The following bios were current as of the Sabbatical award date, but have not been updated.
Linda Dishman is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, the largest membership-based local preservation group in the country and the primary institution for preservation in Southern California. Established in 1978 in response to community efforts to prevent demolition of the L.A. Central Library, the Conservancy now works to preserve existing architectural resources by developing preservation strategies and by raising public awareness through tours, lectures and publications. Prior to joining the Conservancy in 1992, Ms. Dishman was a senior planner for the City of Pasadena, and an architectural historian for the Western Region of the National Park Service.
Roy Hong is the founder and former Executive Director of Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA). Founded in response to the 1992 civil unrest in L.A., and situated in the heart of the city's Koreatown, KIWA organizes workers to hold employers accountable in disputes over wages and working conditions. KIWA also provides activist training and mounts voter awareness campaigns targeted toward Korean American and Latino workers. Prior to founding KIWA in 1992, Hong was a field representative and organizing director of the Services Employees International Union, Local 87, in San Francisco.
James Preis is the Executive Director of Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc., an organization that assists both children and adults, with an emphasis on obtaining government benefits and services, protecting rights and fighting discrimination. The organization provides training and technical assistance to attorneys, mental health professionals, consumer and family member groups and other advocates. In addition, MHAS participates in impact litigation in an effort to improve the lives of people with mental and developmental disabilities, and has recently expanded its work in the juvenile dependency court. Preis has served as executive director since 1979.
Solomon Rivera is the former Associate Director of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment. Founded in 1990 in response to the devastating toll of alcohol and other drugs in the South L.A. community, the Coalition has facilitated the conversion of many former liquor stores and other problem businesses in the area, won public funds for the repair of schools, developed policy to reduce the wrongful termination of public assistance to needy individuals, and reduced the amount of tobacco and alcohol advertising in South L.A. Prior to joining the Coalition staff in 1994, Mr. Rivera was the project manager of Community Drug Free Schools.
Dorothy Thompson is the founder and Executive Director of Streetlights Production Assistant Program. Founded in 1992, the organization promotes ethnic diversity within the entertainment industry by providing job training and placement to economically and socially at-risk men and women. Streetlights' extensive training programs prepare its participants for entry-level work as production assistants in film and television. Prior to founding Streetlights, Ms. Thompson had a successful career as a producer of television commercials and documentaries in Hollywood.
Rev. Eugene Williams III is the founder and Executive Director of Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches, a network of small to mid-size African American congregations that span Los Angeles County. LAM's purpose is to build the capacity of these churches to meet the needs of their communities. It was founded in 1994 to address growing hopelessness and despair in the African American community over joblessness, illiteracy and the rates of incarceration of its young men. In 1998, LAM successfully fought for major prison reform legislation that mandates ex-offenders to work toward a GED as a condition of probation. Prior to 1994, Rev. Williams was an organizer in Philadelphia.
