PROFILE
Nancy Halpern Ibrahim has worked as a social justice activist in the field of women’s health and development for the past thirty-five years. Uplifting the voice and power of local communities for the attainment of basic human rights, has been at the heart of Nancy’s work. She is committed to principles of responsible, inclusive development without displacement, and the stabilization of communities strongly rooted in health and human rights. Nancy joined Esperanza Community Housing in historic South Central Los Angeles, as the founding Director of Health Programs in 1995, and developed the organization’s the model community health leadership program, Promotores de Salud, which to date has graduated nearly 600 bi-lingual women and men, and developed cadres of leaders working to address issues of health access, housing habitability and self-determination. She has established the framework for the programs at the intersection of health and housing that characterize much of Esperanza’s work. Her efforts have been central to pioneering environmental health strategies and responsible land use policies in the region, and to advancing the importance of Mercado La Paloma as a local economic development venue and a cultural and culinary hub, and proud host of many Street Symphony performances.