The following bios were current as of the Sabbatical award date, but have not been updated.
Joanne Feldmeth is the Executive Director of Child SHARE, an organization that works with local congregations to identify foster and adoptive families for abused and neglected children. Child SHARE collaborates with over 350 churches and synagogues in Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange Counties to recruit, train and support families to foster, adopt, and provide respite care. Ms. Feldmeth has spearheaded the effort to place deaf children with American Sign Language skilled families.
Lark Galloway-Gilliam is the Executive Director of Community Health Councils, a consumer oriented health promotion and advocacy organization that focuses on quality healthcare for uninsured and underinsured communities. Ms. Galloway-Gilliam has played an active role in the debate and policy development on issues such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families implementation and outreach, nonprofit hospital conversions, disparities in health between ethnic communities, and access to care.
Larry Gross has been working at the Coalition for Economic Survival, where he is the Executive Director, for 31 years. Since its founding in 1973, CES has been organizing tenants and low-income people in Los Angeles to advocate for tenants' rights, buy and manage their low-income housing, abate lead paint hazards and maintain the supply of safe, affordable housing. Mr. Gross was active in the implementation of the rent control laws of Los Angeles and West Hollywood, and was instrumental in the incorporation of the City of West Hollywood.
Normandie Nigh serves as executive director of A World Fit For Kids!, an organization that has pioneered a model after-school sports, fitness and wellness program. AWFFK! employs college students to oversee inner-city teens, who, in turn, mentor younger children through the use of sport, recreation and enrichment activities. AWFFK! works in select LAUSD schools, and also provides technical assistance and training to other programs.
Debra Padilla is the Executive Director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center, a community-based arts organization. SPARC produces, presents and preserves public artwork in Los Angeles neighborhoods, working citywide on a grassroots level. Since 1976, SPARC has produced The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a half-mile long mural and education project. The organization also houses the UCLA/SPARC Cesar Chavez Digital/Mural Lab, the leading research and production facility dedicated to large-scale murals.
Jonathan Zeichner is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Inside Out Community
Arts in Venice. Through community events, performances and after-school
workshops led by trained teams of artists and high-school age mentors,
Inside Out works with diverse and underserved middle-school youth. Inside
Out is recognized as a program that serves both artists and youth as they
work together to create theater, poetry, and visual art about issues in
their lives and communities.
Mr. Zeichner has also worked extensively with
incarcerated youth and in the mental health community.
