Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church is a progressive, inclusive spiritual community rooted in Pasadena since 1885. Grounded in a liberal religious tradition, bringing together diverse beliefs around shared values of justice, compassion, and ethical action, responding to the needs of a changing world with purpose and care.
By managing congregant-led committees and collaborative working groups, I created structures that allowed individuals to take ownership of their passions while aligning their efforts with broader community goals. My role spanned program design, stakeholder engagement, event production, and communications, ensuring initiatives were not only mission-aligned but sustainable and scalable.
Community Giving Programs
1. Community Investment for Racial Equity
I facilitated the development and launch of a permanent endowment dedicated to advancing racial equity in future church programming. Working closely with legacy members and key stakeholders, I guided the visioning, governance, and fundraising process, resulting in $25,000 in seed funding. The endowment now serves as a long-term financial resource to support inclusive, justice-oriented programming for future generations.
I led the strategic planning and growth of an annual alternative holiday-giving campaign that redirected traditional gift spending toward social-justice-focused nonprofit organizations. The program prioritized organizations led by and serving communities of color across Southern California.
3. Share the Plate (STP)
Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, Share the Plate was a rapid-response giving initiative that committed 100% of weekly offertory donations to social-justice-oriented nonprofits facing acute financial strain. Through community mobilization and values-based messaging, the initiative achieved a 54% increase in annual giving, providing critical, sustained support to frontline organizations.
Impact Summary: Across these initiatives, I delivered an average annual increase of 38% in participation and financial contributions, demonstrating the power of intentional program design, community trust-building, and strategic communications.
Historical Accountability | Reparative Justice Programs
In 2018, the congregation voted to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Committee after uncovering the troubling legacy of Dr. Robert A. Millikan, a church co-founder whose leadership role in the Pasadena-based Human Betterment Foundation tied the institution to the promotion of eugenics. This ideology directly informed policies of persecution, dehumanization, forced sterilization, and mass violence in the United States and Nazi Germany, and was complicit in more than 20,000 forced and uninformed sterilizations carried out by the State of California and Los Angeles County.
To understand the heavy relationship between Dr. Millikan and the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalism Church, please read the following articles by church members Donna Perkins and Clyde Derrick:
In my staff capacity, I was tasked with directing and operationalizing this committee’s work, guiding a values-driven, institution-wide process that moved from historical reckoning to public accountability and reparative action.
The work was structured around three core objectives:
I designed and facilitated a series of curated learning and reflection opportunities, including book discussions, expert-led panels, and community dialogues focused on truth, reconciliation, and reparations. These programs created accessible entry points for congregants to engage complex histories while building shared language, ethical grounding, and collective responsibility.
2. Policy Advocacy and Reparative Action
I coordinated the congregation’s support for AB 1007, the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, introduced by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo in partnership with California Latinas for Reproductive Justice. The legislation sought reparations for approximately 400 living survivors in California. Supporting AB 1007 positioned the committee’s work beyond internal reflection—connecting historical accountability to tangible policy outcomes and material repair.
I co-produced a public, site-responsive presentation documenting this truth and reconciliation process in partnership with homeLA, Fulcrum Arts, and the Mike Kelley Foundation. The project supported artists Julie Tolentino, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Riener in creating site-sensitive performances and installations on the church campus. Presented over two evenings in Spring 2022, the project engaged more than 200 community members, transforming institutional history into shared public reckoning and cultural memory.
Environmental Justice Program Development
I supported and guided the Environmental Justice Committee, a congregant-led group, in launching a year-long, multi-program campaign focused on sustainable living and climate action. The initiative mobilized community members around education, advocacy, and hands-on environmental stewardship, and included:
1. Food Justice in Action Lecture Series
A public education series examining climate change and sustainability through a food justice lens, equipping Pasadena residents with practical strategies to reduce environmental harm and rethink everyday consumption.
2. Policy Advocacy & Organizational Partnerships
Collaboration with local environmental organizations to advocate for clean energy policies and support efforts to protect regional natural habitats.
3. Eco-Conscious Film & Dialogue Series
Curated film screenings paired with facilitated discussions that deepened community understanding of environmental stewardship and collective responsibility.
Together, these programs demonstrate my ability to design and manage values-aligned environmental initiatives that combine education, community activation, and cross-sector collaboration to drive lasting impact.
Urbanfruit.ly received the AT&T Best Overall Hack for Los Angeles App award and Second Prize in the Chase Bank Challenge for apps related to jobs, business, and economic development. The project evolved from a hackathon prototype into a fully developed platform and was ultimately acquired by Intel Labs in 2016.
The mission of Urbanfruit.ly was to strengthen civic efforts around equitable food systems and urban agriculture by connecting residents, sharing surplus resources, and reducing food waste through technology-enabled cooperation. As Co-founder, I played a central role in guiding the platform from concept to acquisition. My responsibilities spanned strategy, fundraising, product development, and community partnerships:
1. Capital + Venture Development
I led the procurement of Urbanfruit.ly’s initial investors, securing early-stage funding that enabled product development, pilot testing, and deployment across Southern California neighborhoods.
2. Product + Platform Leadership
I directed the development of the iOS and Android applications, shaping a user-friendly peer-to-peer network that supported urban growers in exchanging surplus harvests. The platform helped diversify local food sources, reduce waste, and establish a free, values-aligned digital marketplace for urban agriculture.
3. Community Engagement + Cross-Sector Partnerships
I managed community engagement events, workshops, and stakeholder discussions, collaborating with partners across urban agriculture, food justice, mobile technology, and government sectors. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, industry leaders, and public agencies in California, I expanded the platform’s reach and aligned its growth with broader food equity goals.