nicholas Wootton, was a daring attempt to create a prime-time drama with a largely Black cast. Although it only lasted two seasons, it introduced viewers to the talents of Hill Harper, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, along with stars Blair Underwood and Vivica Fox.

Paris Barclay’s work has been recognized for its craft with two Emmy wins (from six nominations), one DGA Award (from ten nominations), four Peabody Awards, two Humanitas Prizes, two NAACP Image Awards, two recognitions from the TV Academy’s “Television With a Conscience,” and a Voice Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services. In 2010, he also received a Writers Guild nomination for co-writing Pedro with Dustin Lance Black, the story of HIV activist and Real World hero Pedro Zamora.

Paris is the face of his fellow directors as their First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America (tearing down walls again as the first African-American officer in the history of the Guild) and the chair of the DGA’s Political Action Committee. He has served on the board of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, Project Angel Food, and currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara, and as a Trustee for the Humanitas Prize.  He has been recognized for his charitable and community service work for organizations such as GLAAD (the Stephen F. Kolzak Award), Project Angel Food (the Founders Award), OUTFEST, and was honored with the Pioneer Award at the Pan African Film Festival. Along with all these organizations, he is a strong supporter of the Trevor Project, the Black Aids Institute, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and of course, Liberty Hill.

Next up: he’ll bring to the screen the story of Barbara Jordan, with Viola Davis set to star as his hero.

“There are only a handful of organizations in America that can truly claim they bring people together, across boundaries, beyond differences,” says Paris Barclay. “Liberty Hill is one of them.”

Join Liberty Hill at the 30th Annual Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner on May 9, 2012 as we honor Paris Barclay with The Upton Sinclair Award. Purchase your tickets today! 

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