Aileen Adams —  Francis M. Wheat Community Service Award Honoree

CHILD ADVOCATE. CIVIC LEADER.

Throughout her career, Aileen has used her many leadership positions at all levels of government and philanthropy to advocate effectively for children and youth. As Chair of the Board of the Weingart Foundation, she championed leadership programs for youth, as well as convenings to provide youth with forums for their recommendations for change. While working as a Los Angeles Deputy Mayor, she raised private funding for Summer Night Lights, which provides needed recreation, youth jobs, and food at some of LA’s most dangerous parks, cutting the crime rate in half. As the Legal Counsel at UCLA’s Rape Treatment Center, she co-founded Stuart House with Gail Abarbanel, a model facility which provides a range of services for sexually abused children. As head of the Office for Victims of Crime in the U.S. Justice Department, she provided funding for similar facilities all across the country. As the Co-Executive Director of the County’s Blue Ribbon Commission, she worked closely with the Alliance to recommend landmark changes in LA’s child protection system. As a ten-year member of the Board of the Partnership for LA Schools, she has helped to transform some of our city’s lowest performing schools. And as a Board member of March For Our Lives, she works with students across the country to organize marches and pass over 250 reasonable gun laws. She considers these youth, many of whom have had direct experience with gun violence, her heroes and her mentors.