Keynote Speaker

LEA ENDRES
Co-Founder & CEO, NationBuilder
Lea Endres is an entrepreneur, educator and human rights advocate. A renowned facilitator, she has spent most of her life working to make the tools of leadership available to everyone.
Lea’s commitment to leadership began as a fifteen-year-old working with the Oakland-based California Association of Student Councils. Hooked on the idea that a well-organized community could accomplish anything, she spent the next few decades training people all over the world – from mayors in Japan to teachers in Compton. She ran education programs at WorldLink Foundation and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights before helping to found Green for All, an organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy. Inspired by the internet’s revolutionary potential to make leadership and community building easier and more accessible, Lea ultimately joined Jim Gilliam and Jesse Haff in creating NationBuilder. She served as the company’s Chief of Staff and then President, before becoming CEO in 2017.

California State Budget Reduces Barriers to Housing Production and Extends Deadline for Regional Early Action Planning (REAP 2.0) Program
Earlier this week, the governor signed the 2025-2026 state budget, which includes a suite of reforms to reduce barriers to housing production.

Connect SoCal 2024 Implementation Update: Sustainable Communities Strategy Accepted
On May 7, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) informed SCAG that it had accepted SCAG’s determination that the Connect SoCal 2024 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS) meets CARB’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets.

General Assembly Elects 2025-26 Board Officers
The General Assembly voted to approve the nominations for the SCAG 2025-26 Regional Council officers as recommended by the Regional Council: Hon. Cindy Allen (City of Long Beach) will serve as 2025-26 Regional Council president; Hon. Ray Marquez (City of Chino Hills) will serve as Regional Council first vice president; and Hon. Jenny Crosswhite (City of Santa Paula) will serve as Regional Council second vice president. Leadership also recognized Hon.

Surface Transportation Block Grant and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program Call for Project Nominations Now Open
The federal fiscal year 2026-27 and federal fiscal year 2027-28 Surface Transportation Block Grant program (STBG) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program (CMAQ) SCAG online application opened for all eligible applicants on March 31. This application will be available through May 16 at 5 p.m.

Surface Transportation Block Grant and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program Guidelines Now Available
On March 6, the SCAG Regional Council approved the federal fiscal year 2026-27 and federal fiscal year 2027-28 Surface Transportation Block Grant program (STBG) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program (CMAQ) Program Guidelines.