Por Ken Williams | Editor

North Park resident to head United Way

Just call her “Rabbi Laurie.” Everybody does.

“I lost my last name in the early 2000s,” the North Park resident said with a smile, “because I was a message vessel for poverty issues in San Diego.”

Rabbi Laurie Coskey, who holds a doctorate in education, is known far and wide for her activism and advocacy for social justice. She holds the title of rabbi in residence at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in the Park West neighborhood, part of an interfaith outreach program. A fierce advocate for public education, Coskey is chairperson of the Trustee Advisory Council for the San Diego Community College District. And she is also chair of the board of directors of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation (SDCCC), the nonprofit public-benefit organization created by the city of San Diego to manage and market the convention center.

The latest news is that Coskey has been selected as the new president and CEO of United Way of San Diego County, a nonprofit based in Clairemont Mesa with a multimillion-dollar budget. She believes she was chosen for the job because of her reputation, as she put it, as a “bridge builder” and “trusted broker.”

Jacqueline Parks, chair of the board of directors of United Way of San Diego County, explained in a statement why Coskey was hired.

“We had some outstanding candidates for the position, and our search committee conducted an extensive nationwide search to find the best candidate to serve the community,” Parks said.

“Laurie wrote her doctoral dissertation on United Way, and had a firm understanding of our role in the community and strategic vision,” Parks said. “She brings with her strong long-term relationships in the San Diego community and a reputation as a key collaborator, working across party lines. We are confident that she will be the leader we need as we unite the community, helping every child to thrive.”

As soon as United Way announced its hire, Coskey’s smartphone began filling up with text messages from well-wishers congratulating her on the new job. She shared two texts that particularly touched her heart:

• From Maribel Mckinze, organizer at UFCW local 135 — “In whatever I can do to help United Way, please let me know, I was definitely one of those kids who took advantage of the programs and was able to make it through with United Way.”

• From Cindy Marten, superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District — “Your gifts that make you perfect for this job are: your compassion, your wisdom, your ability to bring people together around a vision, your network of heart-based leaders who deliver on action, your thoughtful way of always pushing when pushing is needed to reach an outcome. You are a truly a UNITER. Who better to lead the United Way to serve our community than you?”

Although she won’t start her new job until July 14, Coskey sat down with San Diego Uptown News to discuss her career move and share how her life experiences have led her to this new challenge as head of the 96-year-old nonprofit.

With her plate more than full, Coskey said she recently resigned from two boards: Interfaith Center for Worker Justice, a national alliance of worker justice organizations; and Southern Border Communities Coalition, an alliance of immigrant and border advocacy organizations. Coskey stressed that United Way did not require her to step down from those groups.

Coskey said she will remain involved with the boards of both the community college district and the convention center. “They relate well to the work that United Way is doing,” she said.

“I was not actively looking for a job,” Coskey said. “For the past 15 years, I have been doing the most transformative work … focusing on sustainability of working families. The capstone was working to pass the minimum wage increase in San Diego [which voters approved on June 7 in the California Primary]. This will improve the lives of 170,000 working people in San Diego. They will also get five sick days per year.”

Coskey tears up as she talks about how much working families will benefit from the simple act of raising of the minimum wage. She pointed out that many mothers work two or three jobs to make ends meet. “They only want one thing: to give their children a better life,” she said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes.

“When someone put the bug in my ear about the opening at United Way, I knew it was on the cutting edge of working to help kids,” she continued. “They do real work on the ground, for real children. I know these children and their mothers [from her previous work]. I knew I could flip the coin: helping children. It will be yin and yang for me. It will be complete synergy for my work here in San Diego. I will be firing on all pistons. We have to make a difference for all children.”

The local United Way’s motto is: “We change the odds for every child through quality education.” The website lists three key areas of focus: education, family stability and chronic homelessness.

Although Coskey hasn’t yet started at United Way, she has been meeting with the staff and the board of directors to familiarize herself with the inner workings of the nonprofit. She candidly stated that she hasn’t yet drawn up any goals for United Way, but she has aspirational goals. “That is,” she said, “to get to know our incredible staff and see how the organization works; to meet the board and find out their mission; to meet the funders who make our job possible; and to show appreciation for all that they have done. I want to strengthen our partnerships in the community … and we will celebrate our 100th anniversary in a few years. United Way has evolved from its beginnings as Community Chest to one of the most respected community organizations in San Diego — and nationwide.”

According to the uwsd.org website, United Way had a total revenue of $15.7 million and a total expenses of $17.5 million in fiscal year 2014-15.

Over at the San Diego Convention Center, the current fiscal year 2017 budget shows total operating revenues of $36 million with total operating expenses of $33.4 million, according to its website visitsandiego.com.

As chair of the SDCCC, Coskey described how her job there is perceived as a “big and important and powerful role.

“This year, we’ve hired a new president and CEO — the first time in 25 years,” she said. Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, a veteran venue manager with an extensive resume, was lured to San Diego from Louisville, Kentucky to replace the retired Carol Wallace.

Expansion is perhaps the most crucial issue involving the convention center. San Diego is one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S., and the convention center is known for Comic-Con and large gatherings that focus on the healthcare and innovation industries. A convention center brochure titled “2016 Fast Facts” shows that by far Comic-Con is the No. 1 event with attendance of 130,000, resulting in 63,000 hotel nights and providing a regional impact of $140 million. The runner-up is the Society for Neuroscience convention, which draws 32,000 people, resulting in 54,000 hotel nights and providing a regional impact of $110 million. And the convention center will host the Major League Baseball All-Star Fanfest from July 8 — 12 as the All-Star Game returns to San Diego on July 12 at Petco Park.

Coskey emphasized the corporation’s board remains adamant that the expansion should be contiguous to the existing convention center. However, San Diego voters will decide in November whether or not to approve the Citizens’ Initiative, a funding plan for a proposed multiuse stadium for the Chargers and a convention center expansion in East Village.

“Our convention center is 75 percent full,” she said, noting that 60 percent capacity is considered A-plus. “We are falling off the rafters. People like to come to San Diego. We get the highest marks for hospitality and food.”

Comic-Con officials are urging a contiguous expansion, too, as the annual convention only grows larger, year after year.

Coskey declined to weigh in on the Citizens’ Initiative or on the fate of a 6-acre site adjacent to the convention center that is key to a contiguous expansion. The lease-holder on the property, Fifth Avenue Landing, wants to build two hotels there. The land is owned by the Unified Port of San Diego. She hinted that the hotel project is not a done deal.

Whether dealing with expansion plans at the convention center, or advocating for children and working families, or supporting the local LGBT community, Coskey is one busy activist. She traces her desire to make the world a better place to her family.

“I grew up in LA with a large, loving Jewish family,” Coskey said. “I did not come from a life of adversity.”

However, adversity found the Coskey family. On Dec. 14, 1963, the Baldwin Hills Dam disaster occurred when the reservoir suffered a catastrophic failure and 250 million gallons of water rushed into neighboring communities. Five people were killed and 277 houses were destroyed — including the Coskey’s home. “I’ve never shared this story with a journalist before,” she said.

Coskey and her sisters were 6, 3 and 1 at the time. And in an era before cellphones, her dad was on the golf course when he got the news about the disaster and he had no way of immediately reaching his wife to find out the family’s fate.

“We barely had time to get out,” Coskey recalled. “We barely had time to rescue the baby from the house.”

The Coskeys lost everything: their home and furnishings, their family pictures, their toys and clothes.

“In two minutes, our life changed forever,” Coskey said.

It would also be a defining moment for such a young child.

“I was struck by the kindness of friends and strangers,” she said. “But it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how deeply it affected us. Things we care about are just items, like pictures. My Social Security card is still gone. I realized that it is family that is important.”

Five years later, at age 10, Coskey notified her family that she wanted to be a rabbi. They didn’t have the heart to tell her that a woman couldn’t be a rabbi, in those days.

Yet, Coskey would become one of the first female rabbis in the U.S. after being ordained in 1985 from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. The graduate of Stanford would later earn her doctorate from the University of San Diego after writing her thesis on United Way.

“And 22 years later, I am about to go to work for United Way.”

—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952. Follow him on Twitter at @KenSanDiego, Instagram at @KenSD or Facebook at KenWilliamsSanDiego.