Latino Development Organization
About the LDO
The Latino Development Organization (LDO) serves the Monroe Correctional Complex, and works to achieve equity for all prisoners, with a focus on the Latinx community, by maximizing their educational, professional, and personal development opportunities.
Our Board members, volunteers, and inmate participants work in solidarity to deepen the knowledge of, and appreciation for Latino culture both behind and beyond prison walls. We draw upon community-oriented Latino values to provide culture, education, art and other accessible pathways to rehabilitation - while fostering increasingly positive interactions and partnerships with other inmate groups.
Our Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of LDO meets regularly with Executive Committee members of the LDO Inmate Advisory Board (IAB) for consultation, planning and consensus building. All major decisions, including Board recruitment, are vetted through both groups. The LDO Board will not act without consultation or consent of the IAB.
Carlos B. Gil, President (he/his)
Carlos is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Washington, where he taught Mexican American history and the History of Latin America from 1974-2004.
Dale Sewall, VP (he/his)
Dale is a retired minister who led the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church for 23 years. He has been volunteering at WSR for the past 4 years.
Anita Garcia Morales (she/her)
Anita is a life-long educator, community activist and a co-founder of a consulting group doing race and equity work locally and nationally.
Lupe Vidaurri (she/her)
Lupe is the director of HEAL with the restorative justice based organization, Collective Justice, supporting survivors and our incarcerated communities.
Elisa Cozad (she/her)
Elisa is a Staff Attorney at TeamChild and brings her experience as a public defender to her work with the LDO.
Our Volunteers & Sponsors
We are proud to work with wonderful community volunteers who help make our ongoing programs possible! In no particular order, our current volunteers are:
Manuel Jimenez
Lawrence Ortiz
Bobby Witty
Cindy Horst
Harry Horst
Elisa Cozad