Who We Are
Who We Are
Harbor Community Benefit Foundation (HCBF) is a unique non-profit organization that was established in 2011 to respond to community concern about the cumulative environmental exposures in the harbor area – including increased air emissions, water pollution, traffic safety issues, noise impacts, land-use challenges, and general quality-of-life concerns. As an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, HCBF manages and exclusively administers the Port Community Mitigation Trust Fund (PCMTF) in the original amount of $9.8 million.
HCBF also exclusively administers the Air Quality Mitigation Fund, which originally had $5 million for the demonstration and implementation of emission reduction technologies to reduce air emissions in the San Pedro Bay area.
Harbor Community Benefit Foundation(HCBF) supports the communities adjacent to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach through research, education, and grant funding. HCBF Staff and its seven-member volunteer Board work with local partners and expert consultants to address critical needs of the community, as well as assess land use and noise impacts from goods movement in the area to inform our work in grantmaking and ensuring community benefits.
The most important aspects of HCBF’s work include:
- Administering funds to community organizations to address port-related impacts.
- Making a positive difference in quality of life through research, grant making, and service to community organizations and other partners.
- Being a trusted steward of community funds to address the cumulative impacts faced by
port-adjacent communities. - Reflecting community knowledge of disparities and supporting their initiatives and
solutions to the problem.
Harbor Community Benefit Foundation invests in the quality of life for communities impacted by port-serving industries.
Meet Our Staff!
Jayme Wilson
Director of Administration & Communication
Air Quality & Technology
Kat Janowicz
Technical Consultant
Meet Our Board of Directors!
Ed Avol, USC Professor Emeritus
Chair
Ed Avol is a retired Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, with expertise in exposure assessment and health effects research.
He was recruited to USC in 1992 by the late Dr. John Peters to help develop and perform the USC Children’s Health Study. He retired from USC in late 2022 after 31 years of service to USC and almost 50 years in air pollution research and teaching.
Ed studied mathematics and chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of California San Diego and Environmental Engineering Sciences in graduate school at Caltech. His research has focused on understanding the short and long-term effects of air pollution on humans, and on documenting human exposure. He was the Deputy Director of the Children’s Health Study, is a key investigator in multiple studies on the long-term effects of air pollution, and has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed research publications. He has served on USEPA’s Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) expert panel reviews for PM, NOx, SOx, and ozone. He is active in community outreach and education, particularly with regard to children’s health, to the health and air quality impacts of the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaports-related cargo movement industry, and to the proposed expansion of the I-710 Freeway.
Richard Havenick
Vice Chair/CFO
Richard’s 33 years in engineering technology and decades of public service focused on environmental and public health issues expand the Board’s broad expertise. From open-ocean construction operations through 31 years at Boeing Commercial Aircraft in a variety of management and staff positions, Richard brings practical engineering and business experience to the Board. Richard previously served as a member on the Port of Los Angeles Community Advisory Committee (PCAC), City of Los Angeles No Net Increase Task Force, Caltrans I-710 Environmental Impact Review Air Quality Committee, and on the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council. He chaired the Air Quality Committee of the PCAC, helping to identify top contributing sources of damaging air pollutants, evaluating the most effective reduction strategies, and helping to achieve public health benefits. Richard continues his environmental issues analysis as a Board member on the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, encouraging effective regulatory and industry responsiveness to benefit public health in the harbor area.
James Cross
Board Director
James Cross is a longtime community leader and experienced executive with a career spanning over 50 years in education, finance, and public service. He is the founding Executive Director of Port of Los Angeles High School, where he led the school from its inception in 2005 until 2015, helping to shape it into a successful college preparatory institution.
Mr. Cross has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the YMCA, San Pedro Hospital Foundation, and the Boys & Girls Club of the Los Angeles Harbor. He is a former President of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Los Angeles Harbor Waterfront Development Committee. Currently, he serves as a board member and past president of the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Charlene Contreras
Secretary
Charlene Contreras joined the HCBF Board of Directors in June 2021. Charlene currently serves as the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Toxicology and Environmental Assessment Branch. Since first being hired with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Charlene has been working to protect and improve health and well-being in the largest county in the United States. Her strong commitment to health equity and health protection guides current efforts to reduce health disparities and serve County residents most in need. In her current role, she directs Public Health’s efforts which aims to reduce toxic risk and foster healthy, sustainable communities disproportionality burdened with environmental pollution. Charlene leads work focused on policy reform and changing systems that have created the unfair distribution of environmental health threats across communities. One of her top priorities is to support policies, practices, and programs that lead to healthier environments.
Jayme Wilson
Director
Jayme Wilson served as LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s economic development deputy, and worked to create economic opportunities which benefitted people from all walks of life within the Fourth District. Jayme continues to actively encourage positive change in the region’s communities in numerous roles, serving as an Adjunct Professor of Business at Fullerton College, and he is a partner in the historic Ports O’ Call Restaurant and Spirit Cruises. He has served in various executive roles at organizations such as Los Angeles Harbor Boys & Girls Club, San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, Community Redevelopment Agency Pacific Corridor and more, and remains a longtime community leader in San Pedro. Jayme holds various degrees from CSU-Long Beach, USC, and Pacific Coast University in the fields of Law and Public Administration.
Jill Johnston
Director
Jill Johnston, PhD is an Associate Professor and Director of Environmental Justice Research Lab in the Division of Environmental Health at University of Southern California Dr. Johnston conducts community-driven epidemiology and exposure assessment to address inequitable exposures to harmful contaminants that affect health disparities, including in Latinx, Black and Asian Pacific Islander communities and among the working poor. She has two decades of experience inside and outside of academia in community organizing, popular education pedagogy, nurturing diverse partnership and translating environmental health research in community settings.
She has led innovative efforts in risk communications through infographics and developed a novel training program to increase capacity of community health workers (promotores) to engage in environmental health research translation. Dr. Johnston lead multiple urban and rural studies in Southern California to examine energy infrastructure and impacts on health and equity. Dr. Johnston received her PhD in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied hazardous waste sites and industrial animal production.
Meet Our Legal Counsel!
Lauren Langer
General Counsel
Lauren Langer is a partner of Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Municipal Law practice group. She serves as the City Attorney for the City of West Hollywood, and as General Counsel to the Westside Cities Council of Governments and the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, Lauren has a broad Municipal Law practice, including advising clients on land use, zoning, environmental and housing laws and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Lauren also drafts legislation and contracts and advises on all other legal issues associated with Municipal Law practice, such as the Brown Act and California Public Records Act.
In addition to her land use and Municipal Law experience, Lauren is highly skilled in drafting and implementing other critical and complex municipal ordinances for her clients. Lauren enjoys practicing Municipal Law, as it allows her to work on issues that are critical to the community and impact people’s daily lives — everything from safe streets to housing to the environment.
Lauren also regularly presents trainings and seminars on housing and land use issues, and the Brown and Public Record Acts.