2009 Inductees
Mildred Oliver
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Video Interview.
As an officer with the Oakland Police Department, Mildred Oliver works not only to protect the people in her community - but to enhance their opportunities and improve their lives as well. Mildred is executive director of Oakland's Police Activities League (PAL), which opens doors to positive experiences for disadvantaged youth by sponsoring leadership activities, field trips, sports programs, and numerous other safe alternatives to crime and violence. Under her direction, the PAL Program has strengthened the bonds between law enforcement and the young people in some of Oakland's toughest neighborhoods. This success has come in spite of the PAL Program's limited staffing and minimal resources. Mildred also teaches Administration of Justice at Merritt College, volunteers with many community organizations and is an active member of her church.
Margo Dashiell
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Video Interview.
Margo Dashiell is an inexhaustible source of support for persons with mental illness and their families. As a volunteer, the Berkeley resident commits ample time and energy to help enhance the quality of life of people affected by severe mental illness, and to expand public awareness of the struggles these people engage in every day. Single-handedly, Margot organized the Alameda County Family Coalition to bring together families affected by mental illness to provide them with support and networking power. She also spearheads efforts to implement the Mental Health Services Act, legislation passed by California voters to provide increased funding and other resources to mental health programs. Lauded by friends for her tenacity, Margot is tireless in her efforts to improve Alameda County's behavioral health care system and the entire community.
Mona Vaughn Scott
CULTURE AND ART
Video Interview.
Propelled by her motto, "to dream it is to accomplish it", Mona Vaughn Scott has guided the Black Repertory Group in Berkeley for the past 20 years. In doing so, Mona follows in the footsteps of her late mother, Black Repertory Group founder Nora Vaughn. As the theater group's executive director, Mona has mentored actors, developed after-school programs for youth, facilitated self-esteem-building workshops and utilized performance to reach out to people in communities affected by substance abuse and violence. Mona's supporters cite her vision, persistence and faith as key ingredients of her successful stewardship of the Black Repertory Group. By bringing together people who value the arts, Mona has helped the theater thrive in an environment where funding is scarce, ensuring the continued viability of a treasured cultural resource.
Charlene Sigman
EDUCATION
Video Interview.
Charlene Sigman has dedicated her life to helping children with disabilities achieve their full potential. A speech pathologist, Charlene is founder and director of Happy Talkers, which began as a day care center run out of her Pleasanton home to help children with developmental and speech delays. The program started with just four children, but it has been so successful that in 2004 it spawned a standalone pre-school, the School of Imagination. The school now serves more than 300 children with autism and other special needs. The school will soon move to a permanent new site in Dublin. The new facility will provide stability to a program that has moved eight times in three years and to the many children who will have brighter futures because of this unique program.
Kemba Shakur
ENVIROMENT
Video Interview.
Fondly referred to as the "tree lady", Kemba Shakur is the founder and director of Urban Releaf, a nonprofit responsible for the planting of an estimated 14,000 trees in low-income East Bay communities. Kemba has always loved trees, and cherishes childhood memories of outings with her parents to places like Big Basin. A pivotal moment in her life came in the 1990s, when Kemba moved to West Oakland and was struck by the lack of greenery. Instead of packing up and moving on, Kemba started planting trees. She founded the Urban Releaf 10 years ago, guiding it to success by abiding two key principles - creating a more beautiful community where residents take pride in where they live and offering opportunities for at-risk youth and unemployed adults to gain marketable skills.
G.G. Greenhouse
HEALTH
Video Interview.
G.G. Greenhouse is the executive director of the Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless and Homeless Families Programs. In this role, she has helped secure millions of dollars to provide health care and social services to thousands of homeless individuals and families. G.G. is also a powerful force in the battle against homelessness locally and nationally. The community's most vulnerable residents could not find a better champion. G.G.'s unyielding spirit is evident in the many obstacles she has conquered in her life, including being the first African American student in her private high school, overcoming poverty, racism and a life-threatening disease. G.G. worked her way through graduate school while raising five children. She continues to battle the odds, and because of her work people on society's fringes can hope for better lives.
Cherri Allison
JUSTICE
Video Interview.
Cherri Allison is the executive director of the Family Violence Law Center (FVLC) in Oakland. In this role she has created a statewide model program by expanding legal, advocacy and prevention services to victims of domestic violence and their families. Under Cherri's leadership, FVLC spearheaded Teen Dating Violence Prevention, an effort sparked by the murder of a 16-year-old girl outside her high school by an abusive boyfriend. Cherri also led the effort to create a Mobile Response Team to relocate domestic violence victims to safe housing. Cherri is also actively engaged in policy work aimed at preventing domestic violence. Cherri herself was a battered young woman who overcame abuse and difficult financial circumstances to attend college. She later married Richard Allison and became an accountant and lawyer while raising four children in Oakland.
Judy Goff
NON-TRADITIONAL CAREERS
Video Interview.
Judy Goff is a visionary leader who spent decades fighting for workers' rights and economic justice. Judy was statewide President of SEIU Local 535, and became the first woman to lead a major labor council in California when, in 1983, she became President of the Alameda County Labor Council. She held the position until 1999, then was the Council's Secretary-Treasurer until 2005. Under her leadership, the Council fought successfully for passage of living wage ordinances in Berkeley, Hayward, Oakland and at the Port of Oakland. A resident of Alameda, Judy co-sponsored the Labor Project for Working Families, which led to passage of Paid Family Leave in California in 2002. She also spearheaded labor's efforts to dredge the Port of Oakland to reap additional economic benefits to the region.
Dr. Gina Bonanno
SCIENCE
Video Interview.
A senior technical manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dr. Gina Bonanno is a central player in one of the nation's biggest and most exciting scientific projects: the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The recently completed Facility promises to open new avenues for exploring the power of fusion energy. The NIF uses 192 giant laser beams to demonstrate the fusion energy process that provides the life-giving energy of the sun. The experiments hold the hope of unlocking access to a never-ending source of clean energy. Since 2005, Gina has been Program Manager/Deputy Director of the National Ignition Campaign, the $1.6 billion program to demonstrate fusion ignition on the NIF. Gina is part of Lawrence Livermore's senior management team and is active in many of the Lab's community outreach efforts.
Linda Campana
SPORTS AND ATHLETICS
Video Interview.
Linda Campana has been teaching physical education at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont for more than 35 years - coaching championship tennis teams, sharing her love of dance and, most of all, encouraging students to pursue their goals while stressing the concepts of lifetime fitness. Known for her perennial optimism and devotion to students, Linda has been central to Mission San Jose's physical education curriculum through budget cuts and significant staff changes. For more than 10 years she has been the only full-time female PE teacher at a school of 2,000 students. Through her commitment to physical fitness, Linda is a role model to countless female students. She has parlayed her love of dance into a successful dance program, with several students moving on to open their own studios.
Diamond Broussard
YOUTH
Video Interview.
A senior at Oakland's Skyline High School, Diamond Broussard settled into a leadership role among her peers at a very early age. She is well on the way to becoming a leader in the community as well. Diamond has been closely involved with Girls Inc. of Alameda County since her freshman year, and is currently president of the Black Student Union and Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper at Skyline. This 18-year-old has spearheaded many community projects. She has organized successful workshops on health and social justice topics including substance abuse among teens and the injustices of homophobia. She has organized health fairs at five Oakland public high schools and mentors younger girls through Girls Inc. She plans to attend college next year - and is awaiting admissions decisions from several universities.