Sessions

Moderated by

Kevin McCarty

California State Assembly Member (AD-6)

Civic Engagement

Facilitated By Terence Keel, Ph.D

Featuring Assemblymember Mike Gipson

Economics

Facilitated By Jasmine Hill Ph.D &Tierra Bills, Ph.D.

Featuring JC Lacey

Education

• Facilitated By Gaye Theresa Johnson, Ph.D.
  

• Featuring Assemblymembers Dr. Corey Jackson & Kevin McCarty
  
• 
  

Health

• Facilitated By Courtney Thomas, Ph.D & Kacie Deters, Ph.D
  

Featuring Assemblymember Mia Bonta

Housing

Facilitated By Michael Lens

Featuring Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson, CLBC Chair

Justice

• Facilitated By David Turner III, Ph.D.
  

Featuring Assemblymembers Issac Bryan and Reggie Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr.

Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.

California Secretary of State

Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer

California State Assembly Member (AD-57)

Marcus Hunter, Ph.D.

Professor & Author of Radical Reparations

Moderated by

Steven Bradford

California State Senator (SD-35) & Vice Chair of the CLBC

Kamilah Moore, J.D.

Chair of California Reparations Task Force

Speaker Biographies

The Honorable Karen Bass

Mayor of Los Angeles

Karen Bass is the 43rd Mayor of Los Angeles and the first woman and second African American to be elected as the city's chief executive. A daughter of Los Angeles, Mayor Bass served as a front-line healthcare provider as a nurse and as a Physician Assistant. Mayor Bass founded the Community Coalition to organize the predominantly Black and Latino residents of South L.A. against substance abuse, poverty and crime, and to pioneer strategies to address the root causes behind the challenges faced by underserved neighborhoods.She then went on to represent Los Angeles in the State Assembly and was elected by her peers to serve as Speaker, making her the first African American woman to ever lead a state legislative body in the history of the United States. Mayor Bass earned her bachelor's degree in health sciences from CSU Dominguez Hills before graduating from the USC Keck School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program and earning her master’s degree in social work from USC.

Tierra Bills

Assistant Professor, UCLA

Dr. Tierra Bills is an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering and Public Policy Department at UCLA. She joined UCLA after spending two and a half years as an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University and three years as a Michigan Society Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Prior to her fellowship at UMich, Dr. Bills worked as a Research Scientist at IBM Research Africa for three years, in Nairobi Kenya. Much of Dr. Bills’ research focuses on investigating the social impacts of transportation investment. She develops advanced travel-demand models to investigate individual and household-level transportation equity effects, for the purpose of designing transportation systems that will provide equitable allocations of transportation benefits and costs.Her latest project aims to understand the travel modeling benefits of high quality, targeted surveys on travel behaviors of disadvantaged travelers for model estimate. Areas of interest include Transportation equity analysis, emerging data sources for travel demand modeling, transportation accessibility measurement, and transit design and reliability. Dr. Bills holds a B.S in Civil Engineering Technology from Florida A&M University (‘08), and M.S (’09) and PhD (’13) degrees in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mia Bonta

California State Assembly Member (AD-18)

Assemblymember Mia Bonta was elected to serve California’s 18th Assembly District in a special election on August 31, 2021. Her priority is to make California a more affordable, inclusive, and equitable home for all. Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, Bonta was elected to the Alameda Unified School District School Board and served as Board President from 2018-2021. Prior to that, she served as the CEO of Oakland Promise, a cradle-to-college and career preparation initiative across Oakland public schools. In addition to her professional work, Bonta has served on the boards of national non-profits like Community Change Action and local providers like Alameda Free Library Foundation to build power for low-income people. Bonta was also appointed 18th Assembly District Delegate to the California Democratic Party and served on the AD-18 Advisory Committees for Women, Education, and Early Childhood. Throughout her career, Bonta has seen firsthand the cracks in the systems intended to lift up the most vulnerable in her community and campaigned on priority issues such as fighting homelessness, building more affordable housing, passing transformative criminal justice reform, and combating the threat of climate change. A proud Black Latina, Bonta was raised by activists who protested outside the halls of power so that one day, people like her could have a seat at the table inside. Bonta holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and went on to pursue an Ed.M from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Steven Bradford

California State Senator (SD-35)

Senator Steven Bradford brings a lifetime of experience to the California Legislature. In over two decades of public service – first, as a Gardena City Councilmember, then as a State Assemblymember, and now as a State Senator. Senator Bradford is the current Vice Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications. He serves on the Committee on Public Safety, where, as Chair in 2021, he authored Senate Bill 2, which established California's first statewide police decertification process. He also wrote landmark legislation that allowed the County of Los Angeles to return property stolen from the Bruce family – Bruce's beach, to the descendants of the Bruce family. Before his service in local and state government, Senator Bradford worked for Southern California Edison. He was also a District Director for Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, a Program Director for the LA Conservation Corps, a National Director of Bigger and Better Business for Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, and a marketing and sales representative for International Business Machines Corporation. Senator Bradford grew up in Gardena, where he resides to this day. He is a graduate of California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Isaac Bryan

California Assembly Member (AD-55)

Isaac G. Bryan represents Los Angeles and Culver City, including the communities of Baldwin Hills, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw, Century City, Ladera Heights, Mar Vista, Palms, Rancho Park, Westwood and parts of South Central and Inglewood. Mr. Bryan was elected to the California State Assembly in May of 2021. He is a community organizer, educator and activist. He founded and directed the UCLA Black Policy Project – a think tank dedicated to advancing racial equity through rigorous policy analysis – served as the first Director of Public Policy at the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center, as well as Director of Organizing for the nationally recognized Million Dollar Hoods project, a community-based participatory research project. Mr. Bryan received his Masters in Public Policy from UCLA and B.A.s in Political Science and Sociology

Bridgid Coulter Cheadle

Entrepreneur & Philanthropist

Bridgid Coulter Cheadle is an award-winning, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, celebrated for her family’s philanthropic work with a focus on climate change, social justice, political decency, women’s equity and education for the historically marginalized.

Principal of her eponymous design studio, a boutique interior and design-build firm with offices in Santa Monica and Hawaii, her focus is on residential, hospitality, creative office space and furniture design. In 2018 Bridgid founded Blackbird Collective, a for-profit, private membership collective for women of color and allies to create positive social and economic change for each other and the world. In 2020, Bridgid founded Blackbird Alliance, the non-profit sister organization to the collective, to further support advancement through sponsorship, mentorship and technical training. A native of Berkeley, California, Bridgid earned an undergraduate degree in Theatre Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles, and completed their prestigious post-graduate, masters-level UCLA Arch_ID program with distinction. Bridgid has received numerous awards for her work as a producer, designer and trailblazer, including the National Distinguished 400 Award from the 400 Years of African American History Commission; Stewardship of Sustainable Design from City of Santa Monica, Woman of the Year by the County of Los Angeles District 2 and most recently a recipient of a prized Tony Award as one of the producers of A Strange Loop, winner of best Broadway musical.

Kacie Deters

Assistant Professor, UCLA

Dr. Kacie Deters earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She had little research experience and was curious if this was the path she wanted to pursue. After a year of figuring out what would make her happy, she ultimately completed her M.S. in Biology from CSU Dominguez Hills in 2012. Science turned into a passion Kacie wanted to explore more. In 2017, she earned her Ph.D. in Medical Neuroscience at the Indiana University School of Medicine focusing on genetic and imaging characteristics of tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease. Kacie then completed her first postdoc in 2021 at Stanford University with Dr. Elizabeth Mormino where she first began to explore ethnic and racial disparities existed in AD biomarkers. COVID hit, and Kacie decided to take a second postdoc, which she completed in 2022 at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Neurosciences with Dr. Sarah Banks. While at UCSD, Kacie expanded her training to understand racial bias that exists in neuropsychological assessments. While at UCLA, Kacie’s lab will focus on ethnic and racial disparities in predictors (genetic; neuroimaging; neuropsychological assessments; social/environmental factors) for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in older adults, primarily from the Black community.Kacie is also the Black in Neuro Seminar Series Program lead.

Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker

Board Member, Metro LA

Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker is the founding president of the Ward Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and for 29 years has led the corporation in developing over 280 units of affordable housing, one major shopping mall, encouraging indigenous leadership, creating neighborhood networks, facilitating job creation, conducting asset mapping, and spearheading an intergenerational community building effort. She also chairs the USC Master Plan Advisory Committee where she represents the residents of the West Adams district. Mrs. Dupont-Walker also chairs the Exposition Park Strategic Plan and is Vice-Chair of the Baldwin Hills Conservancy. In addition to WEDC, Mrs. Dupont-Walker serves as the AME Church International Social Action Officer and on a host of other civic organizations. As a lifelong member of the AME Church, Mrs. Dupont-Walker created AME V-Alert (voter mobilization plan). She is an officer of Ward AME Church in Los Angeles where she serves on the Board of Stewards, and also the Lay and Missionary ministries and chairs the Social Action Commission.

Lorrie Frasure

Director, UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies

Dr. Lorrie Frasure is the Director of the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. She is the inaugural Ralph J. Bunche Endowed Chair and a Professor of Political Science and African American Studies. She currently serves as the 78th President of the Western Political Science Association (WPSA). She joined the faculty of UCLA in 2007 and became the first woman of color and the first Black woman to earn tenure and become full professor in the Political Science department. From 2019-2022 she served as Vice Chair of the Department of Political Science at UCLA. Her research interests include racial/ethnic political behavior, African American politics, women and politics, immigrant political incorporation, and state and local politics. Her book, Racial and Ethnic Politics in American Suburbs (Cambridge University Press) is the winner of two national book awards by the American Political Science Association (APSA), including the Best Book about Race Relations in the United States from the Race, Ethnicity and Politics (REP) Section, and the Dennis Judd Best Book Award in Urban and Local Politics. In 2024, she co-authored of the new 3rd textbook edition of Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics (CQ Press). Frasure is the lead Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS). The first cooperative, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, post-Presidential election online survey in the country, the CMPS is considered one of the most impactful survey-based data projects in the social sciences. She is also the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, the university’s highest recognition for superior teaching.

Gerald Garth, Jr.

Executive Director, AMAAD Institute

Gerald Garth, Jr. serves as Executive Director of the AMAAD Institute (Arming Minorities Against Addiction & Disease). Garth brings over 20 years of leadership and has led health equity work for over 10 years, previously serving as Chief Operations Officer of the AMAAD Institute and Manager of Prevention and Care with the Black AIDS Institute (BAI). He most recently served as the first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. He has led work with the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Initiative (AAIMM) and served as co-chair of the Black Caucus of the Los Angeles Commission on HIV. Garth is also founder of Garth Management Group, LLC, an organization created to building strategies and crafting approaches to address inequities and disparities and inform structural change. Garth is the President of LA Pride, the first Black man to hold the position. He is also a licensed and ordained elder of the United Progressive Pentecostal Church – leading faith reconciliation and leadership development across the country. He is an award-winning journalist, editor, filmmaker and nationally recognized activist and advocate. Garth completed his Master’s in Business Administration from California Intercontinental University in 2022.

Mike A.Gipson

California State Assemblymember (AD- 65)

Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson’s undeniable passion for public service propelled him to run and get elected to the Carson City Council in 2005. He served as Mayor Pro Tempore, for nearly a decade, before running for the California State Assembly in 2014, where he has served ever since. Today, Assemblymember Gipson represents the new 65th Assembly District which includes the areas of Watts, Willowbrook, Compton, Carson, North Long Beach, Harbor Gateway North & South, Harbor City, Wilmington, and San Pedro. Since joining the Legislature, Assemblymember Gipson has been a true leader for his community and among his peers. In 2015, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon appointed Assemblymember Gipson to serve as his right hand in the influential role of Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair, where he sets the agenda for the largest Democratic Caucus in the history of the California State Assembly. He has championed groundbreaking legislation to ban “ghost guns” in the state of California; expand access to mobile stroke units; reduce barriers to employment; significant police reform bills that now prohibit chokeholds; ban restraints that lead to “positional asphyxiation;” and eradicate “police gangs.”

Jasmine D. Hill

Assistant Professor, UCLA

Jasmine D. Hill is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her scholarship focuses on racial inequality and social mobility for Black Americans. Her current work explores the mechanisms that lift communities of color out of poverty and the ramifications of upward mobility for Black families. Jasmine’s scholarship has been published in top journals such as Social Problems, Teaching Sociology, The Journal of Cultural Economy, and in 2017 she co-edited Inequality in the 21st Century with David B. Grusky (Westview Press). As a publicly engaged scholar, she’s also authored several influential research briefs for policymakers, surveying topics like race, intimate partner violence, and tactics to eliminate extreme poverty. Because of her expertise on matters related to race, inequality, and the labor market, Jasmine is regularly called to design and evaluate anti-racism initiatives with organizations like the Annenberg Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, University of California Students Association, and numerous corporate partners like Soylent, Dollar Shave Club and PocketWatch. Her work and advocacy have garnered attention from TIME Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and Cheddar News. Jasmine maintains an active speaking, facilitating, and training schedule – working with universities, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and corporations to increase racial equity in our economy. She received her B.A. in Communication Studies from UCLA, and she holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University.

Christopher Holden

California State Assemblymember (AD- 41)

Assemblymember Chris Holden brings to the California State Legislature a lifetime of experience in public service and business garnered during his many years on the Pasadena City Council and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. He represents the 41st Assembly District which stretches from Pasadena in the West to Upland in the East and includes the communities of Altadena, Claremont, La Verne, Monrovia, Rancho Cucamonga, San Dimas, Sierra Madre, and South Pasadena. Assemblymember Holden champions public health, education, and social and racial justice. This year, he was able to secure funding for developmental disability service providers in the amount of 1.2 billion in the next five years. He also passed legislation that the Governor signed into law that reduces lead exposure in drinking water, increases police accountability and responsibility, and addresses racism in the Real Estate Appraisal Process.

Marcus Anthony HunterD.

Professor, UCLA & Author of Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation

Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is the Scott Waugh Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences Division, Professor of Sociology & African American Studies at UCLA. Coiner of #BlackLivesMatter, he is the author & editor of five books, including Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation (HarperCollins/Amistad, 2024). Professor Hunter served as the Inaugural Chair of UCLA’s African American Studies Department and President of the Association of Black Sociologists. The National Science Foundation and Social Science Research Council have also supported his research. In addition, Hunter drafted and advised Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s historic Bill to establish the first-ever US Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation Commission. He has appeared on C-SPAN’s BookTV, MSNBC, BBC, NPR, the Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Times, the LA Sentinel, USA Today, the Daily Beast, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Corey A. Jackson

California State Assemblymember (AD-60)

Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson, DSW, MSW was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2022 to represent the 60th Assembly District. Before being elected Assemblymember, Dr. Jackson served on the Riverside County Board of Education from 2020 - 2022 and represented portions of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, and the unincorporated community of Mead Valley. He also served as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SBX Youth and Family Services. His mission is to break the cycle of poverty and violence through mentoring, education, and community organizing. The organization was instrumental in a historic settlement of a lawsuit against the unconstitutional Youth Accountability Team (YAT) program in Riverside County that treated thousands of youth — especially those of color — like criminals for minor adolescent misbehaviors. The county agreed to groundbreaking measures. Assemblymember Dr. Corey A. Jackson's community work and service began in high school, where he was elected as the first student board member of the Rialto Unified School Riverside to cast an official vote and where he founded Sigma Beta Xi, which would evolve into SBX: Youth and Family Services. This organization serves thousands of Inland Empire residents annually. Dr. Jackson has served as a governor appointee to the CSU Board of Trustees and as State President of the NAACP Youth & College division. Dr. Jackson graduated from CSU San Bernardino, where he received his degree in political science and served as a member of the CSU Board of Trustees and Chair of the Santo Manuel Student Union Board of Directors. He is also a graduate of California Baptist University, where he received his Master’s and Doctorate of Social Work.

Gaye Theresa Johnson

Professor, UCLA

Gaye Theresa Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and an affiliate in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also serves as Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. A historian of freedom struggles and cultural politics who is deeply invested in community, she is also a lead facilitator and trainer in healing justice work in social justice movement spaces. Johnson writes and teaches on race, cultural politics, and freedom struggles. Her first book, Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity: Music, Race, and Spatial Entitlement, is a history of political coalition building and spatial struggles among Black and Brown freedom seekers in Los Angeles. Johnson’s second book, Futures of Black Radicalism, in its third edition, is co-edited with Alexander Lubin and published with Verso Press. It has been translated into German and Japanese. Johnson is an award-winning scholar and teacher, as well as an advocate for grassroots organizing and advocacy, primarily in reproductive justice, farmworkers’, and secondary school social justice teaching. Johnson has written curriculum and facilitated teacher training for Southern California high school Ethnic Studies teachers. She has been Board President of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) in Ventura, California, and is a member of the Board of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice as well as an advisory board member for the Goldin Institute and the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Sydney Kamlager-Dove

U.S. Representative (D-37)

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove proudly represents California’s 37th Congressional District which covers a diverse area within Los Angeles County. Born into a family of politically active creatives, Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove attended the University of Southern California as a political science major and member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. While she was at USC, the 1992 riots following the Rodney King verdict erupted. That catalytic event motivated Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove to work with Rebuild LA and the Los Angeles Festival, two nonprofit organizations that advanced job creation and public arts programs to restore broken communities. Kamlager-Dove spent her career advocating for communities and families.In 2013, Rep. Kamlager-Dove was appointed to the Los Angeles County Commission on Children and Families and in 2015, she was elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board. During her time on the board, she fought to make higher education and career training affordable and accessible to everyone, with a special focus on underserved communities and students who were previously in the foster care system or incarcerated. Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove successfully ran for California State Assembly in 2018 and California State Senate in 2021. While in the California State Legislature, Rep. she got the CRISES Act, which ​​provides for trained, community-led teams to respond to non-violent 911 calls – instead of police – signed into law. making communities safer and saving lives. She also worked to establish the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program to help small business stay afloat and authored the Affordable Prescription Drug act to procure low-cost medicine for Californians.

Terence Keel

Professor, UCLA & Author of Divine Variations

Dr. Terence Keel is a Professor with a split appointment in the Department of African American Studies, and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. He has written extensively about race, religion, law, medicine and the life sciences. His widely acclaimed first book, Divine Variations (Stanford University Press, 2018), winner of the Iris Book Award, details how religion helped produce scientific racism. He is the co-editor of Critical Approaches to Science and Religion (Columbia University Press, 2023). In 2020 Keel became the Founding Director of the BioCritical Studies Lab – an interdisciplinary space that combines life science research, the best of data science, and the wisdom of the humanities to explain how discrimination, inequality, and resilience are embodied in humans and the societies we design. He also serves as the Advisor for Structural Competency and Innovation for the UCLA Simulation Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine.

JC Lacey

President, Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce

JC Lacey is the president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce. His unwavering commitment to uplifting and empowering small businesses has made a significant impact throughout Los Angeles. JC has fostered strong relationships with leaders across the region, making him a trusted figure in the South LA business community and beyond. As the current President of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce, a 91-year-old organization, JC is focused on helping small businesses continue to rebound from COVID interruptions and adapt to new trends and opportunities that now exist. The Crenshaw Chamber’s primary areas of focus are networking and matchmaking, contract readiness, technical and soft skills training, community events, and community advocacy.

Michael Lens

Associate Professor,UCLA

Dr. Michael Lens is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, and Associate Faculty Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Professor Lens’s research and teaching explore the potential of public policy to address housing market inequities that lead to negative outcomes for low-income families and communities of color. His research involves housing interventions such as subsidies, tenant protections, and production. Professor Lens regularly publishes this work in leading academic journals and his research has won awards from the Journal of the American Planning Association and Housing Policy Debate. In ongoing research, Professor Lens is studying the neighborhood context of eviction, the role of charter schools in neighborhood change, and is engaged in multiple projects (with Mike Manville and Paavo Monkkonen) concerning housing supply in California. Lens is also working on a book project that examines fifty years of neighborhood change in Black neighborhoods following the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Professor Lens’s research has received funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Arnold Foundation, and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, among other sources. Professor Lens teaches courses on quantitative analysis, poverty and inequality, community development, housing policy, and research methods.

Demetria Malloy

Chief Medical Officer/Chief Health Officer, Community Health Plan of Washington

Dr. Demetria Malloy, MD, MSHS is a Board-certified internal medicine physician, who currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer/Chief Health Officer for Community Health Plan of Washington. She is responsible for Medicaid, Medicare and Commercial coverages for members. Dr. Malloy’s experience with marginalized and underserved communities reflects her deep commitment to advancing health equity clinically, but also in the payor and policy world. Dr. Malloy has been a keynote speaker and panelist for numerous policy and healthcare conferences, and is published in the Lancet (Falconi et al 2022) for her team’s work on Black maternal health equity using doulas in California. This doula program won the Health Equity Award 2020 from the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS), and allowed invited participation on DHCS and L.A. County Supervisor Doula Stakeholder Roundtables to promote doula coverage for California beneficiaries. She is a previous co-chair of a subcommittee of the California ACEs Aware program, and holds additional expertise in value-based reimbursement, telehealth and digital solutions, and provider training tools. She has held leadership Medical Director positions at L.A. Care Health Plan and Anthem Blue Cross of California, and was mostly recently the Regional Vice President Medical Director (west region US) for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield’s National Accounts Team. Dr. Malloy attended Stanford University for her undergraduate degree and holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Tufts University and a Master’s degree in health services from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a Fellow in Health Services Research, Management and Leadership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program. She has significant formal training in leadership strategies, program design, complex care management and medical systems and policy.

Kevin McCarty

California State Assemblymember (AD-6)

Kevin McCarty represents the 6th Assembly District including the majority of the City of Sacramento and parts of the unincorporated County. Since 2014 McCarty has chaired the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, overseeing historic increases in early education, funding schools at record levels, and expanding college access and affordability.

McCarty has authored over 75 measures that became law, including landmark legislation providing universal preschool, restoring voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, ensuring independent investigations for police shootings, and creating the American River Parkway Conservancy. A lifelong Sacramentan, McCarty began his career as a Housing and Redevelopment Commissioner, and then served on the Sacramento City Council for a decade. After receiving his high school diploma through adult education, he attended American River Community College and earned degrees from CSU Long Beach and CSU Sacramento.

Kamilah Moore, J.D.

Chair of California Reparations Task Force

Kamilah Moore is a reparatory justice scholar and an attorney with a specialization in entertainment and intellectual property law. As a law student, Moore contributed to human rights reports related to domestic and international human rights issues, including, but not limited to racial inequality in Brazil, the human right to sanitation in Lowndes County, Alabama, USA; and the human right to remedy for indigenous Black women affected by racialized gender violence in Papua New Guinea. While studying abroad at the University of Amsterdam, Moore wrote a master thesis exploring the intersections between international law and reparatory justice for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, chattel slavery, and their legacies. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School in New York City, a Master of Laws degree in International Criminal Law from the University of Amsterdam, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Kamilah Moore was appointed to the California Reparations Task Force in 2021.

Safiya Noble

Professor, UCLA, MacArthur “Genius” Fellow & Author of Algorithms of Oppression

Dr. Safiya Noble is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Gender Studies, African American Studies, and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the Director of the Center on Race & Digital Justice and Co-Director of the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power at the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry. She currently serves as Interim Director of the UCLA DataX Initiative, leading work in critical data studies for the campus. Professor Noble is the author of the best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic harm in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press) and a MacArthur Foundation “Genuis” Fellow for her ground-breaking work on algorithmic discrimination. Noble holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Library & Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Fresno.

Kendrick Sampson

Actor & Activist

Kendrick Sampson is an actor and activist who is making good on his lifelong goal to shift culture through storytelling and uplifting nuanced, diverse, and authentic portrayals of Black men. Beyond storytelling, Kendrick has become known inside and outside of Hollywood and around the world for boldly and strategically empowering marginalized communities, fighting for sexual and gender liberation, and exposing state violence and corporate corruption. Whether it’s his unique brand of thirst traptivism, odd sense of humor, or just plain ol’ ten toes down on the frontlines, his presence and thought leadership have earned respect in grassroots and political arenas, especially in racial justice, art, and storytelling. To further this work, Kendrick co-founded BLD PWR, which includes a production company and social impact (501c3) arm. BLD PWR’s mission is to “Reimagine and Realize the liberated future we know our people deserve” by organizing Hollywood and shifting the culture toward nourishing and protecting nuanced Black, Indigenous, and marginalized leaders and everyday people, especially our storytellers and their stories.

Derrick Steele

Executive Director, Social Justice Learning Institute

Derek Steele, an electrical and computer engineering graduate of Morgan State University, leads the Inglewood-based Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) in combating inequities in communities of color. Over the years, SJLI has supported over 3000 students of color, particularly Black students, in their education programs, empowered over 15,000 local families with nutrition education, established 126 urban agriculture spaces, pioneered initiatives like the Inglewood Certified Farmers' Market and Food For Thought Produce Distributions distributing over 3 million pounds of produce in the last 2 years. Under Derek's leadership, SJLI was recognized as the State of California 2023 Nonprofit of the Year. Derek's impact extends beyond SJLI; as Chair of LA County's Care First Community Investment Advisory Committee, he and his peers guide investments in critical areas like housing, re-entry, youth development, and more. Additionally, he serves as a steering committee member of the CA Jobs First LA High Road Transition Collaborative, advocating for equitable economic development and job opportunities in Los Angeles County. His unwavering commitment to social justice emphasizes empowering community members through education so they can create thriving communities and change systems to shape an equitable and liberated future where everyone lives whole, free, healthy, thriving lives.

Michael A. Stoll

Professor & Faculty Director of the Black Policy Project, an initiative of the Bunche Center

Dr. Michael A. Stoll is Professor of Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles. He serves as a Fellow at the American Institutes for Research, the Brookings Institution, the Institute for Research on Poverty at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and served as a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. Dr. Stoll’s published work explores questions of poverty, labor markets, migration, and crime. His past work includes an examination of the labor market difficulties of less-skilled workers, in particular the role that racial residential segregation, job location patterns, job skill demands, employer discrimination, job competition, transportation, job information and criminal records play in limiting employment opportunities. Much of his work has been featured in a variety of media outlets including NPR, PBS, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, Univision, among other outlets. He also regularly advises the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor, as well as state and local governments in various capacities. Prof. Stoll received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Courtney Thomas Tobin

Associate Professor, UCLA

Dr. Courtney S. Thomas Tobin is an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences and the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the Fielding School of Public Health. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and holds a joint appointment in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA. Dr. Thomas Tobin’s research examines the social, psychological, and biological (i.e., biopsychosocial) pathways to health and longevity among Black Americans. As a trained medical sociologist, Dr. Thomas Tobin integrates traditional sociological theories with perspectives from public health, social psychology, medicine, and the biological sciences to better understand the causes and consequences of long-standing Black-White differences in health. She utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods to consider the multiple ways that racial minority status shapes the everyday experiences and health trajectories of Black Americans across the life course. Dr. Thomas Tobin’s program of research makes conceptual and empirical contributions to three interrelated areas of inquiry: (1) psychosocial pathways to embodiment; (2) health risks and resources across the life course; and (3) racialized stress and coping processes among Black Americans.

David C. Turner III

Assistant Professor, UCLA

Dr. David C. Turner III is an Assistant Professor of Black Life and Racial Justice in the Department of Social Welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA. He is also a faculty affiliate with the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and the associate director of the Million Dollar Hoods Project on campus. As an activist scholar, his research broadly focuses on social movements, political identity, and resistance to the prison regime. More specifically, Dr. Turner examines the ways that Black boys and young men work to resist the carceral landscape alongside their peers in community-based educational spaces. As a community organizer, Dr. Turner brings over a decade of movement-building experience to the classroom, having worked to negotiate and win demands for racial justice, secure funding, divest resources from carceral and harmful institutions, and coordinate actions across the state of California and the nation, all while teaching at both the K-12 and the postsecondary level. Prior to joining UCLA as a faculty member, Dr. Turner worked across LA County with boys and men of color as the manager of the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition, where he co-led campaigns to change school discipline practices, support investments in youth development, and end policies and practices that lead to criminalization in communities of color. Dr. Turner currently serves as the senior advisor for the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color. Dr. Turner has participated in the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) as a political education and research specialist, helping organizations with teach-ins, designing curricula, and community-based participatory action research, most notably as a member of the research team with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and the People’s Budget, and a co-founding member of the Police-Free LAUSD Coalition. Dr. Turner has been featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education, NBC BLK, the Los Angeles Times, Spectrum 1 News, and the New York Times for his activism and applied scholarship.

Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.

California Secretary of State

Shirley Nash Weber, Ph.D. was nominated to serve as California Secretary of State by Governor Gavin Newsom on December 22, 2020, and sworn into office on January 29, 2021. Voters elected her for a full term on November 8, 2022, to be California’s first Black Secretary of State and only the fifth African American to serve as a state constitutional officer in California’s 173-year history. Before her appointment as Secretary of State, Secretary Weber served four terms as a California Assembly Member. From 2019 - 2020, she served as chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) where she broke records garnering extraordinary support for the CLBC’s efforts and its projects. Weber’s genuine passion and tireless quest for equality and fairness in all sectors of life have resulted in her pursuit of reforms in education and criminal justice. Her equity-oriented legislation includes school finance and accountability, classroom safety, ethnic studies, reparations, Affirmative Action, and restorative justice, racial profiling, among others. Weber attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she received her BA, MA and PhD by the age of 26. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she became a professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) at the age of 23. She also taught at California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA) and Los Angeles City College before coming to SDSU. She retired from the Department of Africana Studies after 40 years as a faculty member and serving several terms as department chair.

Lori Wilson

California Assembly Member (AD-11) & Chair of the California Black Legislative Caucus

Lori D. Wilson serves as the State Assemblymember for California’s 11th Assembly District Prior to taking office, she was the first black female Mayor to serve in all of Solano County. First elected to the Suisun City Council in 2012, she served as Vice-Mayor for six years before winning the Mayor’s race in 2018, and the 11th Assembly district seat in 2022. During her tenure in public service, she has worked tirelessly to identify community needs and develop innovative solutions that improve the quality of life for all her constituents. Before Lori took office, she served as Vice Chair of the Suisun City Parks & Recreation Commission, founding President of the Suisun City Community Services Foundation. Additionally, Wilson brings over 20 years in accounting and finance experience to her role as a state legislator. Throughout her career as a public servant, Wilson has been committed to supporting women in leadership positions. She is also a founding member of WIP Solano, a non-partisan organization formed to inspire more women to become visionary leaders in Solano County.

Wilson is a California State University, Sacramento graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accountancy.