A message from our AV AAIMM Backbone Agency partner Project Joy: 

The Library of Congress, National Archives Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of American History.

Youth With a purpose is launching a mentor and mentee program for moms under 29 in the Antelope Valley.

LA SAVES NEWSLETTER: TAX SEASON IS HERE

We recently asked Davion Mauldin, MS, Los Angeles Department of Public Health Fatherhood Coordinator, a few questions about his fatherhood journey. We hope his answers will inspire you and give insight into the incredibly important role that fathers play in the lives of their children. Davion also heads the Expecting Fathers Group for Black Dads, which has a new five-week educational workshop kicking off on Tuesday, January 25.

Bridget Biddy Mason (1818-1891) was one of the first landowners in Los Angeles beginning in the 1850s and founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in L.A. in 1872.

Although born a slave in Mississippi, Mason migrated with her last owner, Robert Marion Smith, a Mormon convert, to the state of Utah. Along the 1,700 mile, 300-wagon caravan trek—which she  traversed entirely on foot—Mason set up and broke down the camp, cooked the meals, herded cattle and....served as a midwife—all while caring for her own three daughters, one of which was a newborn.

[Gerald Garth is a part of the AAIMM network, and Lead facilitator of the AAIMM Village Fund.]

'It was June 2020 and Gerald Garth was asked to do a video interview with the Los Angeles Times about his role as one of the main organizers of the All Black Lives Matter march that was only days away.

For the interview setting, the reporter chose the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Bayard Rustin Plaza, named for the openly gay civil rights activist who was the organizing genius behind the 1963 March on Washington and a top advisor to Martin Luther King.

“It’s a moment I’ll never forget,” Garth tells LGBT News Now.

 In early January, he found himself back at the Center but this time to begin his job as the newly-hired director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

“When I saw the Center’s commitment to really lifting, expanding, and growing its work in addressing racism and equality and equity, I saw an opportunity for me to bring my skills and strengths to a place that has been just a pillar in LGBTQ+ health and wellness,” he says. “I’ve always celebrated the Center and the great work that it has done. It has been a beacon and uplifted so many people and communities.”

Garth has already began working with Center leadership and with a staff DEI committee to create a racial equity plan for the Center. The goal of the plan is to establish actionable and measurable initiatives in every Center department to further the effort of dismantling systemic racism.

“If we liken ourselves to an orchestra, there is value coming from every section but it has to be moving and playing together for it to be at its best,” he explains. “One of my goals is to really help break a number of the silos that we have historically seen in the Center and tie that work together.”