Community Sources: Featured Speakers on Social Equity

Lindsay Imai, Transportation and Housing Program Associate, Urban Habitat As part of the Transportation Justice and Housing Program, Lindsay works to increase funding for bus and other public transit systems serving low-income neighborhoods through research, policy analysis, advocacy, coalition building, community organizing support and media activism. Before joining Urban Habitat, Lindsay worked as a program manager with Citibank; as a program manager and Academy Fellow with the Greenlining Institute focusing on affordable housing and community reinvestment; and as a community organizer toreform public schools in Queens, NY. Lindsay completed a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration in June 2006 from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University with a focus on non-profit management and urban policy. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ethnic Studies from Stanford University.

Please listen to her presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting SB 375 Discussion Panel.

Robin Salsburg, Senior Staff Attorney, Public Health Law & Policy Robin Salsburg is a senior staff attorney specializing in current and emerging legal issues involving exposure to secondhand smoke. She is also developing PHLP's climate change and health program. Prior to joining PHLP, Robin was an environmental law fellow with Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, where she represented community groups and government agencies in land use and environmental litigation. Robin also served as a legal research attorney in the Law and Motion Department of the San Francisco Superior Court. Before becoming an attorney, Robin spent more than a decade implementing environmentally sustainable waste reduction programs including recycling and composting. Robin is a graduate of Stanford University and graduated summa cum laude from Golden Gate University School of Law, where she received certificates of distinction in public interest and environmental law.

Please listen to her presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting SB 375 Discussion Panel.

Colin Miller, Climate Policy and Research Coordinator, Urban Habitat Colin coordinates the organization’s climate justice work, which includes policy research and analysis, advocacy and education, and program planning and implementation. He was a former fellow in the Green Assets Program at The Greenlining Institute and has worked on a variety of climate issues, including working to develop a new solar financing model to benefit low-income renters; advocating on issues around sustainable communities and global warming; and coordinating grassroots efforts around green community revitalization and green jobs. Most recently, he testified before the California PUC against Proposition 16 and its negative impact on low-income communities of color. Colin is a graduate of Stanford University.

Please listen to his presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting SB 375 Discussion Panel.

Connie Galambos Malloy, Director of Programs, Urban Habitat As Director of Programs, Connie leads the organization's climate, transportation, land use and affordable housing work and advances UH's agenda on key partner coalitions. While a Program Coordinator, Connie led the Social Equity Caucus through a 10 year Evaluation and Strategic Plan, resulting in UH's launch of the State of the Region, Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute, and Speakers and Writers Bureau programs. On behalf of UH Connie has completed the Women's Foundation of California's Women's Policy Institute training, the University of Southern California's Ross Program in Real Estate, and the National Development Council's Real Estate Finance Certification. Prior to her years at Urban Habitat, Connie coordinated the Regional Sustainability Initiative at Redefining Progress. Through a fellowship from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Connie has worked with a variety of California organizations on urban planning issues, including the Earned Asset Resource Network (EARN), Unity Council, and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). She has also worked as a planner and funding liaison for United Way of the Inland Valleys in Riverside, CA and as a Peace Corps volunteer leading sustainable tourism development projects in Bolivia’s Amazon Basin. Connie is a founding board member of AFAAD: Adopted & Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora and has directed the Children's Program at Pact Camp, training families adopting and fostering children of different races. She previously served on the board of the California Planning Foundation, and is currently serving as Diversity Director on the California Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Northern Section board. Connie earned her M.C.P. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelors Degree in Communications & Spanish from La Sierra University.

Please listen to her presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting SB 375 Discussion Panel.

Richard Marcantonio, Managing Attorney, Public Advocates Richard A. Marcantonio (Managing Attorney) received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1982 and graduated cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law in 1987. After clerking for the Hon. Robert L. Carter, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, Richard practiced civil and appellate litigation for five years at the Howard, Rice law firm in San Francisco. He then served as director of litigation at Legal Aid of the North Bay for nine years, specializing in housing issues in Marin and Napa Counties. Richard was lead counsel for intervenors in Home Builders Association of Northern California v. City of Napa, 90 Cal. App. 4th 188 (2001), cert. denied 535 U.S. 954 (2002), which established the validity of “inclusionary zoning.” He was also lead counsel in Marin Family Action v. Town of Corte Madera, a challenge to the housing element of the Town of Corte Madera, and in a suit against a Napa slumlord for equitable relief and damages on behalf of nearly 500 Napa farmworkers and families. Richard joined Public Advocates as a managing attorney in June 2003, where he works on civil rights issues, primarily in the areas of affordable housing, transportation equity and insurance redlining. He has served as lead counsel for the plaintiffs in a number of affordable housing cases, including Osorio v. City of Pittsburg, Fonseca v. City of Gilroy, 148 Cal. App. 4th 1174 (2007), and Urban Habitat Program v. City of Pleasanton, 164 Cal. App. 4th 1561 (2008). In the area of transportation justice, he is currently co-counsel in Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission, 611 F. Supp. 2nd 994 (N.D. Cal. 2009), a pending federal civil rights class action on behalf of minority bus riders who have seen service cut as a result of inadequate funding, and represented the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union in Labor/Community Strategy Center v. Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 564 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2009). He is also co-counsel in Willams v. City of Antioch, a challenge to discriminatory policing of African-American families who participate in the federal Section 8 housing subsidy program.

Please listen to his presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting SB 375 Discussion Panel.

Bernida Reagan, Director of Community and Client Relations, Merriwether Williams Insurance ServicesBernida Reagan is the Director of Community and Client Relations at the firm of Merriwether Williams Insurance Services where she designs, implements and evaluates policies and programs to expand business and employment opportunities for local residents and local businesses. Ms. Reagan has provided oversight for the revision of the Local Business Ordinance in Richmond California, helped design bonding and finance programs throughout the state, and is currently helping to develop a comprehensive Community Benefits Program for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Prior to her role at Merriwether Williams Insurance Services, Bernida served as Director of Social Responsibility for the Port of Oakland from 2002-2007. In that role, she was responsible for development and implementation of policies and programs to maximize the utilization of small, local, woman- and minority-owned businesses seeking to do business with the Port of Oakland. Ms. Reagan has participated in numerous task forces and policy groups to review, evaluate and design programs and policies to maximize the utilization of small, local and minority businesses, including the advisory board for the Cal State East Bay Small Business Development Center, Cypress Mandela Training Center, the Oakland Private Industry Council, and Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. Bernida has also taught community economic development courses at Boalt Hall Law School and Hastings Law School and frequently lectures on issues of civil rights, economics justice and business development. Ms. Reagan is an attorney by training and holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

Listen to her presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting on Local Hire.

John Brauer, Executive Director, The Workforce CollaborativeThe Workforce Collaborative a community-based organization whose mission is to enable homeless and low-income persons reach self-sufficiency through employment. Mr. Brauer has chaired the local hire committee of the Port’s Maritime and Aviation Project Labor Committee for the 5 years and is on the steering of the Oakland Apollo Alliance and the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports. Over the last five years, TWC has fostered collaborations with a number of community stakeholders including Oakland Adult Education, Peralta Community Colleges, other community-based organizations, the City of Oakland, the Port of Oakland, labor organizations and local employers to provide bundled employment & support services to address both the skills and wage gaps faced by low-income/low skilled East Bay community residents.

Listen to his presentation at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus Quarterly Meeting on Local Hire.