Social Justice Fund Hires Administrative Director

The Social Justice Fund for Ventura County has hired Jennifer Lopez, an experienced grants specialist with years of community engagement, as its administrative director.

The nonprofit, established in 2004, works to educate the public about social justice issues and provides financial support to organizations and projects that promote fairness, equality and human rights. It awards grants each year to organizations in Ventura County to strengthen social justice by "creating change, not charity," according to its mission statement.

Lopez has spent much of her career in grant making and grass-roots organizing throughout the state in the public health sector, with Kaiser Permanente, the Public Health Institute and as a bilingual health policy advocacy trainer with the National Community Development Institute. She was a community leader in The California Endowment’s Regional Obesity Prevention Program for Central California and was co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Sarah House in Washington, D.C., serving inner-city families and youth. While in Washington from 1996 to 2001, she was a founding member of a collaborative to support community revitalization projects.

"I am an energetic, grass roots community organizer at heart, eternally inspired by what can happen when community residents are supported in planning and implementing solutions for community change," Lopez said in commenting on her role with the organization.

The Social Justice Fund's board selected immigration as its theme for 2018, awarding grants to organizations to support citizenship classes, advocacy training for youths, know your rights information and medical care for the working poor, to name a few projects. In prior years, grants have gone to support programs for Mixtec farm workers, empowering neighborhoods for change, supporting economic justice and preventing violence, among others.

For information on the Social Justice Fund for Ventura County visit the website at socialjusticefundvc.org or reach out to Jennifer Lopez directly at socialjusticefundvc@gmail.com.