WHY I’M RUNNING…

Education has been a passion of mine since I was a young boy growing up in the South. But, my decision to run in LAUSD has been shaped by my experiences in LA County.

During the second year of my MSW program at UCLA, I was placed at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles. In addition to working in the video production, community organizing and development departments, I worked with students from LAUSD augmenting the work of school organizers in the SCYEA (South Central Youth Empowered Through Action) program. In addition to this, I directed a mental health screening process for 40 of these young people and used the anonymous data that was compiled to create a wellness retreat where my team attempted to address as many of the students’ concerns as possible.

Their concerns echoed those that I heard when I worked as a social worker at Malibu High School and Malibu middle school the prior year. Though the work was in the Santa Monica Malibu School District, my clients were primarily from LAUSD District 1 and on permit because their parents worked in the area. In both cases, students spoke of issues around body image, gender identity, sexuality, interpersonal relationships, anxiety, depression and, of course, academic success. But, time and time again in the course of my therapeutic and advisement appointments, it became clear that issues that fall outside the realm of education were impeding my clients’ abilities to succeed. I would later learn that many, if not all, of the issues creating toxic stress and preventing my clients from performing their best could be grouped into a set known as Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs.

In the course of my doctoral study at USC, I focused squarely on ACEs. Well, ACEs along with place- based interventions such as those in the Harlem Children’s Zone, Community Schools and Schools with Trauma Informed Instruction and Administration and how to scale their implementation. I firmly believe that this type of place based intervention should be standard for all schools. The 19 Wellness Centers active around LAUSD are a good start. But, they are not nearly enough. Many are understaffed and do not have consistent hours. Their counterparts, mental and physical health professionals assigned to individual schools, have overstacked case loads and serve multiple schools. 

If we want students to succeed, we must arm them with the tools to do so while removing any barriers that impede their progress.
I have personally had the privilege of attending well funded public magnet or international baccalaureate schools in middle school and high school. I firmly believe that every student should have the experience where teachers have extra time and schools have the resources to make sure that every student succeeds. Too often the students who have the most external support receive the most internal support from school districts, while students whose external support is low languish. This must change.

BIOGRAPHY

Former Culver City Mayor Dr. Daniel Lee became the first African-American Member of the Culver City Council in its over 100 year history in 2018. A veteran of the US Air Force and California Air National Guard, he currently works as Project Director at the James Lawson Institute. Daniel has a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from UCLA and a Doctorate in Social Work from USC. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Move to Amend, the Backbone Campaign, Mockingbird Incubator, Elected Officials Protecting America and the Advisory Board of the ProRep Coalition.

Born in Opelika, Alabama and raised in Pensacola, Florida (with frequent trips back home to visit family in and around Tuskegee, Alabama) Daniel credits his grandmother, who participated with Dr. Martin Luther King in the Montgomery bus boycott, for his desire to be of service and for his own social justice perspective. He served on the Culver City Martin Luther King Celebration Committee for 7 years, planning its citywide celebration of the iconic Civil Rights leader.

Much of Mr. Lee’s local effort has been with youth. A filmmaker and actor, he has volunteered with El Rincon Elementary School students in an artists and communication program for the past 17 years. He also developed a Civil Rights curriculum that he implemented at the Teen Center to increase young people’s understanding of their country’s history.

City Council Work Experience

As a Council Member Lee has championed mental health, police accountability and very notably worked to close the Inglewood Oil Field. Lee worked on this effort prior to his election with the Sierra Club’s Clean Break Subcommittee. As a passionate environmental advocate Lee will work to accelerate the sorely needed “Just Transition” away from Fossil Fuels using innovative strategies that don’t leave workers in the lurch and provide for good union jobs.

Lee also worked to help Culver City pass, and recently successfully defend, its rent control policy, pass hero pay for grocery and hospital workers, start a reparations process in Culver City and worked to raise the minimum wage and expand affordable + permanent supportive housing options.

Union Involvement

In the 2016 election cycle Daniel worked as a campaign lead for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Prior to that he was a member of the SAG-AFTRA for over a decade and has demonstrated repeatedly over the last few decades with grocery workers, writers and port workers advocating for higher wages. Daniel understands that as union wages and benefits rise there is a positive impact on the wages of all workers. For the past 4 years Daniel has worked closely with Rev. James Lawson who has served as a mentor and co-organizer for unions throughout Southern California.