Susana Coracero is an experienced Engagement Director deeply committed to fostering equity and justice within the non-profit sector. Holding a master's degree in Education with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration from Claremont Graduate University, Susana has devoted her career to empowering marginalized communities throughout California. Raised in Watts and educated at the University of California Santa Barbara with dual majors in Sociology and Chican@ Studies, Susana's journey reflects her roots in community activism. With 18 years of experience spanning public, private, and non-profit sectors, she has been instrumental in creating pathways into higher education for underserved populations. Susana's dedication to social change is evident in her extensive background in community organizing. From her early role as a Youth Organizer at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles to her participation in esteemed programs like the AFL-CIO SEIU Local 1 in Chicago and the Environmental & Economic Justice Academy in Washington D.C., she has honed her skills in advocating for systemic transformation. Recognized for her leadership, Susana was featured in The California Endowment's "The Women Leaders of Building Healthy Communities" in 2018. Her research on "Ethnic Labeling" has been presented at renowned venues such as the American Sociological Association conferences. Currently serving as an Adjunct Faculty of the Community Planning Program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Susana continues to inspire future generations of community leaders. Her steadfast commitment to equity, coupled with her extensive experience in training facilitation, educational technology, philanthropy, and community engagement, positions her as a valuable asset to any non-profit organization dedicated to advancing social justice.

Born in Los Angeles, Marybelle attended high school in Watts, received a BA in Political Science/Political Theory from U.C. San Diego and a law degree from U.C. College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly U.C. Hastings College of the Law). She is an attorney, community engagement specialist, and equity data expert. Marybelle began her legal career at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment as co-director of the Civil Rights Project alongside Executive Director, Luke Cole. She led successful civil rights, environmental, housing, and transportation litigation and federal administrative complaints on behalf of environmental justice communities across California’s Central Valley and across the United States. Working in tandem with community organizers and organized communities, Marybelle’s cases were embedded into community-led campaigns. From 2007 - 2009, Marybelle was part of a delegation of U.S. environmental justice attorneys who traveled to Kenya, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe to learn about local environmental justice issues and share skills with environmental justice attorneys from eastern Africa. After filing a successful lawsuit on behalf of environmental justice groups serving on the California Air Resources Board’s Environmental Justice Advisory Community, Marybelle continued on to help shape California's climate policy. She joined Public Advocates as a staff attorney and led successful coalition efforts to develop meaningful benefits for “disadvantaged communities” through the California Climate Investment program. The campaign successfully unified local, regional and statewide coalitions, secured robust investment guidelines, and ensured hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to climate projects that benefit environmental justice communities across the state, including affordable housing in transit-oriented development, clean mass transit, clean freight and urban forestry. Marybelle has served as a visiting lecturer in environmental justice, teaching semester courses at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and the International University College of Turin, where her course Race, Labor & the Environment took up environmental justice and labor issues for international masters in legal studies students. She also frequently delivers guest lectures for colleges and universities across California. In 2017, Marybelle founded Environmental Justice Solutions (E/J Solutions), a San Francisco Bay Area consulting firm where she serves as Principal. E/J Solutions provides expertise in environmental, climate, housing, transportation, and civil rights law, alongside equitable policy development and consensus-oriented community engagement meeting design and facilitation. Marybelle also serves on the Governing Board of the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment and the Rose Foundation’s Grassroots Funding Board, which provides small grants to grassroots environmental justice organizations across California. In her free time, Marybelle enjoys writing, making music, and painting.

Bruce Lemon is a storyteller born and raised in Watts, CA. As a child, his father made him write stories and read them aloud in the hallway as punishment for lies and mischief. He's still in trouble. 

Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village.

Ensemble with Cornerstone Theater Company. 

Princess Grace Award Winner.

BruceLemon.com

@BALemonJr

Siris Barrios is a seasoned social justice executive based in Los Angeles, CA, with over twenty-nine years of leadership in community organizing, strategic program development, and advocacy. A Salvadoran war refugee, Siris has deep roots in South Central Los Angeles, particularly in Watts, and is dedicated to empowering underrepresented communities.

Since May 2021, Siris has served as the Director of Social Impact & Community Organizing at T.R.U.S.T. South LA. She has spearheaded the development and execution of high-impact programs, restructured organizing systems, and significantly increased membership and community engagement. Siris played a pivotal role in designing and implementing the Covid-19 California State Emergency Rental Assistance Program, delivering over $6.4 million in rental arrears to tenants facing eviction. Additionally, at T.R.U.S.T. South LA, she provides strategic leadership in grant writing and funder relationship development.

Siris has revitalized T.R.U.S.T. mobility and environmental justice initiatives post-Covid-19, holding senior leadership positions in the BlueLA Steering Committee and South Central Power Up. She oversees the Community Engagement Plan for the $35 million the South LA Eco-Lab (Transformative Climate Communities) grant and leads efforts to secure additional funding for mobility and environmental justice projects in South LA.

Prior to her current role, Siris was the Director of Community Engagement & Social Impact at Renaissance Downtowns (MPACT Collective and CSPM Group) from 2014 to 2019. In this capacity, she led major redevelopment projects, including Southampton’s largest workforce housing project, and secured $6 million in infrastructure improvements in Riverside, NY. Earlier, as Director of Youth Programs at Community Coalition, she helped elevate the program as a national model for youth engagement, managing activities for 200 youth members weekly.

Siris holds a BA in Geography with a focus on GIS and Central American Studies from California State University, Northridge. Her board leadership includes roles with SEPA Mujer, El Rescate, and Salvadoreños en el Mundo. She is also a founding member of the first Central American Studies Program and the Central American Research and Policy Institute (CARPI).

Beyond her professional endeavors in the USA, Siris is a mother of two who enjoys traveling across the continental USA and the world with her husband. She loves spending time at their family farm in Ecuador. Siris is a co-founder and strategist for “Finca Los Leones,” a 60-acre Pitahaya (gold dragon fruit) farm and export facility. Her work has expanded the farm's reach to international markets, including the USA, Peru, Europe, and Asia.

Siris Barrios' unwavering dedication to social justice, strategic vision, and strong community relations enable her to effectively empower communities and promote positive change.

Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University, San Bernardino. He was born and raised in Watts and earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles Department of Theatre Film and Television. He is the 2021 co-winner of the Lowrider Studies Scholar-Activist of the Year Award and was a participant in the University of Notre Dame’s Young Scholars Symposium Institute for Latino Studies in 2021, and a 2021 and 2022 participant in the Mellon School for Theater & Performance Research at Harvard University. Besides his academic work, Guillermo has applied his scholarly thinking to research, design, direct, and deliver a wide variety of complex and innovative arts and cultural initiatives including curating Meet Me @Metro—an interdisciplinary performance festival in and around the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority rail system, and many other government, non-profit and private sector public arts projects. He is currently working on a book about Watts and its Towers. For more information go to: https://csun.academia.edu/GuillermoAvilesRodriguez