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COMMISSIONER BIOGRAPHIES FIRST DISTRICT Adelina Aguayo Sorkin, ACSW/LCSW Adelina “Nina” Sorkin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Nina was honored by the UCLA School of Social Welfare when she received the Alumni of the Year Award. She has also received awards from Child Care Information Service, Community Housing Services, and United Way, San Gabriel Valley Region. For the past thirty-five years she has worked in non-profit human services agencies. In 1998 Supervisor Gloria Molina appointed Nina to the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Family Services. She is currently the Chair of the Commission. She also served as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women for ten years. Nina’s community involvement includes Women of Color, Inc., Trabajadores de la Raza, Big Sisters of Los Angeles, Centro de Ninos, URDC Human Services Corporation and Comision Femenil Mexicana Nacional. She is the 2007 and 2008 Event Chair for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Pasadena. Steven Olivas, Esq. Steven M. Olivas was appointed to the Commission by Supervisor Gloria Molina in May 2008. He currently serves on the Children's Planning Council. He earned a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University School of Law. While at Columbia Law School, Steve served as a Teaching Assistant of the Prisoners and Families Clinic where he provided legal advice to incarcerated parents so that they could preserve their parental rights with their children and maintain intact family units while in prison and post-release. He was also a Constitutional Law Teaching Fellow and a member of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, a legal journal featuring articles on contemporary human rights and civil liberties issues in the United States and around the world. In 2002, Steve returned to Los Angeles and practiced law at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, the largest business litigation law firm in the nation. In 2005, Steve joined the administration of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as Policy Director for Public Safety and Homeland Security. In this capacity, Steve is responsible for developing and directing the Mayor’s public safety and homeland security policy agenda and serves as the Mayor's liaison to the Los Angeles Police Department. An active member of his community, Steve serves as the Chairman of the Board of the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena. He is also a mentor to students at Whittier High School, his alma mater. Recognized for his keen ability to relate to youth and adolescents, Steve is a frequent motivational speaker to L.A. County high school students. Martha Trevino Powell Martha Trevino Powell was appointed to the Commission for Children and Families in March 2008. She is a retired school educator and administrator with over forty-one years of educational and administrative experience. She holds degrees in Education as well as in Business Administration. Ms. Powell has been a member of numerous professional, civic and community organizations and the recipient of many awards for her distinguished work in the field of education. Ms. Powell considers her appointment to the Commission an extraordinary privilege and opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of the children and youth of Los Angeles County. SECOND DISTRICT Dr. La-Doris McClaney Dr. La-Doris McClaney is an Entrepreneur/Philanthropic, Motivational Speaker, Writer and Lecturer. She was appointed to the Commission in August 2001. She currently serves on the Commission’s Faith Based Committee. She acquired her Bachelor of Arts degree from Shaw University, Masters Degree in Public Administration from Pepperdine University, Doctor of Humane Letters from Shorter College and Bethune Cookman College. Commissioner McClaney serves on many Boards and has been the recipient of over 500 Resolutions and Accommodations. She most recently received the Rosa Parks Award; Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Outstanding Community Service Award; LA Probation Department, Woman of the Year; LA Mass Youth Choir, Certificate of Appreciation; Senator Barbara Boxer, Lifetime Achievement; Mayor Mark Egerman of Beverly Hills, Dedication of Public Service; Senator Kevin Murray, Committed Service to The Links, Inc.; Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Certificate of Recognition; Councilman Bernard Parks, Outstanding Service. Publications: “God I Listened” (The Eula McClaney Story), 1989. Reverend Cecil L. Murray Rev. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray has completed 42 years in ministry, 27 of these being at the First A.M.E. Church, Los Angeles, where growth extended from the hundreds at his arrival, to 17,500 upon his departure in 2004. His ministry in Los Angeles included some 80 task force ministries both Within the Walls and Beyond the Walls—housing villas for 2,000 tenants in 13 villas, including housing for the physically handicapped, for AIDs families; for seniors; for minimum income; business training, loans, and mentoring, ultimately including a venture capital fund for $10 million; free legal clinic; an education center, pre-k to eighth grade; taxi vouchers and bus tokens for the impoverished; youth ministries; prison ministry; homeless ministry, etc., the church having been named by the first President George Bush as the 81st Point of Light for its outreach service. Rev. Murray is presently Adjunct Professor and Tanzy Chair of Christian Ethics, Center for Religion, University of Southern California, engaged with some 30 outreach programs and boards. Rev. Murray was appointed to the Commission for Children and Families in May 2005. Dr. Harriette F. Williams Harriette F. Williams, Ed. D. has served on the Commission for Children and Families since her appointment in November 1996. She is a retired school educator with over forty years of professional service to middle and high school youth. Her particular passion surrounds children living with relatives, appropriate support resources, and the need for legislative change for this population. She chaired the Relative Taskforce Committee in 1999 and has chaired the Commission’s Relative Caregiver Committee since the Board of Supervisors accepted the Taskforce’s recommendations in February 2000. She has served as a liaison to the Child Care Policy Roundtable and presently serves as the Commission’s representative to First 5 LA. She was the Commission Chairman from 2003-2005. THIRD DISTRICT Carol Oughton Biondi Appointed to the Commission in 1999 by Zev Yaroslavsky, Commissioner Carol Oughton Biondi has chaired and served on several Commission committees that focus on the issues of “crossover” youth, youth that move from dependency to delinquency. Commissioner Biondi’s contributions focus on children and juvenile justice issues through organizations in Washington D.C., New York City and Southern California. She currently serves on the boards of the Children’s Defense Fund, United Friends of The Children, New Visions Foundation, Homeboy Industries, and the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. She has also served on the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, the L.A. Conservation Corps, the Universal Pre-School Advisory Committee, the Leake and Watts Child Care Agency Board and was appointed by Governor Davis to the California Child Welfare Re-Design Stakeholders Group. Over the past several years she has worked to develop a best practices model at Camp David Gonzales, a probationary camp for juveniles run by the L.A. County Probation Department. She was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the Corrections Standards Authority (formerly the California Board of Corrections) in February 2006. Susan Friedman
An Emmy-award winning producer, Susan Friedman has extensive experience in domestic and foreign news coverage, in both breaking news and feature reporting. She has contributed to Nightly News and the Today Show, covering everything from cultural stories to politics. She has also reported from Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Turkey and Vietnam. In 2002 Susan was awarded a Knight Fellowship and took a six month leave of absence to train journalists in Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Through the International Center for Journalism she has continued working with journalists in developing democracies: 2003 in the Balkans and 2004-5 in Georgia and Azerbaijan. She is currently a Commissioner on the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families, the Media Advisory Board of Women for Women International, which provides training and education for women in war-ravaged countries. She is also a founding board member of the Alliance for Children’s Rights, which provides free legal services for Los Angeles’ foster and poor children. Helen A. Kleinberg Helen Kleinberg has served on the Commission as a Third District appointee since its inception in 1984. She was a member of the 1983 Board appointed Children’s Services Task Force which recommended the creation of the Department of Children and Family Services and the Commission for Children and Families. Ms. Kleinberg is a teacher by profession, obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degree and teaching credentials from UCLA. She taught briefly in a secondary school for the Los Angeles Unified School District, has tutored middle school children, operated a learning laboratory for learning disabled children for LAUSD, and worked with a preschool in the Watts Community. Ms. Kleinberg also worked for the Los Angeles Educational Partnership, a nonprofit organization committed to families. There she ran the Family Care Program in the Community of Pacoima for ten years. She also served on the Northeast Valley Board of the United Way. She served as the Chairperson for the Children’s Bureau Advisory Council in the San Fernando Valley in the 1980’s. During her time on the Commission, Ms. Kleinberg has served on various committees and taskforces. She has previously served as the Commission Chair and she currently Co-chair’s the Family Reunification Work Group.
FOURTH DISTRICT Ann Franzen Ann Franzen was appointed to the Commission in July 2005. She is a community activist dedicated to advocacy for children and families. She has mentored groups of young wives and mothers, teaching classes ranging from simple home care and quality cooking to child rearing and home entertaining. Commissioner Franzen has furthered her promotion of healthy families through her work with the City of Bellflower, Kiwanis International association for Retarded Citizens and the Parent-Teacher Association. After many years as a licensed home daycare provider, Commissioner Franzen looks forward to furthering her support for children and families through the Commission for Children and Families. Currently she serves as the Commission’s representative on the Policy Roundtable for Child Care and Chair of the Faith-based Committee that is working towards developing partnerships between DCFS and the many faith-based organizations throughout the county. Sandra Rudnick Commissioner Rudnick was appointed to the Commission in June 2001. Sandra has been involved in children’s issues for many years. She was chair of United Friends of the Children (UFC), a non profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in the foster care system for 8 years. While a member of UFC, in partnership with the Department of Children and Families Services she developed and funded the first transitional housing program for emancipating foster youth in the county. Currently, Commissioner Rudnick serves as a vice chair of the Commission and is co-chair of the Prevention Committee which has developed a comprehensive plan to prevent children from entering the Dependency system, and to encourage stable families and permanency for young people in both probation and the foster care system. FIFTH DISTRICT Patricia Curry Appointed by Supervisor Antonovich in 1995, Commissioner Curry has chaired and served on several committees, including the MacLaren Committee, Emancipation Oversight Committee, Emancipation Program Partnership, Placement Committee, Permanency Committee, Foster Care Task Force, Group Home Task Force. She served as Chair of the Commission for two years, 1997-1999. She also served as an ex-officio member of the County Proposition 10 Commission, and was a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Juvenile Justice Task Force and the Pasadena Transition Partners. She has been a panelist in various workshops including the Children’s Defense Fund; the Statewide Judicial Conference for Dependency Courts, and the Juvenile Court’s Annual Partnership Conferences. She provided testimony at the State hearing regarding confidentiality of minors in the dependency system and at the State hearing regarding dependency/delinquency youth. In 2002, Commissioner Curry provided testimony at the Little Hoover Commission hearings on Foster Care in Los Angeles County. Currently Commissioner Curry co-chair’s the Transition Age Youth (TAY) Committee for the development and implementation planning for MHSA funds and co-chair’s the 300/600 Taskforce Committee and is actively advocating for California State Legislation for an Internet Health and Education Passport for Foster Youth. Stacey Savelle Stacey Savelle is currently a Commissioner with the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families, having been appointed in May of 2007. Ms. Savelle retired as an Assistant Regional Administrator for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services in March 2003, after almost 35 years of providing social work and holding management positions for a variety of programs administered by that Department. She earned a BA/BS degree from UCLA and did graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Social Work. Ms. Savelle has served on the Emancipation Program Partnership where she helped to create a countywide network of Transition Resource Centers for youth leaving the foster care system. She has spoken nationwide on issues affecting child safety, humor in the workplace, health care concerns, mentoring system-involved youth and transitional issues. Since her retirement, Ms. Savelle has worked as a Consultant with the Department of Children and Family Services, the Center for Applied Research Solutions, Casey Family Programs, the Los Angeles County Children’s Law Center, and the Alliance for Children’s’ Rights. She has had a leadership role in planning a number of youth-focused conferences and events including Foster Youth Job Shadow Day, a countywide mentoring symposium, and a juvenile justice youth empowerment conference. She helped establish “Bridges to the Future”, a mentoring partnership between DCFS, Probation and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and through this program, has mentored a youth for the past five years. Ms. Savelle forged an organizational linkage between the California Youth Connection and DCFS in the 1990s and was an “Adult Supporter” in this foster youth leadership organization for more than seven years. It is from the perspective of social worker, emancipation consultant, adoptive parent, youth advocate and mentor, that she addresses the imperative for every foster youth to achieve permanence and share a lasting connection with at least one positive, caring adult. COMMISSION STAFF Martha Arana, Commission Services, Executive Office (213) 974-1558 Narek Artonian, Commission Services, Executive Office (213) 974-1558 Andrew Sevrin, Commission Services, Executive Office (213) 974-1558 Special Events
Community Wellness & Healthy Lifestyles Training for Relative Caregivers The Commission via the Childhood Wellness, Faith-Based, and Relative Care Committees partnered with the Los Angeles County Departments of Children and Family Services, Public Health, the Pasadena Health Department, First 5 LA, and various faith-based facilities throughout the County to present classes in Healthy Lifestyles with a focus on reaching relative caregivers. (Please click links below to access event photos.) February 25, 2010 ●Calvary Baptist Church (Fireside Room) ● (Click here to view event photos) March 18, 2010 ●Van Nuys Seventh-day Adventist Church (Fellowship Hall) ● (Click here to view event photos) April 29, 2010 ●Trinity Baptist Church (J.L. Caston Fellowship Center) ● (Click here to view event photos) May 6, 2010 (Click here to view event photos) May 20, 2010 ●Grace Chapel● (Click here to view event photos) |
