Peacebuilding Brownbag:

Legislation and Gang Violence

The Peacebuilding Brownbag on legislation and gang violence took place on January 23, 2008 at the Western Justice Center Foundation.

Objective:

Provide an opportunity to hear from legislative offices about current legislative ideas for the reduction of gang violence through prevention, intervention and enforcement.

Legislation Resources

To look up state legislation, you can visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html

To look up federal legislation, you can visit

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Panelists Included:

Matthew Dodson, Field Representative, Senator Jack Scott

Matthew Dodson is a Field Representative for Senator Jack Scott, who chairs the Education and the Joint Arts Committees.  Mr. Dodson serves the Senator in portions of the San Fernando Valley as well as Atwater Village, Silverlake and Griffith Park.  He also keeps the Senator informed on transportation, water, arts and gay and lesbian issues.  He graduated from The Evergreen State College and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.  He has worked in government for ten years, including two years as an assistant to prosecutors in the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

Guillermo Gonzales, Deputy State Director, Senator Dianne Feinstein

US Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Rules and Administration Committee and serves on the Judiciary, Appropriations and Intelligence Committees.  Mr. Gonzales serves as Senator Feinstein’s senior advisor on issues related but not limited to public health and safety, education, housing, transportation, water and energy.  He also has served as a member of Senator Feinstein’s Federal Court Judicial Screening and Advisory Committee. Prior to his tenure with Senator Feinstein, he worked as a Consultant in the Office of the Speaker-California State Assembly in the California State Legislature. Mr. Gonzalez is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in political science and is a former recipient of the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship.  As Legislative Fellow, he worked in the Assembly Budget Committee of the State Legislature. His community and volunteer service includes serving as a Court Appointed Child Advocate with the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA), and he is a member of the Queens Care Charitable Board which provides funding to non-profit health care organizations that provide access to health care to low-income families and individuals in the Los Angeles region.

 

Julianne Hines, District Director, Assemblymember Anthony Portantino

Julianne Hines is the District Director for Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Higher Education.  In addition to managing the district office, she represents the Assemblymember throughout the region and district, with an emphasis on the city of Pasadena.  She advises Assemblymember Portantino on district issues related to K-12 education, transportation, social services and women’s issues and assists the member with outreach to the Asian Pacific Islander community.  Ms. Hines holds a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Social Work from the California State University in Los Angeles.

 

William Syms, District Representative, Congressman Adam Schiff

William Syms is a District Representative for Congressman Adam Schiff, who represents California's 29th Congressional District, including the communities of Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, Glendale, Griffith Park, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, and Temple City.  In 2007, Congressman Schiff was appointed to be a member of the House Appropriations Committee and was named to three subcommittees – the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee, and the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.  Congressman Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, was granted a special concession to hold his seat on the House Judiciary Committee so he could continue to draw on his experience in oversight of the courts and Justice Department. 

 

MODERATORS

Robert Arias, President, Communities in Schools, San Fernando Valley and Greater Los Angeles

Robert Arias graduated from the University of Southern California in 1974 and 1976 with Masters Degrees in Social Work and Public Administration.  He was the Executive Director at USC’s Learning Center from 1976-79 and the Director of Athletics at Loyola Marymount University from 1979-85.  Mr. Arias has been with Communities in Schools since the 1980s, serving youth in multiple positions, including as the Southwest Regional Director and President of Communities in Schools Los Angeles (CIS/LA).  CIS/LA merged with CIS San Fernando Valley in 2001.  His passions include youth crime prevention, intervention, mentoring, youth entrepreneur programs and both adult and youth job development and youth fitness initiatives.

Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Executive Director, Western Justice Center Foundation

Previously, Najeeba Syeed-Miller served as the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center.  She was instrumental in the expansion of youth and community programs through innovative partnerships and initiatives such as the South Asian Mediation Initiative to offer mediation services to communities targeted for hate crimes after 9/11. Under her directorship, one of the youth programs was awarded the John Anson Ford Award for improving human relations in South Los Angeles (LA County Human Relations Commission, 2001) and received funding from the LA City Human Relations Commission to start a unique peer mediation program at LeConte Middle School. Ms. Syeed-Miller has attended over 400 hours of conflict resolution training and mediated a large number of cases, including youth oriented disputes, inter-racial disputes and community based conflicts. She has extensive experience in dialogue design and facilitation, having served as one of the international facilitators for the America Speaks World Trade Center dialogue project and leading hundreds of community members in Los Angeles, Pasadena and surrounding cities in public dialogues on race and community/police conflicts. Ms. Syeed-Miller is a Commissioner on the City of Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women and a Board member of the Pasadena Child Health Foundation.  She graduated in 2000 from the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington.