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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2003
TCWF's CALIFORNIA PEACE PRIZE
REACHES
10-YEAR MILESTONE
Unsung Heroes Have Received $25,000 Each For
Promoting Peace And Healthy Communities
Woodland Hills - This year marks a milestone for The California Wellness
Foundation's California Peace Prize, having recently awarded its thirtieth
prize. The California Peace Prize annually honors three Californians with
$25,000 each in recognition of their outstanding efforts to prevent violence and
promote peace in their local communities. The prize encourages Californians to
think of violence as a preventable public health issue and offers examples of
successful programs that can be applied elsewhere.
By the early 1990s, violence rates in California had reached epidemic
proportions. This was especially true for youth with gun violence being the
leading cause of death for youth in California. Print and electronic media
chronicled the carnage on our streets on an almost daily basis. In 1992,
embracing the concept that the injury and death caused by violence as a serious
public health issue, The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) launched the
Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI), a 10-year, $70-million grantmaking program
focused on preventing violence against young people. One component of the VPI
was its Leadership Development Program, which included the California Peace
Prize.
"Leadership is at the heart of the California Peace Prize," said Gary Yates,
TWCF president and CEO. "From the initial honoree through to the most recent,
the California Peace Prize honorees represent dedicated individuals who refuse
to remain idle while violence claims the lives of those around them."
The 30 honorees of the California Peace Prize reflect the diversity of
California. The leaders honored during the last decade come from small towns and
large metropolitan areas all across the state and represent a range of
professions, including health care, education and law enforcement. Distinguished
by their impressive personal and professional accomplishments, these leaders
have improved the health of their communities and have shown that violence can
be prevented.
Take 1996 honoree Jitu Sadiki of Los Angeles, whose time in prison changed him
profoundly. He remembers how incarcerated youth were left to drown in
hopelessness. The system offered no training or motivation to help inmates
improve their lives. Sadiki developed an educational and cultural program that
taught young men about their history and about social issues. He helped them set
individual and collective goals inside and outside of prison.
Malcolm "Jerry" Williams, a 1997 honoree and community housing police officer
with the Oakland Housing Authority Police Department also encouraged his
community to think of violence as a preventable public health issue where
individuals can and do make a difference. By developing trust and partnerships
with youth, parents and the community, he helped to transform an area that was
once plagued by the highest homicide rate in Oakland.
Lorna Hawkins of Lynwood, honored in 1993 and one of the first honorees of the
California Peace Prize, is a mother who lost two sons to gun violence. She began
producing "Drive By Agony," a local cable television program, as a means for
other victims to speak out, express grief and anger and mobilize a community
response to prevent such tragedies.
Chea Sok Lim, a 1997 honoree, recalled escaping the killing fields of his native
Cambodia, only to find gang violence and poverty threatening young immigrants
and refugees in his new home in Orange County. In response to these challenges,
he helped organize the Cambodian Family, an organization that assists low-income
residents by using cultural, educational and other programs to strengthen their
chances of life without violence. Because of Lim, children who would have been
lost to gangs or fatally caught in the crossfire are going to college instead.
Brian Contreras of Salinas in the Central Coast was honored in 2001 for his
promotion of violence prevention through the 2nd Chance Youth Program, an
outreach to gang members and at-risk youth. After talking with some of the past
California Peace Prize honorees, Contreras adapted the "Youth Alive!" program
championed by a 1995 honoree, Deane Calhoun of Berkeley, into a successful
program in Salinas called Trauma Response.
The following are the 30 California Peace Prize awardees by geographic area.
Each has a story of courage and innovation:
Bay Area
Deane Calhoun, Berkeley (1995 honoree)
Leonard Edwards, San Jose (1996 honoree)
David Lewis, East Palo Alto (1994 honoree)
Beckie Masaki, San Francisco (1998 honoree)
Joseph Myers, Petaluma (2002 honoree)
Clara Luz Navarro, San Francisco (1999 honoree)
Raja Rahim, San Francisco (2002 honoree)
Glenda Savage, East Palo Alto (1996 honoree)
Gianna Tran, Oakland (2000 honoree)
Malcolm Williams, Oakland (1997 honoree)
Gayle Zepeda, Redwood Valley (1994 honoree)
Central Coast
Brian Contreras, Salinas (2001 honoree)
Matt Sanchez, Santa Barbara (2000 honoree)
Central Valley
Joan Cuadra, Visalia (2001 honoree)
Carol Dela Torre, Fresno (1998 honoree)
Los Angeles
Father Greg Boyle, Los Angeles (2000 honoree)
Sylvia Castillo, Los Angeles (1994 honoree)
Lorna Hawkins, Lynwood (1993 honoree)
Bong Hwan Kim, Los Angeles (1993 honoree)
Reverend Romie J. Lilly, II, Inglewood (1995 honoree)
Rubén Lizardo, Los Angeles (1999 honoree)
Constance Rice, Los Angeles (2001 honoree)
Jitu Sadiki, Los Angeles (1996 honoree)
Gilbert Sanchez, Los Angeles (1999 honoree)
Orange
Chea Sok Lim, Santa Ana (1997 honoree)
Judith Magsaysay, Santa Ana (1995 honoree)
Sacramento Area
Barbara Aragon, Sacramento (1998 honoree)
Norman Berry, Concord (1993 honoree)
San Diego
Barbara Rivas, San Diego (1997 honoree)
Wayne Sakamoto, San Diego (2002 honoree)
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 provides funding in eight priority areas:
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 other health issues through its
Special Projects Fund. Since its first year of operation, TCWF has awarded 3,133 grants totaling more than $399.9 million. 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.
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Note to reporters & editors: "The" in The California Wellness Foundation name
is part of the Foundation's legal name. Please do not drop or lowercase the "T."
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