Before Yasmin and Greg Delahoussaye started securing scholarships for youth of color through their nonprofit Educating Students Together (EST) in Los Angeles, they had been focused for 30 years on delivering tours for students interested in historically Black colleges and universities. Both Yasmin and Greg knew that higher education was the ticket to climbing the socioeconomic ladder and building generational wealth. But then right before the pandemic descended on the world, the growing gap between students’ interest and their ability to afford to attend school became too glaring to ignore. “More and more young people were telling us they loved [...more...]

Kimberly Emerson am 17. Juni 2022 in Berlin. Foto: Markus C. Hurek // Verwendung auf Instagram frei bei Nennung des Fotografen @menschundlicht. // Jede weitere, vor allem kommerzielle Verwendung nur mit schriftlicher Genehmigung von Markus C. Hurek When The Giving List caught up with Kimberly Marteau Emerson in mid-September, she was far from home, but on familiar terrain, nonetheless, in Berlin awaiting the imminent arrival of her husband, John Emerson, the former ambassador to Germany from 2013-2017. Six weeks of international travel lay ahead for the politically and philanthropically minded power couple. In past lives, both had been high-level campaign [...more...]

Under the leadership of David Bolton for the last 12 years, the California Missions Foundation has raised millions of dollars to preserve the state’s collection of historic Spanish missions and made their priceless collection of colonial and native art and artifacts an education destination for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year including tens of thousands of elementary school students. Beginning in the mid-1700s, the Spanish built 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma that today provide a unique trail of history across California or what was then called Alta California. Bolton, who grew up in Santa Barbara – which [...more...]

Actor Tommy Dewey played John Emerson in the 2018 political drama The Front Runner. The film stars Hugh Jackman in a highly dramatized rendering of the undoing of one of the most enigmatic, and influential, figures in post-Reagan-era politics: Gary Hart. Emerson became the Hart campaign’s California chair in 1984, and then deputy national campaign manager in 1986, after being inspired by Hart’s Kennedy-esque bearing and forward-facing reimagination of the Democratic Party as a Gen X-friendly coalition of socially progressives, environmentally conscious, college-educated professionals.  Hart’s campaign famously imploded when the enviably maned Colorado Senator got caught in an extramarital affair [...more...]

Miguel A. Santana, a lifelong Angeleno and self-described “generalist,” has dedicated decades of his life to addressing some of the most critical issues facing Southern California. His career has spanned across sectors – public and private, nonprofit and philanthropy – all in pursuit of advancing social justice, economic equity, and racial equality in Los Angeles.  From responding to the homeless crisis to overseeing financial matters at City Hall to championing infrastructure for arts and culture, Santana’s efforts have touched upon the many significant issues that define the social challenges of Southern California. After running the Weingart Foundation since 2021, Santana [...more...]

“Did you know,” Rabbi Laura Geller asks, “that on average, 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States?” As one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country, people 65 and older will outnumber those under 18 for the first time in history by 2035. As one of the first female rabbis ordained in the United States in 1976, Rabbi Geller tackled gender inequality in the synagogues. Now, at 73, and with no signs of slowing down, Rabbi Geller is taking on another systemic foe: ageism. Even though many people are aging and living longer, older people remain, for [...more...]