When Liberty Hill started deciding where to concentrate our efforts for the next three years, there were many factors to consider—the new administration in Washington; California’s role on the national stage; L.A.’s rapidly changing urban landscape and the challenges and opportunities that come w

Remember what it was like to be a kid? What would you have done, at 12 years old, if you couldn’t breathe because of the oil drilling site next door? What if, at 16 you were sent to jail for being late to school?

Liberty Hill is pleased to honor Elizabeth Levitt Hirsch with the Founders Award at our 2018 Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner on April 19. The recognition is given to individuals whose philanthropy embodies the spirit of “change, not charity” and whose exceptional generosity is helping to realize equality and justice for all.

“Tell them they have to have hope, no matter what. If they get knocked down, they have to get back up.” That is what Congressman John Lewis—this year’s recipient of Liberty Hill’s Upton Sinclair Award—told me when I asked him what he would say to our youth leaders in L.A.