Mr. Smith works actively with recovering alcoholics and individuals battling substance use disorder on his own path of recovery for over 32 years and is, and has been, active as a board member of several non-profit organizations. Mr. Smith also served as the Executive Director of an agency providing residential and outpatient SUD treatment and related services to veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals and the chronically homeless.

In his professional life Mr. Smith held management level positions in the business community for over 20 years working with companies such as Panasonic Corporation, Sharp Electronics Corporation, Konica Business Technologies and Fujitsu Transaction Solutions. Working with these firms, Mr. Smith developed extensive expertise in cost control, logistics and supply chain management, efficiency and effectiveness planning and management, continuous improvement, and personnel management.

During this time, Mr. Smith worked on his Bachelor of Science degree in Management at the University of Phoenix.

Mr. Smith currently works in the field of business management consulting, assisting small business owners to develop strategies to improve operations, administration, management and profitability, as well as minimizing tax liability.

Sandy Arevalo, a native of the San Fernando Valley, currently holds the role of Program Manager at SSG Project 180. Within this capacity, she oversees two diversion programs developed under the county’s Alternatives To Incarceration initiative. These programs offer participants the opportunity to have their charges dismissed—a pivotal step towards rehabilitation that Sandy fervently advocates for.

Throughout her tenure at Project 180, Sandy has been actively involved in various programs catering to justice-impacted individuals, including AB109, CODC, and EPIC. Drawing from her firsthand experiences of the challenges faced by justice-involved individuals, Sandy is deeply passionate about making second-chance programming more accessible and mainstream.

As a member of the Reentry Health Advisory Collaborative, Sandy collaborates with eight other justice-impacted individuals on a mission to improve reentry conditions for justice-involved individuals across Los Angeles. Their human-centered approach aims to promote dignity, healing, and hope within a diverse population of Angelenos.

Motivated by a desire to do more for justice-impacted individuals and advocate for systemic change, Sandy pursued a Master of Social Work degree at California State University Northridge. Now a registered Associate Social Worker with the Board of Behavioral Sciences, she eagerly anticipates sitting for her licensing exam in 2024, poised to contribute to the field and expand opportunities for system-impacted individuals to thrive within their communities.

Outside of work, Sandy finds joy in traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family, beloved dog Pongo, and cat Cosmo.

Peggy Edwards, M.P.A. is an experienced consultant and facilitator in areas of strategic planning, organization development, community and employee engagement, and board and executive development. She is a subject matter expert in homelessness and community reentry from incarceration, having founded and served as Executive Director of both Homeless Healthcare Partners and the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, networks of more than 300 non-profit and government agencies.

Edwards served as president of the board of Bridge to Home, a homeless services agency in Santa Clarita for three years, during which she volunteered as interim executive director for 10 months. She chaired the Housing Committee of the City of Santa Clarita Task Force to Address Homelessness for three years.

Currently, she works as a consultant with the Change Well Project working with counties to improve their homeless housing programs. She has been recognized by the Purdue University Alumni Association and by Los Angeles Neighborhood Legal Services with community service awards. In 2019, Supervisor Kathryn Barger named Edwards “Woman of the Year” in the 5th District of Los Angeles County.