CSU Board

Sikivu Hutchinson, CSU Board President
Senior Consultant, Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission Sikivu teaches cultural studies at the California Institute of the Arts. She is the author of Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (2003), the novel Dealey, and the editor of www.blackfemlens.org



B. Kwaku Duren, CSU Founder & volunteer Executive Director
Attorney, Law Offices of B. Kwaku Duren Kwaku is a volunteer Professor/Remedies Instructor at the Peoples’ College of Law (PCL) from which he graduated in 1989, and the current PCL Board Chairman. He has a community-based general law practice based in South Central Los Angeles with the majority of his cases involving criminal representation and civil rights litigation. His law practice has been a major source of financial support for CSU’s programs. He also functions as a volunteer Settlement Officer for the Federal District Court and Mediator/Arbitrator for the Los Angeles Superior Court. Kwaku is a founding member/Chair of the New Panther Vanguard Movement, www.globalpanther.com , and the principal author of Our Case for an Intercommunal Reparations Campaign. Kwaku is also active in the local and international African and Afro-descendants Reparations Movement.


Neelam Sharma, Treasurer & CSU Programs Director
Neelam currently volunteers as CSU’s Programs Director. She has written articles for and edited several community publications including The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service. She is a founding member of the Healthy School Food Coalition, the Los Angeles Food Justice Coalition and the California Food Justice Coalition.


Leila Towry, Secretary
Community Service Coordinator, Los Angeles Community Design Center Leila has a background in teaching and food security, and non-profit/youth program development. She has recently completed the California State K-12 Teaching Credential. She currently works in urban planning at the Los Angeles Community Design Center. Her role involves raising funds for affordable housing, conducting outreach, planning supportive services, program development, and gathering community assets that will benefit residents of affordable housing developments. The housing is built for low-income families, seniors, and special needs population. She is an accomplished belly dancer, plays the cello and has a particular interest in promoting community arts.


Denise Burgher
Organizer/Trainer Green Dot Schools
Denise is a published author and recent recipient of a scholarship to UCLA's writing program. She has a BA in American studies from Trinity College in Connecticut with a minor in women's studies and is currently an African American Studies graduate student at UCLA. She also manages apartment buildings in Los Angeles and Pasadena where she plays active roles in partnering between government agencies and the community. Originally from Jamaica she has been a resident of South Los Angeles for almost 10 years.


Francesca De La Rosa
Campaign Coordinator, Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing Francesca has more than seven years of community organizing and campaign development experience. For the past four years she has served as Campaign Director for the Healthy School Food Coalition, based out of the Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College. Francesca began her organizing career and training shortly after college as an organizing intern with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. In 1999, Francesca became Lead Organizer of Coalition LA and was responsible for electoral mobilization efforts in City Council District 10. Francesca is a native of Los Angeles and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from Mount St. Mary’s College.



Genethia Hudley-Hayes, Honorary Board Member
Education Consultant
From 1999-2003 Genethia served as Los Angeles Unified School District Board member for District 1 (incorporating CSU’s service area) and served as board president for 2 years. She brought many years of experience as a teacher, curriculum specialist and community activist to the position. During this time she authored several important motions including the African American Learners’ Initiative. Passed in 2003, the policy seeks to close the achievement gap between African American and other students of color and their white counterparts. Explicit in the Initiative is the need to redress the inequitable distribution of resources within LAUSD, both human and fiscal. Genethia also co-authored the Health Beverages Motion, which had positive repercussions in school districts around the country. Genethia is a veteran of the civil rights movement and has served as Programs Director and Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She is currently on the Los Angeles Mayor’s Fire Commission.