In Service

“Look. How lovely it is, this thing we have done—together.” ~ Toni Morrison

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I foster personal, social, and systemic change through education, advocacy, amplification, collaboration, and direct service. At the local, national, and global levels, I work across silos and sectors to fuse intermingled issues and bring awareness to their intersectionality. At root, my life has revolved around advancing racial and economic Justice, transformative social movements, and community belonging. Its branches have served to amplify underrepresented voices in print and in public and to elevate marginalized individuals to positions of power and underserved communities to the centers of social and political concern. I promote equity agendas and expand the multiplicity of voices in institutional spaces, civic forums, print culture, and individual consciousness. Please reach out if you see opportunities where I can be impactful in these domains or can add volume and value to your efforts. I am always looking for new and more ways to contribute and collaborate, to be engaged and to engage others.

SELECTED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • Abolitionist Library Association
  • Advisor, College & graduate school admissions and persistence and career guidance for first generation, low socioeconomic status, and under-resourced individuals
  • Member, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
  • American Copyediting Society
  • Member, American Library Association, Social Responsibilities Round Table, Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, and Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table
  • Member, Association for the Study of African American Life and History
  • Association of Writers & Writing Programs
  • Bay Area Editors Forum
  • Member, Bay Area Justice Funders Network
  • Member, Black Caucus of the American Library Association
  • Book Awards Judge, Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE) 
  • Budget Justice Coalition of Contra Costa
  • Member, California Library Association
  • California Public Library Advocates
  • Committee Member, Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice & Equality, Social Responsibilities Round Table, American Library Association
  • Community Advisory Council member, Berkeley Farmers’ Markets, Berkeley, CA 
  • Contra Costa County Library Commissioner, Supervisorial District 1, CA 
  • Member, Democracy & Belonging Forum, University of California, Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute
  • CorrespondARTS participant, providing creative feedback and affirmation to currently incarcerated individuals
  • Consultant, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice for educational institutions, nonprofits, and organizations with authentic intent and limited capacity
  • Member, National & Bay Area Chapter, Editorial Freelancers Association
  • Equity Committee, Health, Housing and Homeless Services, Contra Costa County, CA
  • Grants Panelist, California Arts Council, Creative Youth Development
  • Member, Guaranteed Income Community of Practice
  • Committee Member, Guaranteed Income Working Group, Contra Costa County
  • Housing Justice Workgroup, San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness 
  • pARTner, correspondence program connecting artists inside and outside of prison, Justice Arts Coalition
  • Transcriber, Art work created by incarcerated individuals, Justice Arts Coalition
  • Measure X Community Advisory Board District 1 Appointee,Contra Costa County 
  • Mentor, currently and formerly incarcerated artists 
  • Jurist, Miriam Braverman Memorial Prize, Progressive Librarians Guild
  • Member, National Coalition for the Homeless
  • Member, National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)
  • Organizing Committee Member, Libraries and Homelessness: A Social Justice Issue Summit
  • Co-Chair, Programming Committee, Social Responsibilities Round Table, American Library Association
  • Member, Progressive Librarians Guild
  • Member, Public Library Association
  • Racial Justice Coalition of Contra Costa
  • Reference by Mail Volunteer, Prison Library Support Network (PLSN)
  • Member, REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking
  • Reimagine Public Safety Contra Costa
  • Research Exchange Volunteer, Archive-Based Creative Arts (Parole Preparation Project)
  • Member, United for Libraries
  • Board Vice Chair, Library Foundation of Contra Costa
  • Youth Justice Reinvestment Table, Contra Costa County

“In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” ~ Baba Dioum