A big thank you to the Santa Monica Chamber Board Foundation, who invited UNITE-LA to serve on the Foundation board to support their NextGen Mentors initiative. UNITE-LA's Ilia Lopez, Associate Director of Inclusion and Community Partnerships, will represent UNITE-LA for a two-year term starting July 1.

Before coming to UNITE-LA, Lopez was executive director of Fostering Imagination, overseeing programs for foster youth, and the Vice President of Programs and Communications for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. In this role, she also oversaw the Hollywood Chamber Community Foundation. As well, her work at UNITE-LA is centered around community-based programming with a focus on disconnected and systems-involved youth. More on the Foundation’s mission and programming may be found here.