CD4 Announces More Staff Hires

The office of newly installed City Council Member Nithya Raman announced three new staff hires this week.  According to a press release from the office, Raman has named Najeeba Syeed as Senior Advisor, Liz Oh as Homelessness Coordinator and Meg Healy as Planning Manager for CD4.

Syeed “will lead the office in building effective internal systems and cultivate coalitions for impact both inside City Hall and across Los Angeles…Oh will anchor the office’s proactive response to homelessness in the district and help coordinate between the Council office, City departments, County agencies, and nonprofits…” and “Healy “will assist the office in overseeing all planning projects in District 4, as well as participating in updates to the city’s Community Plans, Housing Element, and re:codeLA.”

“Najeeba’s clarity of purpose, decades of leadership in Los Angeles, and ability to nurture a team will guide us in taking on the day-to-day work of the district, while also shepherding us towards greater equity, opportunity, and justice,” Raman said in the announcement.  “Liz brings a unique combination of direct services work and critical systems analysis to LA’s most difficult and pressing challenge. And Meg’s detailed knowledge of our city’s planning processes is matched only by her commitment to housing justice. I’m awed by the depth of talent, commitment, and experience brought to bear by these three distinguished women. Our office, and all of Council District 4, is lucky to have them.”

Raman’s Director of Communications, Jesse Zwick, told the Buzz this morning that these hires bring the office’s staff “close to full strength,” though the Council Member is still finalizing both her Legislative Team and her Field Team, “which will be assigned geographically around the district.”  So at least a few more staff announcements should be coming soon.

More about the latest hires from the press release:

“Najeeba Syeed is an Associate Professor of Muslim and Interreligious Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary and director of the Center for Global Peacebuilding. She was an Associate Professor of Interreligious Education at Claremont School of Theology from 2010-2020 and is recognized as a leader in peacebuilding and social justice based research. From 2001-2008 she served as executive director for two community based conflict resolution centers in Southern California. Under her leadership, the organizations received the Jon Anson Ford Award for reducing violence in schools and in the area of interracial gang conflicts. She was named Southern California Mediation Association’s “Peacemaker of the Year” in 2007. She received a Juris Doctorate degree from Indiana University School of Law and has lived in Southern California for twenty years.

Liz Oh started her career in public service as a homeless services case manager and moved on to become an Outreach Coordinator in the LA Metro area. She has led coordination efforts integrating public sector, non-profit, and private entities to enhance and streamline homeless services while building up partnerships and collaborations to reach the most vulnerable in the city. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UC Berkeley and is currently a second-year Master’s of Public Administration student at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Meg Healy is a trained urban planner who previously worked on the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) for the Southern California Association of Governments and on public housing development projects for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. She completed her Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA in 2019 and has been involved in efforts to fight for housing justice in both Los Angeles and internationally.”