Meet the Board

Dr. Daniel "Danny" K. Tabor has a long and distinguished career of public and private service, to his community and his country. Elected to the Inglewood City Council at the age of 26 in 1981, he served for 12 years. Re-elected in June 2007, he was elected Mayor in a special unexpired term election in August 2010 and served as Mayor until 2011.

Daniel served as the Southern California Liaison for the Office of the Secretary, United States Department of Commerce, tasked by Secretary Ronald H. Brown to carry out President Clinton's pledge to direct federal efforts toward California's economic recovery. For the Community Development Commission, County of Los Angeles, he managed the "Los Angeles County Child Care Capacity Development Grant & Loan Program." Through 1998 and 1999, he co-developed and coordinated the "Healthy Agenda 2000 Process" at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

He serves as President of MoveLA, a public transportation, affordable housing, and environmental equity coalition, and on the Coastal Conservation Association of California's board and government relations committee. Daniel was a co-lead negotiator for the $500 million Community Benefits Agreement between LAX and the LAX Coalition for Economic, Environmental, and Educational Justice, and still serves on the board of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE).

He earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership from California State University Long Beach in 2022, and his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Springfield College. He is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and a member of Center of Hope Church, Inglewood. Husband to Krishna Tabor, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

Dr. Brenda A. Manuel is a distinguished educational leader with over 44 years of service in public education. Her career began as a middle school teacher's assistant and evolved through roles as teacher, counselor, dean, and administrator. Those roles included Assistant Principal, Literacy Coach Coordinator, Elementary Principal, Administrator of Instruction, and ultimately Local District Superintendent within LAUSD.

During her tenure she founded The Student Empowerment Unit, a pioneering initiative placing student voice at the center of district decision-making. For twelve years she led efforts to ensure students served on advisory councils for the Superintendent and Board members, engaged in leadership training, and worked on projects addressing pressing district issues from a student-centered perspective.

Since retiring in 2022, Dr. Manuel has continued through consulting: as Senior Facilitator for ARC Consulting Firm, Senior Consultant for AEM Analytics, and a key consultant for the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA), where she supports mental health and wellness initiatives in LAUSD schools. She also coaches administrators in Inglewood Unified School District and leads a student leadership initiative that produced the district's first-ever student board member.

She serves on the boards of Wilders Preparatory Academy and The Legacy Board Plus, continuing her lifelong mission of advocacy and support for youth and education.

Jala L. Eaton, Esq., CTFA, is an Attorney and Financial Advisor working to build community wealth. As the founder of On My Own Financial, LLC and J. Eaton Law PC, she focuses on financial literacy and asset protection, driven by a passion to close the racial wealth gap. Her legal expertise, combined with her commitment to community wealth, makes her uniquely positioned to contribute to the environmental justice movement. She understands what equitable resource distribution means for disadvantaged communities.

Derrell Roberts was born in New Orleans, but finished high school in Los Angeles. He received his undergraduate degree from Chapman University and attended graduate school at USC's School of Governmental Relations. He moved to Sacramento in 1982 and has been an active member of his community since that time.

In 2001, he and his wife Tina co-founded the Roberts Family Development Center (RFDC) in North Sacramento. Today the Center serves more than 700 children and families each day throughout the Sacramento area, providing K-12 after-school programs, health and fitness, literacy workshops, extracurricular services, and Freedom School in partnership with the Children's Defense Fund, serving working-class families. He also helped create and organize The Black Child Legacy Initiative in Sacramento County.

He and the Center family were honored with the Robert T. Matsui Community Service Award, the Bank of America Neighborhood Builder Award, and most recently a Senate Certificate of Recognition for Youth to Power–Community Huddle to RFDC's Pacers Moving Forward, 2019.