Welcome to Prevent Hate!

ABOUT US

Mission Statement

PREVENT HATE promotes community empowerment and intergroup relations through activities and alliances that advance coexistence and defend human rights. PREVENT HATE uses integrated strategies to cultivate social health and foster productive interaction between groups. We actively work to address the needs of diversified communities with strategies that elevate their ability to create equality among stakeholders and limit motives for conflict.

PREVENT HATE:

Works with communities to capitalize on their potential, cultivate assets, and enhance their sustainability as methods to limit susceptibility to prejudice and abuse;
Develops customized projects that build upon existing strengths, invigorate cooperation, encourage compassion, and devise opportunities to share and leverage resources with potential allies;
Constructs and runs programs that facilitate social responsibility for youth and adults;
Offers a wide range of community enhancement services, including anti-bias & conflict resolution methods, public awareness & outreach, empowerment for diaspora communities, workshops, and training and networking resources for local and international groups -- all of which are individually customized;
Provides expert consulting to communities, municipalities, and governments, including best practices that attend to the needs of socially disadvantaged groups;
Enjoys working with others to maximize the effectiveness of our work.

PREVENT HATE is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to increase equality and amicability in concert with the cultures and people involved.

History

PREVENT HATE was founded as a fully established 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation in the year, 2000 under the name, Institute for the Study and Prevention of Hate Crimes, in the City of Los Angeles. The organization was developed to enhance the field of human rights and community relations by guaranteeing the existence of a nondenominational nonprofit organization whose mission is to build custom-tailored human relations programs for communities. To do this, PREVENT HATE uses a combination of the latest research, extensive experience by our team, and our connections to skilled professionals, community leaders, and officials who routinely work with us.

The past several years, we have:

Created cooperative relations between foreign and local leaders, focusing on peacemaking, municipal sector enhancement, and economic development;
Introduced leaders of different ethnic-based organizations to each other resulting in newly productive relationships;
Created coalitions and curricula, including training and networking projects;
Conducted policy analyses and advised government on institutional reform;
Attended private governmental and school district meetings on meaningful approaches to solve sensitive human- and community relations issues;
Developed meetings and roundtable discussions that brought together leaders in government with community organizations to improve public safety and lower incidents of bias-motivated violence;
Built original community relations projects;
Consulted with numerous agencies, institutions, organizations, and companies to limit group conflict and bias.

Board of Directors

Dr. Norma Harris, Chair of the Taylor-Michaels Scholarship at the Magic Johnson Foundation

Ray Hernandez, Executive Director, School for Early Childhood Education, University of Southern California

Dr. Reuben Jaja, President of the Africa-USA Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Rajeev Kapur, Founder and CEO of www.Greenwala.com

Pras Michel, Founding member of the hip hop band, the Fugees; documentary filmmaker, actor

Leonard Mitchell, Esq., Executive Director of the Center on Economic Development, University of Southern California

Matthew Rosenthal, President of PREVENT HATE

Mark Sirof, CPA, and Manager of Technology, Deloitte

Advisory Committee

Leroy D. Baca
Los Angeles County Sheriff

Aaron T. Beck
Founder of Cognitive Therapy, author of Prisoners of Hate: the Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence

Khaled Abou El Fadl
Professor of Law, UCLA; previous presidential appointee, United States Committee on International Religious Freedom

Agrippa Ezozo
President, The African Diaspora Foundation

Renee Firestone
Auschwitz survivor and international lecturer on the Holocaust; Docent, Shoah Foundation and Museum of Tolerance

Charles Haines
Judge, San Francisco Superior Court of California; former chief hate crimes prosecutor, San Francisco District Attorney’s office

Philip Montez
Western Regional Director, United States Commission on Civil Rights (ret.)

Betty Wilson
Director of Community Affairs, Los Angeles City Department of Disability

Staff

Matthew Rosenthal, President

Matthew Rosenthal is the president of PREVENT HATE™, a nonprofit organization that promotes community empowerment and intergroup relations through activities and alliances that advance coexistence and defend human rights. Matthew’s academic background is in social psychology (undergraduate), and research psychology (graduate), with an emphasis on the root causes of violence.

His early professional years focused on the development of remediation programs for perpetrators of bias-motivated criminal activity for both the government and civilian sectors. His work now includes:

Providing governments and community leaders with best practices on integrated methods to invigorate socio-economic development in emerging economies;
Devising public awareness and outreach strategies;
The suppression of bias-motivated behavior and human rights abuse;
Services to communities, governments, and nonprofit organizations to recruit strategic partners, enhance municipal services to socially disadvantaged groups, and foster democratic institutions;
Implementation of strategic networks between communities;
And the creation of numerous original programs, projects, and coalitions to foster intergroup relations.

For over a dozen years, Matthew has worked closely with various organizations, agencies, and officials both locally and internationally, in the construction of innovative programs to limit bias, empower communities, enhance cooperative sustainability, and safeguard human/civil rights. In addition, he has consulted with and advised government agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to facilitate the development of socially responsible methods to conduct business and other affairs.

Other current positions and awards:

Federal appointee to the California State Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights (2006-present);
Human Rights Chair for the United Nations Association of the United States of America (the largest grassroots foreign policy organization in the USA), Southern California division (2004-2008);
Founding board member of the Corporate Council on Niger Delta Affairs;
Presented with a certificate of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for years of work building cooperative bridges between communities (Jan. 2006);
Community Relations Director for Climate of Trust Los Angeles (2003-2005), a USAID funded project that trains law enforcement from the former Soviet Union in the suppression of hate crimes;
Member of Rescue and Restore, a collaboration between the United States government and the City of Los Angeles to identify, protect, and defend victims of human trafficking;
Advisor to California Governor Schwarzenegger’s Independent Review Panel for Corrections Reform (2004) about how to limit racist violence in California’s prisons

Barry Leneman, Director, Witness Humanity™ program

Barry Leneman, is the founding President of the non-profit sustainable housing corporation Necessity Housing and has been an advocate for sustainable solutions with 22 years of construction and teaching experience. Mr. Leneman co-founded and taught construction systems at the social action middle-school Topanga Mountain School, founded the ZERO-WASTE program being introduced to the Los Angeles Unified School District, and co-founded the social justice non-profit - Foundation for the Freedom of Expression and Democracy. Mr. Leneman is also an active participant in helping NEXTAID develop their eco-village and a Founder of the Coalition for a Sustainable Africa.

His work with Necessity Housing has created the model for a sustainable village currently being developed in Hammanskraal South Africa and he continues to teach local residents around the world how to use local materials to build durable housing in three days. In addition, he is currently developing residential housing that incorporates all aspects ‘rational development’ including active / passive solar energy production & savings, water reducing / reclamation systems, permaculture landscaping, and climate appropriate design.

Kim Ricketts, Chief Financial Officer

Kim currently is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for PREVENT HATE as well as for Process America, a premier service provider in the field of Visa/MasterCard merchant processing. In addition, Kim is currently developing a new socially entrepreneurial “green product” that will enhance waste management by limiting the amount of certain toxic materials that are dumped into landfills.

Kim is an entrepreneur with an illustrious career cultivating business relationships and garnering revenue for large companies; as well as starting and growing several successful financial endeavors. Prior to that, he was a certified public school teacher in Witchita, Kansas where he taught both primary and secondary grades. Kim grew up as the oldest child on a farm in western Kansas, learning at an early age the value of hard work and a love of nature.

Sherry Simpson-Dean, PREVENT HATE Associate focusing on resource development

Sherry Simpson-Dean is a social entrepreneur and development executive well known for her commitment to human rights. She is dedicated to developing thriving, sustainable and equitable communities through innovative programs, including grassroots strategies and campaigns utilizing technology and media.

As a director of program development, Simpson-Dean's commitment is to a new agenda: social entrepreneurial partnerships that benefit society and the bottom line. Over the last four years, her executive leadership of the United Nations Association Pasadena Foothills Chapter has resulted in the organization emerging as one of the most influential branches of the United Nations Association (UNA/USA). The UNA/USA is the largest and most prestigious grassroots foreign policy organization in the country. Her work has focused on creating community and global awareness of the work of the United Nations including expansion of two programs co-founded by Simpson-Dean, Art the Voice of Humanity and the UN Millennium Development Goals Speaker series, Coffee Talks. In this capacity she collaborates with corporations, businesses, government and institutions of higher learning to promote global sustainability and the eradication of poverty and hunger with an emphasis on engaging citizens in action initiatives. She continues to build organizations and initiatives with an on going commitment to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. This effort has most recently resulted in a partnership with the City of Pasadena. As a Mayoral appointee, Simpson-Dean co-chairs a citywide committee dedicated to creating an annual celebration of UN Human Rights Day, which emphasizes the human right to clean air and clean water.

Sherry Simpson Dean is also an Emmy Award winning producer of films, commercials and music videos and is well known for exploring the role of art and culture in the transformation of societies. Her latest film, the documentary "AMANDLA! a revolution in four part harmony", is a multiple award winner at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, having achieved the dual distinction of the Audience Award and the Freedom of Expression Award. Her list of honors includes 5 Emmy nominations and one Emmy win in 2004. She has been awarded multiple grants from the Ford Foundation in both the US and South Africa to support the making of AMANDLA!, which is the first major film to consider the music that galvanized South Africans for more than 40 years in the struggle against apartheid. Other co-production partners included HBO and the South African Broadcasting Company. She is currently working with the Smithsonian Folkways Program in Washington DC to create a permanent archive of footage and musical field recordings comprising over 200 hours of material shot on location in South Africa.

Stephanie Stone, PREVENT HATE Associate focusing on Public Outreach

Stephanie Stone had a distinguished twenty-year career in the United States Navy. Upon retirement, she was accepted into the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, Class of 2000-2001. One of the rising stars out of her Fellows class in the late 1990s, she was recruited to join the Coro team and served in many roles on staff: Fellows trainer, Director of the Fellows Program, Director of Alumni Relations and Recruitment, and finally Vice President of Programs and Outreach. Ms. Stone has left Coro to pursue other opportunities in the public sector. Although she has moved off of staff, her connection to Coro continues as she serves as a Board Member for the Coro National Alumni Association.

Ms. Stone was the first woman elected as Chair of the Los Angeles Mayor's Veterans Advisory Committee and currently serves on the Los Angeles County Veterans Affairs Advisory Commission; as its sole female commissioner, she is a strong advocate for women’s veteran health care and focuses on the tragedy of military sexual trauma. Ms. Stone was interview and appeared in the Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks’ video presentation to Veterans at the 2008 National Democratic Convention.

Ms. Stone holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Care Management from the University of Southern Illinois and a Master of Public Administration from the University of San Francisco. Civic engagement is embedded in the Stone DNA and has been passed to the next generation. Her son Sean is currently serving in Los Angeles as a City Year Corp member and her daughter Katie recently returned from Sacramento where she was a member of Youth in Government. They are all proud natives of San Pedro, California.

Jah’Shams Abdul-Mu’min, PREVENT HATE Associate focusing on community safety

Jah’Shams Abdul’Mu’min is an established educator, lecturer, facilitator, trainer, consultant, and
social entrepreneur. He has strong domestic management experience in both the profit and nonprofit sectors. Jah’Shams has worked successfully in management positions in both the profit and nonprofit sectors coordinating services, resources, and activities with outstanding financial results and social benefits.

Jah’Shams is also CEO of Success -- A New Beginning, Inc., a nonprofit Community Enhancement Organization. Before joining Success A New Beginning, he was Executive Director of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, a coalition of organizations and individuals seeking to prevent and reduce violence. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Envision Success, a socially responsible business venture that specializes in sports memorabilia and entertainment promotional products.

Jah’Shams is the principal architects of the Non-Traditional Leadership Institute (NOLI). The
Non-Traditional Leadership Institute promotes leadership enhancement that integrates education
with healing, personal and community transformation to build social capital and sustain community enhancement initiatives.

Jah’Shams attended the University of California at Berkeley as a student athlete. He received his
bachelor’s degree from Excelsior College (formerly Regents College). Jah’Shams was awarded his Masters of Arts degree in Humanities and Leadership from New College of California. He is a
graduate of the Gallup School of Management Leadership Institute, the USC School Of Public
Administration Delinquency Control Institute, the School of Urban Planning UCLA Community
Scholar Program, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program. He is currently a PhD candidate at Antioch University in the Leadership and Change Program.

Jah’Shams is a Southern California Coro Public Affairs Fellow, Thornton F. Bradshaw Fellow,
Eureka Communities Fellow, James P. Shannon Leadership Fellow, Salzburg International Fellow, and Wildflowers Institute Fellow. In 1995 he was awarded the W.K. Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship, Group XV. During his Kellogg’s Fellowship he traveled worldwide studying cultural formations, diversity, human rights, peace, healing and reconciliation, and leadership development.

Maryanne Galindo, PREVENT HATE Associate focusing on civic engagement and youth empowerment

Maryanne Galindo is a Cuban-American woman, born in Los Angeles, California and raised in a multi-cultural home. She began her career in community development at the age of 17 as a youth facilitator and discovered a deep passion to advocate for creating space for youth voice and youth leadership, relevant public education, and reducing violence. Concurrently, Maryanne learned about the market force through real world experience in the small businesses owned by members of her family. A graduate from California State University Los Angeles with a degree in Psychology, she merged these experiences, passions and educational training to better assist her community in becoming socially and economically sustainable.

Maryanne develops social cohesion among multicultural residents in Los Angeles by creating spaces for dialogue, ceremony, healing, leadership enhancement and cultural celebrations. Maryanne has worked for non-profit, community-building agencies throughout the County of Los Angeles in 6 key areas including: Community Development and Organizing; Gang Intervention and Violence Prevention; Youth Leadership Development; Social Entrepreneurship; Policy Advocacy; and Cultural Exchanges & Immersions. Currently, Maryanne is the Chief Operations Officer for Success, “A New Beginning,” Inc. which is a non-profit, Community Enhancement Organization based in Los Angeles, California.

Najia Arrihani, PREVENT HATE Associate focusing on marketing and networking

Najia Arrihani is a PREVENT HATE associate whose responsibilities include managing a wide range of projects, with the primary focus on networking, marketing and branding. Najia brings to PREVENT HATE her vast experience working with diverse cultures, religions, and ethnicities, having worked in both the public and private sectors in different countries. She has held leadership positions in sales, marketing and merchandising throughout her career, a profession that comes naturally to her, being born into a long line of merchants along the Mediterranean coast. She also was the first Moroccan female police officer in the Netherlands, working to build bridges between the Dutch and Moroccan communities, and to empower women, amongst her general police duties, before she changed careers to work in the private arena.

Najia was born in Morocco, and lived in a small coastal city where interfaith relations between Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus were strong and positive. She then moved to the Netherlands just before becoming a teenager; and has subsequently lived and worked in the United States for over a decade. Najia is fluent in seven different languages, facilitating her ability to conduct public outreach, and interact with many different groups of people around the world.

Contact Us

Prevent Hate™

11271 Ventura Blvd., Suite 452;
Studio City, California 91604
(818) 341-8723, phone
communications@preventhate.org
www.PreventHate.org

Please note: As part of PREVENT HATE’s attempt to limit the production of unnecessary waste, we now ask you to contact us first before sending us a fax. Thank you.