“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” -Maya Angelou
I often suggest that one of the best ways we can grow (and thereby get out of the rut we sometimes find ourselves in) is to volunteer. To give back.
Here are a few non-profit organizations that I either proudly sit on the board of or help as best I can with their service to our community.
Coalition for Engaged Education
Paul Cummins founded Coalition for Engaged Education (formerly New Visions Foundation) in 1994, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The organization’s core belief is that all children deserve an excellent education and in order for children to learn best, they need to have their social, emotional, and physical needs met. Thereby, the Foundation’s goal is to find innovative ways to provide a wide-range of learning-based programs to as many of our underserved children as possible, catalyzing change in American education.
The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company
The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company’s mission is to empower youth in underserved and at- risk environments with the means and methods necessary to explore personal and social conflicts and develop self-esteem, communication, and coping skills to make positive life choices and become productive members of the community.
The Relational Center
The Relational Center’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for empathic, diverse, sustainable community in Los Angeles and beyond. We assume that human beings have a fundamental need to strive together in collective action. In fact, the more we try to overcome complex problems by ourselves, the more we suffer. Our hope lies in our capacity to depend on each other and share responsibility for sustaining ourselves, our families, our environments, and our futures.
Bridge Program | Antioch University Los Angeles
More than half of adults say the expense of a college education is “a big problem.” For adult students living on a low income, this problem and its barriers might be too big to tackle. Students in the Bridge Program may have found a solution – access to higher education through Antioch University Los Angeles. Each week, Bridge students attend class to begin college, to earn up to 15 transferrable units of university credit, and to study philosophy, literature, art history, writing, and urban studies – all free of charge. Bridge students complete the nine-month program without borrowing or spending a penny on books, tuition, school supplies, or bus tokens to get to and from class.
A Place Called Home
A Place Called Home is a safe haven in South Central Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well-being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.
ImaginAction
Creativity is everyone’s birthright, and we believe that tapping into it leads to transformative action.
Actors, directors, musicians, writers, puppeteers, clowns, storytellers and more–ImaginAction artists come from diverse cultures, speak many languages, and specialize in a wide range of skills.
Despite our differences, we share experience in joyful teaching and are committed to using our talents for community healing and social justice.
ImaginAction is a theatre arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, but our workshops and performances travel the world. Our work has been influenced by Theatre of the Oppressed, psychodrama, traditional storytelling, mask-making, drumming, improvisational drama, and creative ritual.
Skylight Theatre Company
The Skylight Theatre Company is committed to developing and producing new works and nurturing the artists that create them.
We offer local writers a home to test and refine their work through our programs and before a live audience, giving voice to their experiences. We are a vibrant and expanding family of artists whose passion is telling original stories that speak to today’s audience while creating dynamic theatre that resonates within our city. Our goal is to establish Los Angeles as a major center of innovation in the American Theatre.
