National Convening Program Books 2015 YEO National Convening Program Book | Page 30

Detailed Agenda
SATURDAY | JULY 25, 2015

Melvin Carter

Minnesota Department of Education
Melvin W. Carter III was appointed director of the Office of Early Learning
at the Minnesota Department of Education in July 2013. Prior to joining
the department, Carter served on the Saint Paul City Council from 2008
to 2013. In that capacity, he sponsored legislation to address some of
the city’s most pressing issues, including: forming the city’s Department
of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity; “banning the box”
to eliminate employment discrimination against people with criminal
backgrounds; requiring landlords to notify tenants of a pending foreclosure
on their property; and prohibiting the sale of candy cigarettes and toy
lighters to reduce “practice smoking” among children. In 2009, he created a partnership between
city, county, school, and grassroots leaders to support high quality education outcomes which
later became the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood. He has trained with and for several national
organizations, including Wellstone Action, People For the American Way Foundation, Black Organizing
for Leadership & Dignity, and Progressive Majority. For his committed service to community, Carter
received the 2011 Barbara Jordan Leadership Award from the National Young Elected Officials
Network and was recognized in Ebony Magazine’s “30 Under 30” issue in 2008.

Sal Pace

Pueblo County Commission
Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace has held numerous public positions
in Colorado. He has been a state representative, the Minority Leader of
the Colorado State House, a candidate for U.S. Congress, an aide and
campaign manager to former Congressman John Salazar, and a former
staffer for his national political party and its Senate campaign committee.
In 2012, Pace lost a hotly contested race for U.S. Congress, despite raising
a whopping $2 million. After the election, Pace was appointed to the
board of Pueblo County Commissioners in January of 2013. He received
his bachelor’s degree in political science from Fort Lewis College and his
master’s degree in American political theory from the Louisiana State University.

Lateefah Simon

Rosenberg Foundation

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Lateefah Simon is program director for the Rosenberg Foundation, which
seeks to change the odds for Californians through statewide grantmaking
to support policy change. A longtime advocate for low-income young
women and girls and for juvenile and criminal justice reform, at the age
of 19, Simon was appointed executive director of the Center for Young
Women’s Development (CYWD) in San Francisco. CYWD is the nation’s
first economic and gender justice or ganization solely run for and by lowincome and formerly incarcerated young women. After an 11-year tenure
as executive director, Simon then led the creation of San Francisco’s first