Marqueece Harris-Dawson

Marqueece Harris-Dawson (right), has been active in the community for more than 20 years leading important campaigns for school improvements and educational justice in South Los Angeles.

As President and CEO of Community Coalition, Harris-Dawson has been deeply involved and committed to the organization’s mission, working arduously to improve the social and economic conditions in South Los Angeles. Harris-Dawson came to the helm of Community Coalition following years of dedicated hard work as a community organizer, leader and director.

Previously, Community Coalition founder, Speaker Emeritus of the California Assembly Karen Bass, led the organization as its Executive Director.

Community Coalition is best known for leading grassroots campaigns to close over 150 liquor stores and other nuisance businesses in South Los Angeles and leading the “A-G Campaign” to win college preparatory courses for all high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For five years, Harris-Dawson was the director of the Community Coalition youth project, South Central Youth Empowered Through Action. During that time, Marqueece led a campaign to expose poor conditions at South Los Angeles high schools. Student members of South Central Youth Empowered Through Action were armed with disposable cameras to document the conditions at their schools, and trained to advocate for badly needed repairs at their campuses. The students won $153 million in repairs for their schools in 1999. Following up on his work to improve conditions at South LA High Schools, Harris-Dawson and the Community Coalition spearheaded a movement to guarantee universal access to college prep courses at every high school in Los Angeles. In addition to his work at the Community Coalition, Harris-Dawson has extensive experience in electoral politics, and is a key participant in the progressive movement in Los Angeles. During his time completing a Bachelor’s degree at Morehouse College, Harris-Dawson cut his activist teeth on several important social justice issues including ending South African Apartheid, police brutality and fighting for more youth and family services. Along with a host of Board and Committee posts, Harris-Dawson boasts several community commendations, recognitions and awards including the coveted Do Something “BRICK” Award and Liberty Hill Foundation’s Upton Sinclair Award. Marqueece recently received a certificate in non-profit management from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and is a currently an Aspen Institute Fellow for New Leaders.

Website: www.cocosouthla.org