for nonviolent misdemeanors; and the introduction of the nation’s first plant closure
law.As a national Democratic Party leader, Congresswoman Waters has long been
highly visible in Democratic Party politics and has served on the Democratic National
Committee (DNC) since 1980. She was a key leader in five presidential campaigns:
Sen. Edward Kennedy (1980), Rev. Jesse Jackson (1984 & 1988), and President Bill
Clinton (1992 & 1996). In 2001, she was instrumental in the DNC’s creation of the
National Development and Voting Rights Institute and the appointment of Mayor
Maynard Jackson as its chair. Following the Los Angeles civil unrest in 1992,
Congresswoman Waters faced the nation’s media and public to interpret the
hopelessness and despair in cities across America. Over the years, she has brought
many government officials and policy makers to her South Central L.A. district to
appeal for more resources. They included President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore,
Secretaries of Housing & Urban Development Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo,
and Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve System. Following the unrest,
she founded Community Build, the city’s grassroots rebuilding project. She has used
her skill to shape public policy and deliver the goods: $10 billion in Section 108 loan
guarantees to cities for economic and infrastructure development, housing and small
business expansion; $50 million appropriation for “Youth Fair Chance” program
which established an intensive job and life skills training program for unskilled,
unemployed youth; expanded U.S. debt relief for Africa and other developing
nations; creating a “Center for Women Veterans,” among others. Rep. Waters
continues to be an active leader in a broad coalition of residential communities,
environmental activists and elected officials that aggressively advocate for the
mitigation of harmful impacts of the expansion plan for Los Angeles International
Airport (LAX). Furthermore, she continues initiatives to preserve the unique
environmental qualities of the Ballona wetlands and bluffs, treasures of her district.
She is a co-founder of Black Women’s Forum, a nonprofit organization of over 1,200
African American women in the Los Angeles area. In the mid-80s, she also founded
Project Build, working with young people in Los Angeles housing developments on
job training and placement. As she confronts the issues such as poverty, economic
development, equal justice under the law and other issues of concern to people of
color, women, children, and poor people, Rep. Waters enjoys a broad cross section of
support from diverse communities across the nation. Throughout her career,
Congresswoman Waters has been an advocate for international peace, justice, and
human rights. Before her election to Congress, she was a leader in the movement to
end Apartheid and establish democracy in South Africa. She opposed the 2004
Haitian coup d’etat, which overthrew the democratically-elected government of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, and defends the rights of political prisoners in Haiti’s
prisons. She leads congressional efforts to cancel the debts that poor countries in
Africa and Latin America owe to wealthy institutions like the World Bank and free
poor countries from the burden of international debts. One testament to her work is
the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center, a multimillion dollar campus
providing education and employment opportunities to residents of the Watts area