Lateefah Simon

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 (and future Vice President of the United States) 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. "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. "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. "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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