TCWF Peace Prize Awards

Zelenne Cárdenas
Patricia Giggans
Reverend Anthony Ortiz

Zelenne Cárdenas
As director of prevention services for Social Model Recovery Systems, Inc., a human services organization based in Covina, Zelenne Cárdenas works tirelessly on behalf of people who are barely surviving in a disenfranchised community. Cárdenas directs the United Coalition East Prevention Project in collaboration with SRO Housing Corp. The community-based program is dedicated to preventing alcohol- and drug-related problems in the eastern area of Downtown Los Angeles known as Skid Row.

In Skid Row, Cárdenas observed a vicious cycle of substance abuse, drug treatment and relapse. She identified resources and strategies to reduce existing problems and address the root causes of violence specifically related to problems of drugs and alcohol. She was instrumental in helping craft and institute policies aimed at cleaning up bars, liquor stores, and hotels that are magnets for nuisance activity. Cárdenas also helped to mobilize community residents, including low-income and homeless individuals. As a result, Skid Row is a safer place today.

Cárdenas serves as a consultant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as to several counties throughout the State of California. In 2001, she was selected to receive a TCWF Community Leader Fellowship to support her violence prevention projects and in 2004, she was named a Local Hero of the Year by KCET-TV and Union Bank of California during Hispanic Heritage Month. Cárdenas holds a B.A. in sociology from UCLA.

Patricia Giggans
Patricia Giggans serves as executive director of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW), where she works to end sexual and domestic violence against women, youth and children through education, prevention and intervention. Under Giggans’ leadership, LACAAW has become one of the leading domestic violence prevention agencies in the U.S., with a service base that extends from metro Los Angeles to the West San Gabriel Valley and the mid-San Fernando Valley.

Giggans brings dynamic leadership to issues of sexual assault and domestic violence. In 1999, she launched the Denim Day Campaign in Los Angeles to protest an Italy appeals court decision to overturn the rape conviction of a 45-year-old suspect because his 18-year-old victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack. Denim Day has spread around the world and is observed by thousands of activists, government officials, schools, businesses and colleges. She has also spearheaded advocacy efforts in support of the Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights.

A black belt in karate and a master self-defense trainer, Giggans founded the first women's martial arts school in Southern California in 1978. She has co-authored several books, including 50 Ways To A Safer World (1997, Seal Press) and What Parents Need to Know About Dating Violence (1995, Seal Press). Giggans received her M.A. in non-profit administration from the University of San Francisco and her B.A. in psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Active in Los Angeles for more than 25 years, she has garnered numerous awards for promoting the message that rape and intimate partner violence are not acceptable behaviors.

Reverend Anthony Ortiz
An ex-gang member and ordained minister, the Rev. Anthony Ortiz has been using his firsthand knowledge of gang life for more than 20 years to end the cycle of violence against youth. In 1980, Ortiz began ministering to young men and women in prisons who had fallen prey to gangs and drugs. The organization he founded, Breakout Prison Outreach—later renamed California Youth Outreach—continues to provide direct services to state prisons and California Youth Authority camps across the state.

California Youth Outreach dedicates equal time to gang prevention and intervention services in several California communities. In San Jose, Ortiz helped develop and implement the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force and gang intervention for the Youth Services Division. Ortiz has worked with the Probation Department and several school districts in Santa Clara County, and he remains an active participant in and trainer for the City of Santa Clara Gang Task Force. A nationally recognized expert in gang intervention and prevention services, Ortiz served for five years on the California Department of Correction’s VEATA Advisory Council.

Ortiz’s biography, “Three Losers Become Winners,” by Chaplain Ray of the International Prison Ministry, has been distributed to youth and adult prisons nationwide. Ortiz’s dedicated work in detention centers has resulted in many accolades, including a National Volunteer Award and an invitation to participate in the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast. Welcomed as a platform speaker in prisons throughout the country, Ortiz directs California Youth Outreach programs throughout the Central Valley and Santa Clara and Alameda Counties, and continues to work tirelessly to deter gang violence.

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