|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2004
LEADERS RECEIVE THE CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION’S 2004 CALIFORNIA PEACE PRIZE
Nonprofit Leaders Will Each Receive $25,000
for Their Violence Prevention Work
Los Angeles – Zelenne L. Cárdenas works with the low-income residents and
homeless individuals of Skid Row in Los Angeles to create safe places in a
community plagued by drugs, alcohol and violence. Patricia Giggans has dedicated
more than 25 years to domestic violence prevention in Los Angeles. The Rev.
Anthony Ortiz, a former gang member, provides gang prevention and intervention
services to young inmates of state prisons and California Youth Authority camps.
The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) will present these
three violence prevention advocates with its 12th annual California Peace Prize
on Friday, December 3, 2004 at noon, at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel. The honorees
will each receive a cash award of $25,000 as an acknowledgement of their
commitment to prevent violence and promote peace in their communities.
“Behind every program and policy that works to prevent violence
against youth in California is the work of dedicated individuals committed to
the health and well-being of the young people of this state,” said Gary L.
Yates, TCWF president and CEO. “This year’s honorees have taken the lead in
understanding the root causes as well as the risk factors for violence, and they
have systematically developed strategies that have saved lives.”
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.
“Even among all the violence on skid row the young people here
remain hopeful,” observed Cárdenas. “I am constantly amazed by their resilience,
impressed by their creativity, encouraged by their humor and inspired by their
courage and that’s what keeps me engaged.”
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.
“Violence is preventable,” said Giggans. “If we can learn it, we
can unlearn it. Sound education and enlightened public policies are necessary.
But I believe that there are so many things — even small acts based on attitude
and behavior changes— that we can do to teach ourselves and others to make
connections between people and prevent violence.”
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 Vocational Education and Applied Technologies Act Advisory Council.
“There’s a social ill that we have to address like a medical
problem,” said Ortiz. “Gang violence is a plague, and the penal institutions are
not the remedy. What works are the community-based programs which give kids more
choices and the life skills they need to leave gangs.”
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.
“These individuals have committed themselves wholeheartedly to
improving the health of their communities,” said Nicole J. Jones, TCWF program
director. “Their innovations have led to stronger neighborhoods throughout
California and have inspired other communities searching for new strategies to
preventing violence."
The California Wellness Foundation is an independent, private
foundation created in 1992 with a mission to improve the health of the people of
California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease
prevention. The Foundation prioritizes eight issues for funding: diversity in
the health professions, environmental health, healthy aging, mental health,
teenage pregnancy prevention, violence prevention, women's health, and work and
health. It also provides funding for special projects that fall outside the
eight health issue priorities.
Since its first year of operation, TCWF has awarded 3,706 grants
totaling nearly $450 million. During the past 12 years, the Foundation has
funded nearly $90 million in violence prevention grants to organizations across
the state. It is one of the state's largest private foundations, making an
average of $40 million in grants each year in pursuit of its mission.
# # #
Note to reporters & editors: “The” is part of the legal name of The California
Wellness Foundation. Please do not drop or lowercase the “T.”
|
