Susan Stamberg is a nationally renowned broadcast journalist and special correspondent for NPR. She is one of the pioneers of NPR, on staff since the network began in 1971 and is the first woman to anchor a national nightly news program. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Radio Hall of Fame. Beginning in 1972, Stamberg served as co-host of NPR's award-winning news magazine "All Things Considered" for 14 years. She then hosted "Weekend Edition Sunday", and now serves as guest host of NPR's "Morning Edition" and "Weekend Edition Saturday", in addition to reporting on cultural issues for all the NPR programs. Prior to joining NPR, she served as producer, program director, and general manager of NPR member station WAMU-FM/Washington, DC. Stamberg is the author of two books, and co-editor of a third: TALK: NPR's Susan Stamberg Considers All Things, Every Night at Five: Susan Stamberg's All Things Considered Book, and co-editor of The Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road.

Geneva Overholser is director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Previously she held the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting for the Missouri School of Journalism. She was the editor of The Des Moines Register for seven years, where she led the paper to a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. While at the Register, she also earned recognition as Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation. In addition, Overholser has been ombudsman of The Washington Post, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group, and a reporter for the Colorado Springs Sun, among others. She also spent five years overseas, working and writing in Paris and Kinshasa. She was for nine years a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the final year as chair. Through the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in 2006 she published a manifesto on the future of journalism titled On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change.

Leslie Berestein Rojas is the lead reporter for KPCC's new immigration blog, "Multi-American." Formerly with the San Diego Union-Tribune, she covered immigration issues from the US-Mexico border, followed legal and illegal immigrants coming to the U.S., and investigated immigrant smugglers and detention contractors. She reported on stories about the new American families resulting from immigration, and about those being left behind. In addition to her work in San Diego, Ms. Berestein Rojas has reported from throughout the Americas and has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, Time, People and People en Español.

Jim Burklo writes and speaks about the progressive Christian movement. He served as the minister of Sausalito Presbyterian Church, Sausalito, CA, of College Heights Church of San Mateo, CA and was campus minister of United Campus Christian Ministry at Stanford University. He was the organizer and executive director of the Urban Ministry of Palo Alto. Currently, he is the Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California.

Cindi Moar Alvitre (Tongva) has been a cultural/environmental educator for over three decades. She is descendant from the Tongva, the original inhabitants of Los Angeles & Orange Counties. In 1985, she co-founded Mother Earth Clan, a collective of Indian women who created a model for cultural and environmental education. In the late 1980s, she co-founded Ti'at Society renewing the maritime culture of the Tongva. Cindi is currently a PhD candidate at UCLA, Department of World Arts and Culture. As a social-political activist she has represented her community domestically and internationally.

Jennifer Jessum is an award winning director, choreographer and producer. She holds an M.F.A., in film production, from USC's School of Cinema/Television and an M.F.A., in dance, from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has produced and directed numerous short films, music videos, and commercials and has had her choreography and films commissioned and presented throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. She is currently finishing up post-production on her 2nd feature documentary, Holy Man, narrated by Martin Sheen.

Simon Joseph (Writer/Producer) holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University and a master's degree in Religious Studies from New York University. He is the author of a volume for the Documenta Q series for the International Q project, under the auspices of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, and has also been published by the Journal for the Study of Historical Jesus, New Testament Studies and History of Religions. His research interests and expertise include the study of the New Testament, Christian origins and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as Native American religion and history, in particular Lakota (Sioux) religion and culture. His second feature documentary film, Holy Man, is in post production and is narrated by Martin Sheen.

Rabbi Laura Geller is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California, the first woman to be selected to lead a major metropolitan synagogue. A former Trustee on the Board of Brown University, and the founding Chair of the Beverly Hills Human Relations Commission, she has received many honors, including the Woman of the Year Award from the California State Legislature. Rabbi Geller has written chapters in many books and newspapers and has been featured in several others, including the PBS documentary The Jewish Americans, and she was recently named as one of the fifty most influential women rabbis in America by the Forward newspaper.

The Reverend Canon Dr. Gwynne Guibord is the Founder and President of "The Guibord Center, Religion Inside Out" that is housed at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral. Its stated mission is "to bring people together to challenge assumptions, unleash the Holy, and affirm the faith that transforms the world." She is also the Consultant for Interfaith Relations for the Episcopal Church in the United States. Dr. Guibord co-chairs The National Muslim - Christian Initiative Dialogue on behalf of The National Council of Churches in Christ USA and also represents the Episcopal Church for the NCC's Christian-Jewish Dialogue.

Imam Jihad Turk is the Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California. In addition to serving the religious needs of his community, he focuses much of his attention on interfaith work, including an annual interfaith 9/11 memorial which is held at the Islamic Center. He also currently serves as President of the Wilshire Center Interfaith Council, which sponsors an annual interfaith trip to the Holy Land. Additionally, Turk serves as the Vice President of the Interreligious Council of Southern California, and, together with Gwynne Guibord, an Episcopal Priest, Turk founded and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Christian-Muslim Consultative Group, comprised of major Christian and Muslim denominations and organizations intent on understanding each other and working together on common goals.

Funding for this film was made possible by the Institute for Signifying Scriptures.

ALOUD at Central Library's Interfaith Series is made possible by the generous support of the Righteous Persons Foundation.

Glen Creason has been the map librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library for the past twenty-one years and a reference librarian in the History department since Jimmy Carter was president. He was a co-curator of the landmark map exhibit "Los Angeles Unfolded" and has written about local history, maps and popular culture for local publications including the Downtown News, Mercators World, the Public Historian, the Communicator the Los Angeles Times and Edible Ojai. He is the author of the book "Los Angeles in Maps" and has been a speaker at local events such as the Society for Professional Journalists, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and the California Map Society.

D. J. Waldie is the author of books, essays and blogs about Los Angeles and Southern California. He is a contributing writer at Los Angeles magazine and a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times. His book reviews and commentary have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He has lectured on the social history of Los Angeles locally and internationally. He blogs at KCET/Voices. His most recent book is California Romantica, in collaboration with Diane Keaton.

Isabel Wilkerson, formerly James M. Cox Professor of Journalism at Emory University, is Professor of Journalism and Director of Narrative Nonfiction at Boston University. In 1994, while Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Wilkerson has also won a George S. Polk Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson is a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center at the Urban Institute (UI) in Washington DC and director of UI's Culture, Creativity and Communities Program. Her research focuses on urban policy, neighborhood revitalization and comprehensive community planning, the politics of race, ethnicity and gender in urban settings, and the role of arts and culture in communities. Dr. Jackson's work has appeared in academic and professional journals as well as edited volumes in the fields of urban planning, sociology, community development and the arts. Dr. Jackson has also taught graduate and undergraduate courses in social policy, planning for multiple publics, community economic development and research methods.

Clyde Casey is a visual artist and musician. He makes large movable drum sculptures and uses them to create participatory musical events. In 1988, at the corner of Wall and Boyd Streets, the site of a former gas station and parking lot, Clyde Casey created Another Planet, an outdoor cultural space, where you could find poetry, ping pong, TV, live music and jam sessions by and for people in the community, twenty-four hours a day. The spot also offered storage for belongings and free clothing. Another Planet flourished for a year, before burning down in a fire in 1989.

An LA native and artist, Manuel Compito (aka OG Man) has devoted his creative energy to spreading a self-help philosophy. His OG's N Service Association dedicates itself to uplifting the men and children of Skid Row. In 2007 OG Man launched the highly successful 3-on-3 Basketball League at Gladys Park. Other OG's N Service activities include an annual Fathers Day celebration of responsible parenting and a beautification program that brought painted trash cans to the neighborhood when the City's Sanitation Bureau failed to provide trash cans on Skid Row.

In 1970, Jeff Dietrich and Catherine Morris founded the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, a lay Catholic community of men and women which operates a free soup kitchen, hospitality house for the homeless, AIDS ministry, hospice for the dying, a newspaper, and regularly offers prophetic witness in opposition to war-making and injustice. Jeff has been active in direct service and in the development of humane services and neighborhood amenities for people living in poverty in Skid Row. The Catholic Worker's early involvement in the neighborhood has encouraged the involvement of other initiatives, including the founding of Las Familias del Pueblo and Inner City Law Center.

John Malpede directs, performs and engineers multi-event arts projects that have theatrical, installation, public art and education components. In 1985, Malpede founded the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD). LAPD 's mission is to create performances that connect lived experience to the social forces that shape the lives and communities of people living in poverty. Malpede has produced projects working with communities throughout the US and in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Bolivia.

Malpede has received numerous awards, among them: San Francisco Art Institute's Adeline Kent Award, Durfee Sabbatical Grant, LA Theater Alliance Ovation Award, NEA, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles' COLA Fellowship, California Community Foundation's Visual Artist Fellowship, and was a 2008-2009 fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies.
http://www.lapovertydept.org/

In 1999 Pete White founded LA CAN, to ensure that people living in poverty have voice, power and opinion in the decisions that impact their lives. LA CAN builds indigenous leadership within the Central City East community to address the multitude of problems faced by homeless and very low-income residents of the community, including civil rights and housing on the streets and in the hotels. LA CAN has built a broad base of informed residents that have mounted successful campaigns to defend their tenant, civil and human rights, both on the streets and in residential hotels.

http://www.cangress.org/

Bill Boyarsky (writer) is a political columnist for Truthdig.com and blogs for LA Observed. He was a lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication for several years and teaches there periodically. In his 30 years with the Los Angeles Times, Boyarsky was a political writer, featured columnist, and city editor. He was a member of reporting teams that won three Pulitzer Prizes. He is the author of two biographies of Ronald Reagan, and authored Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics as well as Los Angeles: City of Dreams. Together with his wife, Nancy, he coauthored Backroom Politics. He lives in Los Angeles.

Peter Jones (Filmmaker) began his career as a broadcast journalist. In 1987, he formed Peter Jones Productions, originally specializing in documentary films related to the history of the motion-picture industry. His special on Judy Garland won a 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series. "Stardust: The Bette Davis Story", had its U.S. premiere on Turner Classics Movies in 2006, garnering Jones and his team an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming. He lives in the hills overlooking the city the Chandlers invented.

Patt Morrison is a writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of the daily Patt Morrison public affairs program on KPCC. She has won six Emmys and six Golden Mike awards as founding host and commentator on Life & Times Tonight, the nightly news and current affairs program on KCET. Her one-on-one television interview subjects include Salman Rushdie, Henry Kissinger, Frank Gehry, Ray Bradbury, Joan Didion, and many more.

www.pattmorrison.com

James Workman began his award-winning career as a journalist in Washington, D.C., writing for the New Republic, Washington Monthly, Utne Reader, Washington Business Journal, Foreign Service, and Orion, among other publications. In the Clinton Administration he served as a special assistant and natural resources speechwriter to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, with whom he reintroduced wolves, restored fire to its vital and natural role in western forests, and blew up obsolete dams to replenish dying rivers. For seven years in Africa and Asia, he helped prepare and launch the landmark Report of the World Commission on Dams, led investigative research safaris, lectured at universities, and advised on water policy in the developing world. Based on his experience with the Kalahari Bushmen, he is pioneering new platforms for trading the human right to water. He lives in San Francisco.

http://www.heartofdryness.com/

Adán Ortega, Jr. is co-founder of Water Conservation Partners Inc., helping property developers and water planners make water available for projects through state of the art water conservation. He handles strategic communications planning and government affairs for clients at AOA, his public affairs firm. Adán was Vice President for External Affairs of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California ('99-05) where he created the long-running Bewaterwise.com and California Friendly water conservation advertising and branding campaigns. He was Chief Deputy Secretary of State under California Secretary of State Bill Jones during the late 1990s and Assistant General Manager of West and Central Basin Municipal Water Districts from 1994-1997. Adán is a member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, the Stewardship Council of Roots of Change, the Board of Directors of Mujeres de La Tierra, and is on the advisory board of Sustainable Conservation.

Father Gregory Boyle was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1982. He received his Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. In 1988, Father Boyle began what would become Homeboy Industries, now located in downtown Los Angeles. Fr. Greg received the California Peace Prize, the "Humanitarian of the Year" Award from Bon Appétit; the Caring Institute's 2007 Most Caring People Award; and received the 2008 Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Since 1986, Father Gregory has been the pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The church sits between two large public housing projects, Pico Gardens and Aliso Village, known for decades as the gang capital of the world. Since Father Greg-also known affectionately as G-dog, started Homeboy Industries nearly twenty years ago, it has served members of more than half of the gangs in Los Angeles. In Homeboy Industries' various businesses-baking, silkscreening, landscaping-gang affiliations are left outside as young people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from building something together.

Celeste Fremon is an award winning freelance journalist, the author of G-Dog and the Homeboys and the upcoming, An American Family. She is the creator and editor of WitnessLA.com, teaches journalism at the USC Annenberg School and is a Visiting Lecturer at UC Irvine where she teaches literary journalism as it relates to social justice. Fremon is also a Senior Fellow for Social Justice/New Media at the Institute for Justice and Journalism.

James Conlon is Music Director of LA Opera, the Ravinia Festival, and the Cincinnati May Festival. One of today's preeminent conductors, he has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire, and developed enduring relationships with many of the world's most prestigious symphony orchestras and opera houses. He has appeared as guest conductor with virtually every major North American and European orchestra and has been a frequent guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera for over thirty years. Conlon has devoted himself to extensive programming of works of composers whose compositions were suppressed by the Nazi regime and for his efforts received the Anti-Defamation League's Crystal Globe Award. He is the winner of two Grammy awards for conducting LA Opera's production of Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on DVD and received France's highest distinction - the Légion d'Honneur - from then-President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac in 2002.