Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
Every year the James Irvine Foundation honors leaders for advancing solutions to critical challenges that affect millions of people in the state. The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards recognize leaders whose innovative solutions to critical state challenges improve people’s lives, create opportunity, and contribute to a better California.
The Foundation spotlights these leaders, helps share their approaches with policymakers and peers, and provides each of their organizations with a grant of $350,000 and additional resources. EMS briefing on March 26 featured the award winners for the current year.
Héctor Camacho Jr. and Elizabeth Baham, Reach University said California is facing a teacher crisis, with 10,000 vacancies and 20% of educators planning to leave in the next three years. Students enter schools every day with temporary or underprepared teachers, and many do not see leaders who reflect their own cultural background.
This experience propelled her to enhance access to education for all. In 2015, Baham joined Reach University, an organization that is tackling California’s teacher shortage by partnering with schools to train and place aspiring teachers who are often working in classrooms as aids or other non-teaching personnel in critical job vacancies.
Together, Baham and Camacho have expanded the organization’s reach throughout the state, and obtained accreditations that affirm the University’s credibility and allow it to leverage federal funding to keep programs affordable for candidates.
Brian Poth and Nick Vargas, The Source LGBT + Center grew up in the rural town of Visalia where they both felt a constant struggle to find acceptance as LGBTQ youth. They founded The Source LGBT+ Center in 2016. The Source is now the largest LGBT Center between Sacramento and Los Angeles and has provided services to over 24,000 individuals last year alone.
The organization offers more than 30 programs including HIV prevention and support, youth leadership opportunities, transgender resources, a drop-in center, cultural competency training, and community events. Their innovative approach ensures that every LGBTQ+ individual in the area has access to the care and community they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Manjusha Kulkarni, AAPI Equity Alliance led AAPI Equity Alliance (formerly A3PCON) from 2017. Kulkarni led the forty-year-old organization into a new era, growing it from a behind-the-scenes organization to one that leads groundbreaking work in health care access, interpersonal violence, and mental health.
AAPI Equity Alliance is now a coalition of over 40 organizations that serves the 1.6 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles and beyond, confronting discrimination, fighting mental health disparities, and pushing for legal and policy changes. Kulkarni is also a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that collects data and fights racial injustice targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Michele Siqueiros, Campaign for College Opportunity has championed policies and initiatives that have yielded tangible results, including clearer transfer pathways between community colleges and the CSU system, a public community college scorecard to make student progress and success metrics transparent, and crucial legislation promoting student success at community colleges.
Blanca Meléndrez and Amina Sheik Mohamed, UC San Diego ACTRI Center for Community Health advances a Community-Led Transformation Model that activates community-designed solutions to address social determinants of health. As immigrants, Meléndrez and Sheik Mohamed leverage their personal journeys and insights to fuel their efforts to help others navigate similar paths. We dedicate ourselves to providing the resources and research support needed for them to lead the way toward health equity, bridging the gap between knowledge and action.
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