Understanding the Evolution of “Capacity Building” and the Practice of Resiliency Investing

Efrain Escobedo
President &CEO
Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management

Efrain earned his bachelor’s degree in American studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California and his Master of Business Administration from the University of La Verne. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles County Executive Leadership Program, a partnership with USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Today, Efrain is the President and CEO of Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM).
Before joining CNM in February 2023 as the President and CEO, Efrain served as Vice President of Public Policy and Civic Engagement at The California Community Foundation (CCF), one of the state’s leading philanthropies. He also worked with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund for half a decade, first as Director of Voter Engagement and then as Senior Director of Civic Engagement.
Currently, he holds leadership positions on committees across the philanthropic, government, and nonprofit sectors. Efrain chairs the board of directors of Hispanics in Philanthropy, Vice Chair of UNITE LA Board, Vice Chair of LAEDC, Speaker Appointee to California State Bar Legal Services Trust Fund, member of CalMatters board, member of the Board of Directors for Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, and member of the Policy Advisory Committee for Southern California Grantmakers.

Carrie Harlow is founder and principal consultant for Harlow Consulting, a boutique consulting firm that supports collaborative philanthropy practices for greater impact. She currently serves as the Director of Programs & Partnerships for the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, as well as a consultant to the national Sustained Collaboration Network and to the LA Arts Recovery Fund. Carrie previously served as a Program Officer at The Ahmanson Foundation for nearly a decade where she worked with nonprofit partners in the areas of Health and Human Services, Education, and the Arts. She earned a master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s from Occidental College. Carrie currently serves on the Advisory Board of TeenTixLA and is a partner with Social Justice Partners, Los Angeles.

Kaci Patterson is the Founder and Chief Architect of Social Good Solutions (SGS), a Black-woman-owned and operated boutique consulting firm working at the intersections of philanthropy, racial justice and community. Kaci brings over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and is widely recognized for her expertise in equity-centered grantmaking and community-driven design. In her role as Sr. Director for the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment, Kaci organizes philanthropic engagement for the LA County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM), a public-private-community partnership working to advance joyous and healthy births for Black mothers and families in LA County. She is also the Founder and Chief Architect of the Black Equity Collective, serves on the board of Social Justice Partners Los Angeles, Tides Advocacy and was an appointed state commissioner serving in the CA Department of Consumer Affairs for eight years. Kaci is a graduate of Pepperdine University and holds an MBA in Organizational Management & Leadership from the University of LaVerne.

Lisa Small serves as the Director of Youth and Transformative Justice at Liberty Hill Foundation, where she works to execute a shared vision to end youth incarceration and build a positive youth development framework in Los Angeles County through grantmaking, capacity building and policy reform work. Currently, Lisa co-leads the Ready to Rise initiative, a three-year, $38 million public private partnership that has served 25,000 young people through positive youth development and capacity building approaches.

Previously, Lisa served as Senior Manager of Smart Justice at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, where she led efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline through program development, policy reform and systems change approaches. In addition, she worked to build the capacity of local private sector business leaders and chambers of commerce around the country to engage in fair chance hiring and criminal justice reform initiatives. She also worked to develop education policy and advocacy campaigns on behalf of foster youth and other underserved populations during her time at the Advancement Project, and provided therapeutic interventions to adolescents and adults through her work at Gateways Hospital and Mental Health Center.

Lisa earned her Master of Social Work and Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and holds a bachelor’s in sociology and a bachelor’s in Chicano studies from the University of California, Davis. She is an alumna of the Justice Policy Network Fellowship and a mentor for USC’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellowship in Government Service.