Carlene Davis

Carlene A. Davis is a Deputy Neighborhood Officer for the Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL). In this role, Ms. Davis is the Education lead for the Los Angeles Urban League’s multi-disciplinary Crenshaw-Hyde Park Neighborhood Initiative. Her responsibilities include developing and maintaining key partnerships to support the educational component of the Neighborhood Initiative; facilitating and engaging an inclusive and participatory stakeholder reform effort; and advocating for public policy and systems change.

Ms. Davis came to the Los Angeles Urban League from the City of Los Angeles-Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families where she was the lead staff responsible for directing the implementation of the City’s Early Care and Education Policy. Prior to her City service, Ms. Davis worked for Crystal Stairs, Inc., a non-profit child care agency serving South Los Angeles, Inglewood, Hawthorne and Gardena. She was the agency’s first Public Policy Associate, coordinating the legislative and advocacy agenda and subsequently became the start-up manager for the CalWORK’s Child Care Program, where she was responsible for the implementation of one of the largest welfare-to-work child care programs in Los Angeles County.

In addition to her early care and education experience, Ms. Davis has a diverse background in health care and public administration. During her tenure with the County of Los Angeles, she worked for the Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Office, the Treasurer-Tax Collector, the Auditor-Controller, the Probation Department, and the Department of Health Services. She also worked for Cal-OPTIMA, the Medi-Cal managed care plan for Orange County.

A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Davis earned a B.A. in Political Science from University of California at Berkeley and an M.P.A from the LBJ School of Public Affairs (University of Texas at Austin). Ms. Davis is also the founder and director of ABRAZAR, a project that provides community-based Spanish-language learning experiences for African-American youth.