L.E.A.D. Scholars
  • Our Mission I Our Program
  • 2025 Members+Club History
  • How to Support Us
  • How Scholars Can Join Us
  • How to Nominate a Scholar
L.E.A.D. Scholars
  • Our Mission I Our Program
  • 2025 Members+Club History
  • How to Support Us
  • How Scholars Can Join Us
  • How to Nominate a Scholar

Club History

 The organization was founded in 1989 by twenty women for the purpose of carrying on educational (literary and scientific), social and/or charitable projects designed to help eliminate some of the contemporary obstacles that confront African-American youth. The objective of the program has been to enhance academic and social development through workshops, seminars and cultural activities, focusing especially on the youth that attend inner city schools in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Ladies for ethnic advancement & dignity, inc.

2025 L.E.A.D. Members

Joan Anderson

Bernadette W. Bennett

Annie Battle Bolden

Agnes J. Dodd

Alberta Edmond

Jessie M. Ford

Rhonda Foster

Katrina Jones

Dr. Brenda A. Manuel

Connie Meigs

Ruby Miles

Cheryl Newman

Brenda Parker

Gwen Chambers Randolph

Janet Robinson

Mary Stovall

Adrienne Walden

Inga Warren

Chris Waters

In Memory:

Clara Cheltenham

Maple Cornwell

Norma Harris

Shirley Jackson

Barbara Meigs

Wilma Fulcher Miller

Jacquelyn Snead

 Cecilia Van Dyke Day 

Our Programs

Community Food Security

Community Food Security

Community Food Security

Food security is an important part of community justice. We partner with local businesses and fight hunger by packaging and loading boxes at the Santa Monica Airport Hangar onto trucks for food delivery. Help us connect with donors and with people in need. 

Volunteer Service

Community Food Security

Community Food Security

Every year, L.E.A.D. members mobilize to make a real difference by visiting senior citizen centers and delivering essential items. Join us and see what can be accomplished when you get an impassioned team to focus on change.

Community Connections

Community Food Security

Community Connections

Our community is full of people who want to help. We work to help the people providing services with the people who need them. Distributing water annually for the L.A. Marathon allows us to connect with people in new ways.

Making Change

Rhonda Foster, Pitzer College ’82 and her son, Alec, were invited by President Biden to the White House on July 11 to celebrate the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. 


Foster and her husband, Pitzer Trustee Ruett Foster ’81, have devoted their lives to violence prevention after their 7-year-old son, Evan, was killed by errant bullets in 1997. Alec, who was 10 months old at the time, survived gunshot injuries sustained during the incident. He is now a graduate of the University of Arizona and hosts the WoMen Against Gun Violence podcast, Bullet Points: Hot Topics on Gun Violence Prevention. 


Foster says she is grateful for the recent passage of gun legislation and continues to advocate for universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons. 

Welcome 2024-2025 L.E.A.D. Officers

(Seen in order of photo)

Joshua Thompson: Sergeant-at-arms

Samuel Banks: President

Karron Williams: Secretary

Victoria Carriere: Vice President


Find out more

Images of Impact: 2025 Scholar's banquet

    Events

    Pouring generosity, steeping opportunity.


    Saturday, September 6, 2025

    LEAD 2024-2025 Officers with Deon and Winner, founders of G.U.M.P. (Greater Under Mental Pressure) Topics: Mental Wellness & Bullying

    LEAD 2024-2025 Officers with Deon and Winner, founders of G.U.M.P. (Greater Under Mental Pressure)

    A Message on not giving up from sENIOR SCHOLAR

    RICO RANDOLPH

     Good afternoon everyone my name is Rico Randolph and it is with deep gratitude that I am standing before you today as the only graduating senior of the LEAD program. Now you probably know that I am Gwen's grandson and that I don't talk a whole bunch. However, there are a few things you don't know. One of them being that I actually wasn't too fond of LEAD at first because I'm not a huge talker, and the other being that I was diagnosed with severe depression during February of last year. If you aren't too sure what that means then I'll explain. In simpler terms, I had given up, not just on myself, but on school, on friends, on life in general. Now I've been through my fair share of personal challenges, but this had to be my biggest one yet. I had become unmotivated and unhappy with who I was that I had stopped going to school because of how much anxiety and fear it caused me, and I almost let it win. But if I learned anything from LEAD and my parents, it's that I need to keep moving forward because life doesn't wait for you, it keeps going and I've seen the potential that we as people apart of the African American community have. I wasn't gonna be left behind. It is now part of my story and I'm no longer ashamed of it because no matter what life throws at you, you can always bounce back. Now being part of LEAD, this is so much more than a milestone in my academic journey. I think of it as more of a send-off to a journey that still awaits me. 


    I want to personally thank all the LEAD staff for encouraging me along the way, and a special thanks to Mr. Coffee as his public speaking workshops had prepared me for moments like today. To my fellow LEAD Scholars, I encourage you to keep growing and keep moving forward. As I prepare for this next chapter of my life, all I can do is thank the entire LEAD program for not just helping support my education, but helping me discover my voice, my purpose and my potential. And for that I will always be thankful. So I mean this from the bottom of my heart, thank you.  

            RICO RANDOLPH, CLASS OF 2025

    CBS Sunday Morning Feature: What's in a Name?

    Lt. General (Retired) Thomas Bostick was interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning, on his latest charge that he has taken to stand for righteousness, giving honor to whom it is justly due.  This was greatly impactful to me and I honor Tom, my in-law, for his continued leadership and courage in making a difference in our country.

                     ~ Rhonda Foster (L.E.A.D. Member)

    GIVE TODAY

    Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals to provide leadership training seminars and annual scholarships to our scholars. Your generous donation will fund our mission.  

    ZELLE: 69.LEAD.33@GMAIL.COM

    Our Partners

    Copyright © 2025 L.E.A.D. Scholars - All Rights Reserved.

    Powered by