Black History Month Heroes: Lateefah Simon

“The people with fancy titles and degrees are not the experts on what your needs are. You are the expert on what you need,” Lateefah Simon, longtime civil rights and community activist, has been known to say. Simon’s varied, yet illustrious career as a social justice advocate with a passion for juvenile justice reform, did not take a traditional route. Simon grew up in Fillmore, an enclave of San Francisco blighted by both the crack-cocaine and HIV/AIDS epidemics. By the time she was 16-years-old, she had a juvenile record for shoplifting, had dropped out of school, and was working full time at a fast food chain. At 18 she gave birth to a daughter.

While on probation she was referred to a San Francisco nonprofit called the Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD), an organization that empowered and trained young women to create positive social change in their own communities.  Simon started off doing outreach work and acting as a community resource for teens on the street. “With all that tragedy around, I began to politicize what I saw—I felt entitled to be political. Once you feel that, everything is in your grasp: You think, ‘I can learn to speak in front of people, write grants, develop policy. It may take me longer, but I can do it.’” Just three years after beginning her work at CYWD, Simon was named its Executive Director, a position she held for 11 years. She received a MacArthur “Genius” award at the age of 26 for that work, which included hiring young women who have faced challenges in their lives to serve as community resources and mentors.

Simon, under the instruction of District Attorney Kamala D. Harris, helped create San Francisco’s first reentry services division. Out of this division she developed “Back on Track”—a pilot program aimed at reducing the recidivism rate of young offenders. The program targeted low-level felony drug sale offenders and provided them with two years of direct services. The program was successful in reducing the recidivism rate of the target population to just 10%, has been replicated in several prosecutors’ offices, and was touted as the national model program by Attorney General Eric Holder. On the success of her program Simon adds, “Our society often marginalizes the people who need to get their lives back on track. They are shunned from schools, shut out of the job market, and put behind bars and then we wonder why our prisons are so crowded. But with the right opportunities, role models, and inspiration, we can empower young people to create positive change in their lives and in their communities. The path is long and there are no quick fixes along the way, but the rewards are great.

Simon went on to act as Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, doing policy work, direct service programs, and providing legal services for poor people of color. Today, Lateefah Simon works as the Director of California’s Future Program at the Rosenberg Foundation, a grantmaking organization that promotes civic participation for California residents.

Sources

• Jones, Carolyn. “Lateefah Simon: Youth Advocate Nominated as Visionary of the Year.” SF Gate 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
• “Lateefah Simon.” Americans Who Tell the Truth. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
• “Lateefah Simon.” Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Web. 13 Feb. 2015..
• Simon, Lateefah. “When Will the US Stop Building More Prisons?” The Guardian 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.