LA County is rich with a colorful, complex, and innovative history. Our workplaces and communities are in desperate need of leaders from a cross-section of experiences and backgrounds to embrace increasingly nuanced needs shaped by race, ethnicity, skin color, gender, sexual identity, faith tradition, educational attainment, and physical ability. Workshop attendees will engage in a rigorous discussion anchored on – and building upon – the Empowerment Congress’ guiding core principles of servant leadership, participatory democracy, intentional civility, and reciprocal accountability. A curated panel will share best practices for addressing challenges shared by workshop registrants using new models of inclusive leadership.
Workshop Presenters
Ms. Williams is the CEO of the UCLA-UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN), housed in the Department of Pediatrics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. For six years, she served as a senior adviser for the LA County Board of Supervisors, Second District. Prior to joining the County, Ms. Williams worked for the City of Los Angeles as deputy chief of staff to the City Council, District 6, civilian commander at the LA Fire Department, and project coordinator at the Human Relations Commission.
Joanne Kim is the Senior Advisor for Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents South Los Angeles. She oversees planning, land use and economic development for Los Angeles City Council District Eight. Joanne sets the strategic priorities for business development, housing, transportation, and all major capital projects. She also provides leadership on key policy and operational issues. Before joining City Hall, Joanne served as the Chief Operating Officer of one of the most effective non-profit social justice and community organizing institutions in the nation, Community Coalition. Most recently she served as the Organizing Director for the historic Mayor Karen Bass campaign.
Capri Maddox is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department (LA Civil Rights). Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed her to be the Department’s first Executive Director in February 2020 to address systemic racism and bias in the areas of commerce, education, employment, and housing. Under Ms. Maddox’s leadership, LA Civil Rights will level the playing field through partnerships with the Commission on Civil Rights, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Reparations Commission and the Human Relations Commission, including the Transgender Advisory Council.
As Senior Vice President of Programs Mr. Marcial manages a combined grants portfolio of more than $100 million and an annual grant-making budget of $15 million. He also oversees foundation-relations and strategy, public policy, research, and evaluation. In addition, he guides the Foundation’s youth and transformative justice portfolio, including the provision of grant-making, network building, public policy and capacity building supports. Mr. Marcial began his grant-making career in 1998 at The California Wellness Foundation where most recently, he served as a Program Director, managing a combined grants portfolio of more than $60 million focused on criminal justice, public safety, and other public health issue areas.
Since April 2019, Mr. Sausedo has headed Community Build, Inc. (CBI), one of Los Angeles’ oldest nonprofit organizations. CBI was founded in the wake of Los Angeles’ 1992 Civil Unrest to rebuild South Los Angeles and provide resources and services to the community, particularly at-risk youth, young adults, and families with children. Since arriving at Community Build, Mr. Sausedo has aggressively sought to increase funding sources to support an expansion of CBI’s services and community assistance programs. Under his leadership, CBI’s funding for programs has more than doubled in less than two years.