The Board
These are the dedicated Board Members who oversee AALF:​
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Maria Ramirez
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Nigel Farr
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Angela Griffin
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Cindy Sandino-Chang
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Anzhane Slaughter
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RJ AJ Johns
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Taju Ahmed
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Cherryl Jackson-Williams
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Darryl Cook
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Anzhane Slaughter is a natural-born advocate for the African American community. At 24 years old, Anzhane is the youngest Program Director in Pierce County. She first put her community at the epicenter of her work in 2012 with her fight for education reform within Seattle Public
Schools. Her devotion and leadership towards social justice and equity carried throughout her educational career as she obtained a degree in law from the University of Washington.
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Throughout her research, Anzhane found that in order for the African American community to achieve true liberation one must be free financially. She quickly applied this learning to her life
and in 2018 passed the Real Estate Exam in Washington state to help bring financial freedom, stability, and generational wealth to her community. Since then, Anzhane has held prominent positions within the social justice community securing government contracts for Minority-Owned Businesses, managing political campaigns for State Legislatures, and uplifting other young leaders through financial and civic literacy.
Dawn Bennett is the Co-Founder of the Multicultural Education Rights Alliance (McERA). As a basketball player and coach, gang prevention specialist and caseworker for the City of Seattle and the Liaison for African American families for Seattle Public Schools, Dawn has worked to support those who might otherwise fall through the education gaps. She also currently serves on several boards including, her church board that she loves because they have been able to give resources to other BIPOC nonprofits, the Plymouth Church Community Action Board. Other boards include, NAACP Political Action Committee Chair, Vice President of Washington’s Paramount Duty, the UW School of Social Work Communities in Action Initiative, the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Advisory Group, and is the Board Chair of the African American Leadership Forum. She has also, just recently graduated from the Emerge WA. Gov. Gregoire 2019 class, where she trained to run for office. Dawn Bennett was also a board member of the Rainier Valley Food Bank in south Seattle, in 2020.
While busy working her multiple jobs Dawn earned the following awards; Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Director's Community Leadership Award (2009), Urban Native Education Alliance & Seattle Clear Sky Native Youth Council, Community Engagement Award (2013), Mercer Island Pathfinder Award (2018), and 100 Leading Ladies of Color Award (2019).
Dawn’s most favorite thing to do is to advocate for parents and children from marginalized communities. Dawn has advocated for youth and adults for most part of her career. And continues to do so, currently through Multicultural Education Rights Alliance (McERA) and her board work.
Born in Managua, Nicaragua, raised in Seattle, Cindy Sandino- Chang worked with the City of Seattle for 20 years, specializing in youth development work. A mother of 2 young kings. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her sons, watching movies, reading, listening to music, and spending time with friends and family. She is also a co-founder of two businesses, Construyendo Juntos (Building Together) and Total Care Car Services. A lot of the work consists of training, advocating, and being a resource to BIPOC communities and Domestic Violence Survivors. She looks forward to serving BIPOC communities through AALF.
LaKenya Moss is no stranger to stage and film. Her recent credits include two major stage production tours; “Love Jones the Musical,” (2016) and “Things Your Man Won’t Do,” (2015). Most recently, Mrs. Moss served the community in association with the annual 2017 Teen Summer Musical: The Wiz - ‘A Search for Brilliance’. She has produced talk shows, music performances, and live stage productions including her original stage play, “Dying Alone: A play concerning HIV/AIDS in the urban community.” She pursued performing arts in college and immediately started sharing her knowledge with youth performing arts groups including NIA Kids (Desoto, TX), and Amazing Grace Conservatory (Los Angeles, CA). Mrs. Moss holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Texas at the Permian Basin, a M.Ed. in Student Development from Angelo State University, and Masters of Teaching from Antioch University. She currently is in her 5th year of teaching 4th grade for KSD, and one of the developing and board members of the C.A.R.E PGP Grant. Mrs. Moss continues to support and encourage others to pursue their dreams and goals.