Editorial Board

The People’s Vanguard of Davis is a 501(c)3 non-profit, a community-based watchdog and news reporting organization that publishes daily covering the city of Davis, Yolo County Courts, and other regional news and commentary. The Vanguard seeks to bring transparency, accountability and fairness to local government, while promoting social justice and democracy, and adhering to principles of accuracy and fairness in our reporting. As of January 1, 2018, the Vanguard Non-Profit Board and Editorial Board are one body.


Vanguard Staff


Founder, Editor, Executive Director

David Greenwald

David Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006 under the name the Davis Vanguard. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend graduate school at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and their three children.

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Co-Intern Coordinator

Brinda Kalita

Brinda Kalita is a recent graduate from UC Riverside where she received her bachelors in History with an emphasis in Law and Society. She is one of the Intern Coordinators and is in charge of the hiring and training of interns participating in the Vanguard Court Watch Program. She plans to attend law school next fall and hopes to become a criminal defense attorney.

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Co-Intern Coordinator

Jojo Kofman

Jojo is a senior at the University of Vermont studying Political Science and Sociology. She is one of the Intern Coordinators and is in charge of monitoring and supervising all Vanguard Court Watch interns. She is also responsible for developing, reviewing, and optimizing articles published by interns. She is passionate about addressing injustices in the carceral system and hopes to pursue a career in criminal law.

 

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Head of Social Media and Marketing

Madison Whittemore

Madison is a junior at UC Davis studying political science with a minor in professional writing. She is the head of social media and marketing at Vanguard. She hopes to pursue a career in criminal law and criminal justice reform after graduating.

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Editorial Board


Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald

Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald is a graduate of UC Davis, mom, wife, and community activist whose issues of interest include social justice/criminal rights, foster/adopt kinship care and access to early childhood education for all. Cecilia has also worked and directed a non-profit advocating for affordable housing and homeless issues. Cecilia has served on the city of Davis-UC Davis Commission, Recreation & Parks Commission, the Human Relations Commission and the Policy Accountability Commission of the City of Davis.

 


 

 

Joshua Kaizuka

With over 15 years of legal experience, Joshua Worked as a Deputy Public Defender in Yolo County and a civil rights attorney. He now works as a private criminal defense attorney. Joshua is on the board of various non-profit organizations including the Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento, ABA Law Foundation and volunteers time for judging law school competitions, guest speaking/lecturing at local colleges, mentoring law students, helping homeless organizations and pro bon work involving First Amendment issues.

 

 


 

 

Juan E. Miranda

Juan is an author, writer, researcher, and Ph.D from the UC-Davis. He is currently part of the Board of Directors of the Vanguard contributing with his knowledge and experience in Social Justice, Community Cooperation and his International Gaze.

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Morgan Poindexter

Morgan is a Ph.D student in Immunology at UC Davis and a resident of Davis since 2016. She is a passionate community activist and organizer around the issues of policing and public safety. Morgan is dedicated to working with city officials, community members, and law enforcement to substantively transform the criminal justice system away from systematic racism and a punitive philosophy towards a just equitable and restorative system that truly keeps every community member safe.

 

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Geneviéve Jones-Wright

Geneviéve Jones-Wright was raised by her single mother in a low income home in Southeast San Diego where devotion to family and self-respect was cultivated. In keeping with her goal of “carrying the bags” of Justice Thurgood Marshall, Geneviéve earned a B.A. in mass media communications from the University of San Francisco, a J.D. from Howard Law and an L.L.M. in Trial Advocacy specializing in federal criminal defense from California Western School of Law. In 2018, she ran for San Diego County District Attorney where she offered the cure for our failing systems; more care, compassion, and concern. She quickly came to be regarded as a voice for “The People” and garnered the reputation of being a compassionate, inspirational, and humanity-centered leader. She proudly served San Diego County as a Public Defender from 2006-2009, and now serves as the inaugural Executive Director of Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance (MoGo)- an impact litigations organization she co-founded with another Black woman attorney that works to achieve racial justice and hold Government accountable to all people, especially those who have been disenfranchised. Everyday she works to dismantle our criminal legal system as it now exists to achieve a more just and equitable system for all.

 


 

Bob Saunders

Bob Saunders has a mixed business and non-profit industry background, as well as involvement in many volunteer causes. His past non-profit background includes experience working for several major organizations as a fundraiser, campaign organizer and manager, event organizer and manager, and as a communications manager. His business experience includes being a professional photographer, a business manager, a project manager and coordinator, a stock exchange representative, an insurance company manager, a sales representative, a sales manager, and more. He also a long-time background in many civil rights, social justice, human rights and environmental justice causes, as an activist, organizer, planner, strategist, volunteer, and Court Watcher— Occupy Sacramento, Crunch Nestle’ Alliance, The Anti-Monsanto Project, the Anti-Police Brutality Movement, the Family Rights/Children’s Rights movement, the Court Reform movement, Reforming Child Protective Services (CPS) movement, and the Homeless Rights movement. In addition, he has been a board member with several organizations: the California Guild, the Justice Reform Coalition, the National Lawyers Guild, the Earthstock Foundation, and more). Bob’s many years of experience in event organization, planning and management, fundraising, team building and team leading, logistics, lobbying, public relations, writing press releases, conducting media interviews, conducting research for informational purposes, writing White Papers, writing Fact Sheets for the media and other groups, etc., has come in handy on the various projects and events that he has been involved in.  Bob strongly believes in and practices the theory of, “Chop Wood, Carry Water.”


 

Joan Parkin

Joan Parkin is Professor Emerita at Feather River College and the author of Perspectives from the Cell House, An Anthology of Prisoner Writings and The Prisoners and The Podium. She received her bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minors in French and Philosophy from Boston University and PhD in Comparative Literature from The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Her dissertation was a comparative Marxist analysis of Richard Wright’s Native Son and Albert Camus’ L’Étranger. She is the former Director and co-founder of Feather River College’s Incarcerated Student Program and has taught college students inside the prisons for over a decade. As an organizer for the Campaign to End the Death Penalty in Chicago, Joan was a leading abolitionist who helped free five wrongfully convicted death row inmates. Today she teaches English to incarcerated students for Boston University’s Prison Education Program and continues to do anti-racist and social justice work.

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