After an extensive national search, Liberty Hill Foundation named Jeffrey Richardson its Executive Director, succeeding longtime director Torie Osborn.
Richardson has spent more than 20 years working for prominent social justice organizations throughout the country. He will begin his work with Liberty Hill on October 17.
As the campaign director of SEIU Local 1877 for the last 16 months, Richardson coordinated part of the largest union organizing effort of a majority black workforce in American history.
Prior to his work in Los Angeles, he led fundraising, managerial and training programs at the National Congress for Community Economic Development, the national trade association for economic development serving low-income people of color in Washington D.C. For four years, he was a Development Officer and Director of Foundation Relations for United Way and served as the Executive Director of Jobs with Peace Campaign in Pittsburgh.
His position at Jobs with Peace brought him to Los Angeles for the first time 20 years ago. While here, he learned electoral mobilization and grassroots democracy-building. He has received numerous awards including the Pittsburgh NAACP/Urban League of Pittsburgh “Barrier Breaker Award” and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Coalition Award.
“My life work has been to help people find the power in themselves and exercise that power to transform their lives and communities,” he said. “That work is both political and spiritual. Dr. King talked about ‘personalism’ – respecting the humanity of each person. That is core to my belief in how we do our work. Winning campaigns is important, but how we do the work is as important as doing it. Liberty Hill’s work in philanthropy embodies that spirit of personalism and I am very proud to be joining the nation’s leading social justice foundation.”
Richardson grew up in Pittsburgh. His father was a postal inspector and his mother a social worker. His wife, P. Gabrielle Foreman, is an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Occidental College.
Osborn, Liberty Hill’s outgoing Executive Director, will remain on staff full-time until December 1 to facilitate the transition. She will then take a part-time post leading the foundation’s endowment campaign.Established in 1976, Liberty Hill Foundation has given away nearly $27 million to grassroots community organizations working to expand justice, dignity, and fairness in L.A. County.
