Biographies

2008 California Peace Prize Award Honorees

Kismet Evans

Kismet Evans has worked over the past decade to provide drug, alcohol, and violence- intervention counseling for youth and to increase public awareness of the trauma that incarceration has on families and communities. Most recently, she was a program manager for the Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy, where she worked to prevent violence and teen pregnancy through academics and job development among gang-affiliated and other youth at risk.

In the 1990s, Evans was incarcerated for drug-related offenses and experienced periods of homelessness. After a year of outpatient drug treatment, she realized that she wanted to help others. She first worked at MFI Recovery Center, a co-ed residential treatment program in Woodcrest, California, and continued her work at Inland Valley Recovery Center, in a program for female parolees and their children. She founded Men of Valor and Excellence, a recovery transitional program, and co-founded Inland Empire Veterans Stand Down, a program that connects homeless veterans and their families to resources.

Born in Fullerton, California, Evans graduated from California Paramedical Technical College, as salutatorian. She is a member of the Inland Empire Women's Business Center and Women's Circle of Success and she volunteers for the ASK Mentoring Outreach program. She has received accolades from policymakers and community leaders. Evans lives in Riverside, California.

Orlando Ramos

A native New Yorker, Orlando Ramos began his violence prevention work in several New York City high schools and moved west in 2006 to become principal of Richmond High School — located in one of the most impoverished communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ramos is skillful at mediating among students involved in violent incidents and his interventions — especially among gang members — have led to community agreements and decreases in suspensions and incidents. Ramos helped the city of Richmond campaign for increased involvement of parents and community members in the lives of area youth. A key stakeholder in the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, he advocates to keep schools open until midnight in order to bring community-based organizations on campus to support youth and their families.

Ramos received a BA in government and public administration from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a MA in urban education from Cambridge College, Massachusetts, and an EdD in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University, Florida. He has served on numerous committees, including the West Contra Costa Local Education Advisory Committee and the Richmond City Council’s Anti-Violence Committee. Ramos lives in San Jose, California and recently accepted a new post as principal of Lee Mathson Middle School there.

Billie Weiss

Billie Weiss is an epidemiologist and public health champion who has worked for over 20 years to reduce violence against youth. Weiss is currently the associate director of the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health and the founder and executive director emeritus of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles.

Weiss’ research has investigated subjects including gang violence and violence against intimate partners. She has authored or co-authored numerous papers, including a study of a gang-violence epidemic in Los Angeles, and is considered an expert on the public health approach to reducing violence. Weiss is the former director of the Los Angeles County’s Injury and Violence Prevention Program.

Weiss is a member of the Interagency Gang Task Force, Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council, the governing council of the American Public Health Association, and the advisory committee of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Injury Prevention Research Center, among others. She serves as a board member for the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She received a BS in molecular biology from California State University, Fullerton and a MS in public health and epidemiology from UCLA. Weiss lives in Los Angeles.