
Award winners Larry Frank (Tom Bradley Local Leader of the Year) and Howard Welinsky (Advocate of the Year) pose with former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and AVC Keith Parker during the UCLA in Downtown Los Angeles reception. (all photos by Reed Hutchinson)
Just above the Spring Street steps that lead to Los Angeles City Hall, approximately 200 UCLA faculty, staff, students and alumni mingled Thursday evening with community leaders, elected officials and staff members from local government.
The UCLA in Downtown Los Angeles reception was the culmination of three weeks of local advocacy efforts by students, faculty, staff and alumni who traveled across the county to city council and county supervisor offices. All in all, UCLA has more than 200 programs that work with more than 1,200 community partners.
“Being in a public institution, all of our students — all of us — should have a public sense of purpose, and we should take these opportunities to work with the community, and to actually strengthen those values,” Chancellor Gene Block said to the crowd. “They contribute to the well-being of our city and are an essential part of what makes UCLA, UCLA.”