OFFICERS
Tunua Thrash Executive Director
As Executive Director of West Angeles Community Development Corporation, Ms. Thrash has proven her commitment to the organization's mission by increasing social and economic justice, demonstrating compassion, and alleviating poverty throughout the community. West Angeles Community Development Corporation is the community outreach arm of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, a 25,000 member mega-church in Los Angeles. A native Angeleno, Ms. Thrash is admired for her ability to provide a unique sense of perspective while analyzing and managing the real estate development process in some of the country's most complicated marketplaces.
Prior to joing West Angeles Community Development Corporation as Executive Director, Ms. Thrash served as a Director for Green Door Advisors, an urban real estate advisory firm. Her numerous accomplishments with the firm drew upon her real estate development expertise in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Ms. Thrash is a highly-skilled community redevelopment leader with an unparalleled ability to connect various stakeholders such as non-profit coalitions, political leaders, faith-based organizations, and lending institutions.
Ms. Thrash spent over four years serving as Managing Director of Housing and Economic Development for West Angeles Community Development Corporation where she oversaw more than $100 million in real estate assets and development projects, brokered public-private relationships with equity partners, and structured complex financing from multiple sources. She has also previously worked as Director of Commercial Revitalization for a Massachusetts-based development corporation. While in that role, she assisted in the acceleration of private capital investment throughout Roxbury, an inner city Boston neighborhood.
As a graduate of the Greenlining Institute's Academy Program, Ms. Thrash spent over a decade working in a number of notable positions with the Institute including Director of Innovation, Program Manager, Co-Founder of the Alumni Board Association, and member of the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors.
Ms. Thrash received Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an emphasis on urban economic development and a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Thrash is also a graduate of the Ross Minority Program in Real Estate sponsored by the University of Southern California's Lusk Center.
Along with a host of other designations and distinctions, Ms. Thrash is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Board Member of the Los Angeles Development Fund, and former Commissioner for the Los Angeles Housing Authority.
Chief Executive Officer / Emeritus
As co-founder and Chief Executive officer, Mrs. Lula B. Ballton has led West Angeles CDC (WACDC) to receive numerous awards for cutting edge programs: A Best Practices Award from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for the organization's signature housing development-West A Homes and a Presidential Commendation for its dispute resolution programs. Under Dr. Ballton's leadership the organization has grown from four staff to 20 full-time staff, WACDC has developed nearly 400 units of affordable housing, trained over 600 adults and 3,000 youths in dispute resolution/mediation, and assisted over 175 individuals through the Empower employment placement program. Dr. Ballton received a BA from California State University, Los Angeles, a MA from Northwestern University, and a JD from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law.
Director of Operations
Robert J. Norris, Jr. is Director of Operations of West Angeles Community Development Corporation (CDC) of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ. He was a member of the Board of Directors, was employed as Executive Vice President of the Century Housing Corporation in Culver City, California for. He was appointed President of MoreThanShelter Programs at Century Housing where he managed the development and operations of two charter Schools, a scattered site afterschool tutorial program, a all trades pre-apprenticeship training center, resident services program and homebuyer education services.
Mr. Norris served as Deputy Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Century Freeway Housing Program. He worked as Deputy Director of Housing Development, for the San Diego Housing Commission, where he had responsibility for overseeing Housing Development, Public Housing Maintenance, Public Housing New Construction, First Time Homebuyer Programs, and Rehabilitation Programs.
In addition to over twenty years of experience in housing and community development Robert has undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Masters Degree in Organizational Development. Robert is a Board member and the Treasurer of LINC Housing and is completing his fifth year as a member of the Board of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
