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Lateefah Simon

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Lateefah Simon (born January 29, 1977 in San Francisco) is the president of the Akonadi Foundation and an advocate for civil rights, racial justice, and juvenile justice.[1] In 2003, she became the youngest woman to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, for her leadership of the Center for Young Women's Development (now the Young Women's Freedom Center) from age 19.[1][2][3][4]

Under San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris, Simon led the creation of San Francisco's Re-Entry Division[5] with Back on Track, an advocacy program for young adults charged with low-level felony drug sales.[1] Simon has been the executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the program director of the Rosenberg Foundation.[1]

In 2016, Simon was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees by Governor Jerry Brown.[6]

Simon was elected to represent the seventh district on the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board of directors in 2016.[7] Her motivations for running included her reliance on BART, as someone who is legally blind and unable to drive.[8] For the year 2020, she was elected President of BART's board of directors.[9]

Simon studied social entrepreneurship at Stanford University and public policy at Mills College,[10] where she was the 2017 Commencement speaker.[11] She is the mother of two children[10] and has written about the difference in how she was treated as an unwed mother and as a widowed mother.[12] Simon's late husband, Kevin Weston, was a recognized journalist and activist who died from leukemia in 2014.[13]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Lateefah Simon, President". Akonadi Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Three Blacks Named MacArthur Fellows", Jet, Oct 27, 2003
  3. ^ http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Lateefah_Simon.php
  4. ^ a b "Lateefah Simon". MacArthur Foundation. 5 October 2003. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  5. ^ [http://sfgov.org/adultprobation/reentry-division
  6. ^ "Lateefah Simon | CSU". www2.calstate.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  7. ^ "Lateefah Simon". Bay Area Rapid Transit. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Lateefah Simon seeks inspiration in promises made". SFGate. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Lateefah Simon | bart.gov". www.bart.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  10. ^ a b "About Lateefah". Lateefah for BART. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Civil Rights Advocate Lateefah Simon to Deliver Mills College Commencement Address". Mills College. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  12. ^ Simon, Lateefah (5 November 2015). "I Was a Working Single Mom Twice — Here's What I Learned". Medium. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Bay Area media pioneer Kevin Weston dead at 45". The Mercury News. 2014-06-18. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  14. ^ http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-10-21/living/17266313_1_east-bay-young-people-harris
  15. ^ http://eomega.org/omega/faculty/viewProfile/2238c3330352b5f9955bcb520dab1462/

[1]

  1. ^ "Lateefah Simon". Emerge America. Emerge America. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
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