Theme: Changes

A community-organized TED-like event designed to spread ideas, spark conversation, and address changes affecting South Los Angeles. TEDxCrenshaw is an independently organized local group compromised of passionate volunteers who are dedicated to ideas worth spreading.

The theme ‘’Changes” challenges us to question the old assumptions, stimulates us to explore new possibilities, and encourages us to make positive and impactful decisions that affect our lives and the future of our community.

The word “change” is often thought of to mean to make or become different. Change can be positive and is often a vital catalyst for new beginnings. Change can uproot how we think, behave, learn and go about our day-to-day lives by looking at difficult issues with new lenses and giving fresh urgency to the challenges of our times.

Audubon Middle School
4120 11th Avenue
Los Angeles, California, 90008
United States

Dom Kennedy

Artist/Co-CEO

This thirty-one year old artist has spent many years in the Leimert Park district in Los Angeles, CA. Kennedy has shared his lyrical talent on several national tours, twice in Europe, and in Africa.

Elan Carson

Lyrical Creative Writer & Mental Health Advocate

Changing the Face of Depression As a woman who has battled depression, Elan knows more than anyone should about mental health and stigma. For the past 5 years, Elan has been working to educate others by breaking down the taboos and barriers that accompany mental health discussions. Speaker, author and mental health advocate, Elan strives to enable others to understand the causes, effects and options for hose who have mental illness in their lives.

Glenetta Pope

Assistant Head of Teaching and Learning

Pope has truly used education to transform her life and the lives of scholars she has worked closely with over the past 20 years. Pope is a product of Oakland Public Schools, UC Berkeley, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Cal State Dominguez.

Jody Armour

Tenured Law Professor

Black Hearts in White Minds: Race, Crime, and Redemption A dad of three black Millennials, this reality drives his scholarship on racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration. His love of the law came from his dad, who was sentenced 22-55 years in a state penitentiary for possession and sale of marijuana; he taught himself the law and represented himself until he won in a case Armour now teaches in his criminal law class called “Armour v. Salisbury.

Julian Scaff

Instructor/Higher Education

Designing Change for Good An educator, scholar, designer, filmmaker and media artist, Scaff has been a professional designer for nearly 20 years. Scaff has taught at universities in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

KiMi Wilson

Doctoral Student, Cal State LA

Changing the Face of STEM Wilson is a former K-12 teacher, and former Education and Outreach co- ordinator for the Center for Scalable and Integrated Nanomanufacturing research center at UCLA.

Michelle Joan Papillion

Art Dealer

The Art of Doing Good A contemporary art dealer and advisor with a gallery space in Leimert Park, Papillion has been instrumental in initiating the Leimert Park Renaissance, a resurgence art movement. Papillion believes art to be a tool for change in transforming and bridging together communities all over the world.

Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr.

Pastor/Non-violent Activist

Shaping Your Destiny Lawson was instrumental in shaping America’s Nonviolent Civil Rights Movement. After incarceration for refusing to report to Korean War draft, he traveled to India to study Ghandi’s principles of nonviolence. After be- ing introduced to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and moving to Nashville, he mentored a number of young students and future civil rights leaders at Vanderbilt, Fisk University, and other area schools in the tactics of nonviolent direct action. His students were instrumental is movements such as the 1963 March on Washington, the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and The Freedom Rides, to name a few. His likeness was portrayed in the 2013 motion picture The Butler by actor Jesse Williams. The movie notes Lawson’s training sessions during the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s.

Wes Hall

Educational Consultant

Success Strategies for Re-Engaging the Disengaged African American Male One of the nation’s leading experts in the area of prevention and intervention work with, “Young Men of Color,” he is an author and national key- note speaker.