Irene Fertik is a community artist, teacher, and photographer whose work has appeared in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and books. Her collection of photographs contains images of New York City in the decade from 1967 to 1977 (Black construction workers of all trades, Black theater, Black dance, jazz, civil rights activities, other aspects of Black life and culture), Israel, (kibbutz life,…

The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center preserves and encourages appreciation of Japanese and Japanese American heritage and culture. The center's Franklin D. Murphy Library has a comprehensive collection of books in English and Japanese about the Japanese community in the United States. The library also holds books in English and Japanese about Japan and about Japanese culture, arts,…

The June L. Mazer Lesbian Collection, formerly the West Coast Lesbian Collections, was founded in Oakland, California, in 1981. Six years later it was moved to Los Angeles by Connexxus Women's Center/Centro de Mujeres, and it acquired its present name in 1987 after the death of June L. Mazer, a community activist and an invaluable supporter of the collection.

Joris Debeij is the creator of I Am Los Angeles (www.iamlosangeles.com) -- a website project containing video portaits that capture some of L.A.'s most interesting and creative residents. In the words of Good Magazine writer Alissa Walker: "For each portrait, Debeij succeeds in capturing both how a single person can make a difference within the context of a sprawling city, and how each voice is a…