Community Matters is a KXSF program focused on the work of Bay Area and other grass roots organizations. This episode contains an interview with Jess Farb, the Directing Attorney of the San Francisco Office of the Immigration Center for Women and Children and 5th Wave Radio's Pamelouie.

Lauren Tabak is an award-winning creative working in film, music and the arts. Lauren has received a National Lesbian and Gay Journalism Award award for Excellence in Online Journalism for a piece she wrote about her experience co-producing and directing “Never A Cover”, a short film about the Lexington Club, San Franscisco’s iconic dyke bar. In 2017 she made her pop music debut in the Frameline Film Festival and in 2020 won San Francisco IndieFest’s “Best Music Video '' for her self-directed video “That’s What We Do”. Most recently Lauren has been shooting “Queer From Here” an ongoing geographically specific portrait project she founded that explores modern queer identity. Since 2019, the exhibition has been shown in museums and galleries across the United States from San Francisco California to Nashville, Tennessee. In 2021, Lauren was awarded a CLIO for her documentary “Love Me Like You Should”, a short film about disco icon Sylvester. Her current music project, Charles Mercy, is a multimedia lesbian western and collaboration with American songwriter and producer Chuck Prophet. The Boot called Charles Mercy ”Equal parts lounge singer and gun slinger” and Country Queer described the project as “A total left-fielder in all the best ways”.

Lauren lives in San Francisco with her Texan boo and her dog named Lou and recently built a backyard pizza oven that she wrote a song about called "Pizza Oven Blues #1-4, 17".

Mridu Chandra is a BAFTA and EMMY nominated filmmaker and producer based in New York City. She has over 15 years of experience as a creative producer of impactful documentaries and fiction films that cover topics of civil rights, environmental and racial justice, and gender equality. Seven of her films have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW; aired on PBS, Disney+, and Netflix India; and screened for members of the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. Most recently, she produced BECOMING COUSTEAU (Disney+) for two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus and co-produced CURED (PBS) which garnered her an Emmy nomination for Best Documentary Research. Her expertise as an archival media researcher and clearance specialist has additionally served numerous other documentaries (WHOSE STREETS?), fiction films (STEVE JOBS directed by Danny Boyle) and Broadway productions (BETRAYAL directed by Mike Nichols). She is currently in development on a new film about how Dalip Singh Saund, a local judge of Indian descent, defeated aviation pioneer and WWII hero Jackie Cochran Odlum in a 1956 run for Congress in California's 29th district to become the first ever Asian American member of U.S. Congress.

Kate Kendell led the National Center for Lesbian Rights for 22 years. She has devoted over three decades to fighting for racial and social justice and equity. She now serves as Chief of Staff at The California Endowment, the largest health equity foundation in California.

Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and, like her many short films, have screened internationally to awards and acclaim. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive (more info here about: Harvard's Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection), and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history, in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema, was published by the Oxford University Press. She was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list in 2020. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Jenni is currently co-director of The Bressan Project, devoted to restoring and re-releasing the films of pioneering gay filmmaker Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. Her work as a film historian includes the Lambda Award nominated The Queer Movie Poster Book (Chronicle Books, 2005) and her many vintage movie trailer presentations (Homo Promo, Afro Promo, etc.). Jenni's film criticism has appeared in numerous publications including Filmmaker Magazine, The Advocate and the San Francisco Bay Guardian and she is currently a film columnist for Logo TV’s NewNowNext.

Jenni is a former co-director of the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, the oldest and largest queer film festival on the planet, and served as director of marketing at LGBT film distributor Wolfe Video for more than a decade where she also created the global LGBT streaming VOD platform WolfeOnDemand.com. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT online platform, PlanetOut.com as well as the legendary Queer Brunch at Sundance. She is also the proud proprietor of Butch.org.

Jenni has been widely honored for her creative writing and innovative non-fiction storytelling. She holds a BA in Film Studies from the University of Minnesota and is currently an independent consultant in marketing and digital film distribution. A 2018 MacDowell Fellow, Jenni is now in development on her third feature-length essay film, The Quiet World and an essayistic memoir of the same name.

Elena Rosa is a visual artist, actor and art director. She created L-BAR, the first virtual lesbian and queer women's storyworld. Elena has garnered the prestigious Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg artist award. Her art work has appeared in gallery’s including Ben Maltz, Los Angeles Municipal Art gallery, and Disney Red Cat in Los Angeles. She is a graphic designer and art director specializing in creating virtual worlds for events and organizations.

My name is Cherelle Jackson. My mission, and my commitment lies with representing the voices of the underserved, and marginalized. I am committed to representing the disempowered, and unprotected. I received a Masters Degree in Political Science Public Policy & Public Administration including my Bachelors of Arts in Psychology Concentration Sociology. I have served as a community activist for marginalized, and underserved communities. I have had the privilege of working with seniors, veterans, and individuals experiencing homelessness. I have served as an educator working with diverse student populations including immigrants. I am also an executive producer for Rose Milk Podcast. I am author. 2020-2021 Influencer of the Year for International Association of Women. Director of Communications for Justice Equity Inclusion Committee. Co-Chair of Workers With Disabilities Committee, member of LQBTQIA+ Lavendar committee, and the Women’s committee. I was Top 5 in my group for Jet Set Magazine. I served as an essential worker during the pandemic, keynote speaker, and panelist, supports small businesses, and continues to set the tone, and standard for thriving women, and all communities. Together we will restore our communities, get intentional about the work we do, and lead with grace.

Dr. Akilah Cadet is the Founder and CEO of Change Cadet is an organizational development consulting firm, which offers a broad array of anti-racism and diversity services for companies and global brands. Dr. Cadet has 15+ years in management and building successful projects, teams, and leaders in the public and private sectors. She is a 2021 Forbes Next 1000 Honoree and honored as one of Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) 2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Influencers. Forbes and the Wall Street Journal Diversity and Business Newsletter have featured her work. She has spent an extensive part of her career designing training, coaching executives, and informing systematic change to improve the workforce experience for large organizations. She lives in Oakland, CA, literally has all the degrees, celebrates her disability, has an incredible shoe game, and is a proud Beyoncé advocate.