Coro Foundation Honors LAEP's Funkhouser, Villa

Peggy Funkhouser, past president of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership and Esther Villa, coordinator of LAEP's FamilyCare Healthy Kids Collaborative, were among four civic leaders honored this week by Coro Southern California for their ability to reach across boundaries of age, culture, faith, tradition, and life experience to work collaboratively for the betterment of Los Angeles.

"Los Angeles leaders must build bridges that connect people in our pluralistic society if we want to create a spirit of community," said Carol Baker Tharp, executive director of Coro Southern California during an awards dinner May 4 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles. "We are honoring four civic leaders who exemplify the spirit of bridge building."

The Coro Public Affairs Awards, symbolized by a crystal eagle, recognize and celebrate the contribution of people and organizations that have exercised civic leadership and have made significant contributions to the common good. Rabbi Alfred Wolf and Rev. Monsignor Royale M. Vadakin were also honored and past recipients have included both well-known and unsung heroes ranging from political figures to teachers, and entertainers to philanthropists.

Coro is a nonprofit educational institution which has been training civic and public leaders in California since 1942. Senator Dianne Feinstein, State Supreme Court Justice Marvin R. Baxter, and Congressman Jerry Lewis are graduates of the Fellows Program in Public Affairs.

"Through Peggy's creativity and vision, LAEP was an innovator in getting community agencies to provide services to students in schools, and Esther played a key role in that pioneering effort," Baker Tharp said. The women worked closely together when Villa became the project director of the Focus on Youth Project, enabling high-risk students to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally by linking health and social services with school sites in the Los Angeles area.

Under Funkhouser's leadership, LAEP has invested more than $60 million during its 15-year history in collaborative efforts with educators and community members to develop, test, and implement new strategies to improve the quality of teaching, strengthen communities and reform pre-K-12 schools. Funkhouser is currently the chair of Project Grad, a comprehensive K-16 initiative in collaboration with LAUSD to serve the San Fernando High School Cluster of 18 schools and president of Urban Learning Centers, a comprehensive school improvement design.

Since 1969, Villa has been devoted to counseling and education. She served as couselor for the Educational Opportunity Program at Cal State University San Jose, counselor at Fischer Middle School, admission advisor for Goddard College and senior training coach for the Liaison Citizen Program. She also developed a training model for high-risk youth during the 1984 Olympics. As project director for LAEP's Focus on Youth program, Villa managed a program to enable high-risk students to succeed academically, socially and emotionally.

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