Paul Yelder, MCRP, is a seasoned community development professional with over 40 years of diverse experience in public, private, and nonprofit sectors. A Leimert Park native, where his grandmother was one of the first Black homeowners in 1953, Paul's upbringing in the vibrant community has deeply influenced his commitment to urban development and social equity.

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Paul holds a Masters degree in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Urban Studies from Dartmouth College. His extensive career includes significant roles such as the founding Executive Director of both Dudley Neighbors Incorporated (Boston) and Liberty Community Land Trust. Dudley Neighbors, Inc. is the community land trust established by the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a nationally-recognized model of resident-driven community development. 

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In his capacity as a Senior Program Director at The Enterprise Foundation in the Housing and Community Development Workgroup, Paul enhanced the capabilities of numerous housing and community organizations across the country through strategic management and organizational development. He has submitted and reviewed affordable housing project financing for hundreds of affordable housing projects across America. He is an expert in strategic planning, business planning, governance, and project management, and has co-authored important manuals like “Effective Strategic Planning” and “Planning a New Business Venture” for The Enterprise Foundation’s Community Development Library.

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Paul's leadership extends to his active participation on the boards of several impactful organizations, including the Institute for Community Economics, YouthBuild Boston, and The Howard County Planning Board in Maryland. His deep roots in community planning and advocacy continue to drive his professional pursuits and community engagements.

Born in the segregated South, South Los Angeles renter Gregory Akili, who prefers to be called "Akili," is an esteemed civil rights leader with a rich background spanning over 50 years in labor, community organizing, and political advocacy. With a demonstrated dedication to supporting Black communities and advocating for progressive causes, Akili is a champion for justice. He holds three basic beliefs: 

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1. People make a difference if you go to them and seek to get them involved;
2. The essence of democracy is inclusion and participation, and;
3. We live in the richest country in the world – we can have a just, fair and equitable society.

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Akili has been a formidable advocate for housing justice. He has served as the Executive Director of the Non-Profit Federation for Housing and Community Development, a member of the San Diego Housing Commission, and Chair of the Housing Trust Fund Taskforce, focusing on developing jobs and affordable housing.

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As a co-founder of the United Domestic Workers Union alongside Ken Msemaji and Fahari Jeffers, Akili is distinguished as one of the few people of color to establish a labor union. His journey in workers' rights began with the United Farm Workers, where he was trained by Fred Ross and worked with Cesar Chavez. Akili has held various positions in labor at SEIU national, SEIU 1000, and at the Los Angeles Black Workers Center.

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Akili's extensive resume also includes impactful work in the political arena. He has been an organizer in movements against South African apartheid, senseless American wars, and police brutality, and for the protection of Social Security. He has served in the public sector as a Special Assistant to California Assembly Speakers Antonio Villaraigosa and Herb Wesson, and to Assemblymember and former Lt. Governor Mervyn Dymally. His campaign experience is highlighted by his roles in Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign and as South Los Angeles Regional Field Director and Trainer for Obama for America in 2008.

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Currently, Akili contributes to several organizations and causes. He is a Project Coordinator at Corporate Accountability, Director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute, a Core Team Member of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, Co-Vice Chair of the Black Community Clergy and Labor Alliance, Vice President of NAACP-Los Angeles, Board Member of Institute of the Black World 21st Center, and Volunteer Coordinator for the Pan African Film and Arts Festival.

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He holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Cal State University, Los Angeles.

Crenshaw community renter Zerita Jones is a born Angeleno, mother of five and grandmother of seven. She attended school, worked, and has lived in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw community for over 40 years.  As a retired manager from Boys/Lucky's/Albertsons grocery stores, Zerita regularly hosts "Renters Rights" workshops for the Baldwin/Leimert/Crenshaw, local of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, which she co-founded. Zerita believes in good customer service and a safe, clean community where the citizens can live and thrive. She is an active member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and serves the Council District 10 Chapter as board co-chair. As a resident of the 425-unit Chesapeake Apartments in District 10, she organized her massive complex by founding a tenant’s association whose unity and collaboration thwarted a mass eviction attempt by Chesapeake’s corporate landlords.

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As a dynamic voice in housing justice advocacy in the face of widespread gentrification in the affluent, primarily Black and Brown Baldwin Hills community, Zerita is also:

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• Board Secretary of the Los Angeles County Client Coalition Inc., (Advocacy against the incarceration of women with mental health issues)
• Active participant in the Right to Counsel Coalition (Steering Committee)
• Member of Our Future LA coalition to end homelessness (Steering Committee)
• Active Board Member as Interim Chairperson Civilian Oversight Committee, expert seat for housing Justice,

Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, (LACAHSA)

• A Los Angeles City Commissioner on the Board of Measure ULA Civilian Oversight Committee
• Active Board Member of the California Community Land Trust Network (state wide)

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Zerita fervently encourages longstanding community members to organize and work on community issues. She is no stranger to direct actions, holding protests, rallies, press conferences, and lobbying. However, she feels that an emphasis on coalition-building between organizations with common overarching goals strengthens not only community bonds, but community economics.  

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As a universal participant in statewide, county, and local civic engagement, Zerita is an outspoken advocate of the creation of multi-ethnic and socioeconomically diverse coalitions as an integral part of developing the empathy necessary to debunk long-standing class/race myths and misnomers. Zerita believes a strong coalition of brave and empathetic community members cooperating in support of one another is the only way to obtain an equitable and fair quality of life for people in underserved communities. 

Labeled a “visionary” by the LA Times, lifelong Crenshaw area resident and current renter Damien Goodmon has called Leimert Park home since 1992. He is the architect and director of the Liberty Ecosystem. With a mission to liberate and advocate for marginalized people by building a community-driven, people-centered, environmentally-sustainable local economy, the Liberty Ecosystem has been lauded as a high-impact scalable model for equitable community development.

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As the CEO of the nonprofit Downtown Crenshaw Rising, he led the 2020 - 2021 community-based attempt to acquire the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall located in South Central Los Angeles. Raising over $34 million in philanthropy and $90 million in commitments from impact investors and debt partners, it is the most successful capital raise for a community-owned real estate project in American history.

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Mr. Goodmon is a relative of Colonel Allen Allensworth, and a descendent of Charles and L.M. Blodgett, founders of the first Black-owned bank on the West Coast and builders of the first FHA financed housing for Black people in America.

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Having led and advised on electoral campaigns up to the presidential level, Mr. Goodmon’s experience spans the political arena and the public sector. In 2018 he was the campaign manager of the statewide effort to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act and advance rent control, building a coalition of hundreds of organizations focused on housing justice, labor and civil rights. His community organizing in pursuit of racial and economic justice has resulted in over $1.5 billion of investment in transit infrastructure and environmental mitigation for the South Central Los Angeles community.

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One of L.A.’s “100 Most Influential African-Americans” according to the LA Wave Newspaper, Mr. Goodmon was featured as a lead subject of the award-winning 2013 documentary, “Beyond the Echo of the Drum”, which premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

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Mr. Goodmon has guest lectured on issues of transportation, environmental justice, activism, housing justice and community economic empowerment at the University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Princeton University, Vanderbilt University, and California State University-Los Angeles. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC and Black Enterprise. A graduate of L.A. Loyola High School, he has studied at the University of Washington and at Harvard University programs.

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Dr. Michael Batie has dedicated over fifty years to enhancing STEM education, focusing particularly on elevating mathematics literacy among children of color. He began his career as a technician and spacecraft engineer at notable aerospace firms like TRW and Hughes Aircraft Co., before transitioning to education where he became a pivotal figure in South Central Los Angeles as both an elementary and high school math and science teacher. Dr. Batie's academic journey led him to roles as an adjunct college professor teaching future educators, and he contributed significantly to the establishment of several charter schools across Southern California during the start of the charter school movement.

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His leadership extends to his role as the CEO of the STEM Education and Research Collaborative (STEMERC) in Hyde Park and as past president of the Los Angeles Council of Black Professional Engineers. Under his guidance, STEMERC focuses on critical educational initiatives like the STEM54 resource center and the Mobile Math and Science Labs, which provide essential resources for effective STEM education from early childhood through high school. Additionally, Dr. Batie's creation of the Black Zero Index and his work with the Empowered Parents Math Workshops highlight his commitment to educational equity, aiming to dramatically improve math proficiency rates among students of color.

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Dr. Batie’s professional and personal experiences deeply inform his approach to education, demonstrating his belief in the transformative power of mathematics to create opportunities and foster success. His extensive career in both the corporate and educational sectors showcases his multifaceted approach to leadership and his unwavering commitment to community uplift through education

Born in Oakland, Chesterfield Square homeowner Malcolm Harris has lived in Los Angeles since 1984, moving to the Crenshaw District in 1995. Mr. Harris is a labor & community organizer, starting as an organizer in 1995 with the Community Coalition in South Central Los Angeles. He worked with the AMASSI Center of South Central Los Angeles and spent 13 years as an organizing coordinator with the SEIU. Mr. Harris began working at T.R.U.S.T. South LA, a member-based community land trust on the eastside of South-Central LA, serving as the Organizing & Programs Coordinator. In 2016, T.R.U.S.T. started the 2-year long process to re-develop the existing 48-unit 100% affordable building, Rolland Curtis Gardens, into a 100% affordable 138-unit building on the site with a neighborhood health clinic. Mr. Harris led a comprehensive door-to-door community engagement effort to get the community resident and stakeholder support to secure the permits needed to move the redevelopment. There were many positives during the community engagement, and his skill set as an organizer helped T.R.U.S.T. navigate through them to develop community consensus.

Estuardo David Mazariegos is a committed community organizer with decades of experience working on community and labor campaigns. Estuardo immigrated from Guatemala in 1988 and gained his political education on the streets of Los Angeles. In 1992, Estuardo witnessed the LA rebellion which forever influenced his view of race and justice in this country. During Estuardo’s community organizing career, he developed neighborhood-based campaigns in Long Beach, South Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Estuardo was a part of establishing T.R.U.S.T. South LA. Pre-Covid 19 Estuardo was the statewide external organizer with SEIU-USWW where he worked to unionize non-union janitors throughout California. He works serves as the Co-Director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment-Los Angeles (ACCE). Estuardo continues to foster and dedicate his time to the development of community leadership, community-lead development, popular education, and community ownership.,,

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Angeles Mesa homeowner Kimberly (“Kim”) Yergan relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1982 to embark on a distinguished career in real estate. Kim obtained her California Real Estate License in 1984 and over the next four decades, she honed her expertise across a wide range of disciplines within the real estate sector, including residential sales, small commercial and industrial real estate, property management, leasing, and business opportunities.

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Kim's formative years in Chicago were filled with a robust educational journey, beginning with her early schooling and extending through a year in junior/community college in 1965. She also pursued many independent courses and certifications that furthered her professional skills. Her career began with a position at the US Parcel Post Office and evolved through roles as diverse as keypunch operator, radio traffic coordinator, and music advertising and marketing professional before she launched her real estate career in Chicago.

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Beyond her professional life, Kim's personal interests are varied and vibrant. She has traveled extensively, visiting numerous U.S. cities from New York City to Seattle, and international destinations including Mexico, Amsterdam, France, Italy, and Greece. Her passions include modeling, horseback riding, swimming, and dancing, as well as enjoying basketball and football as a spectator.

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Kim is an active member of several community and professional organizations. During her active career years in Los Angeles, she was involved with the Southwest Association of Realtors, Women's Council of Realtors, and the Consolidated Board of Realists. In retirement, she continues to contribute to her community through involvement with the WLCAC Southwestern Multi-purpose Senior Center where she serves a president, Los Angeles