The Next 50 Years Project (Next-50) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “prepare pioneers for what comes next.” Building on the progress achieved in the first 50 years of the civil rights movement, our goal is to bring forth what has not yet been done regarding the racial divide, social equity and community engagement — especially in the area of police & community relations.

The Next 50 Years Project’s (NEXT-50) purpose is to develop, deliver, and offer specialized programs and training opportunities that teach “evolutionary” leadership skills. We are dedicated to providing unparalleled educational methodologies — for both adults and youth — and support those we serve to become “leader-pioneers” courageously focused on bettering our communities, our country and our world!

 

Rev. Aliah K. MaJon, Ph.D.

Founder of the Next 50 Years Project, Rev. Dr.  Aliah is a consummate professional who empowers both youth and adults to determine their own destiny and confidently step into leadership roles. She specializes in demystifying human improvement, and proudly holds a trademark for a 7-step process that outlines what it takes to turn one’s life around. A product of inner city Detroit and a mother who lost her only child to suicide, Dr. Aliah enthusiastically teaches that self-examination and constantly updating your vision for the future must go hand-in-hand.

In the Los Angeles area, Dr. Aliah is a Trauma-Informed Schools Specialist and a Master Trainer for Restorative Justice in association with Generation Ready, and most recently served as the Lead Consultant for Social-Emotional Learning for the Compton Unified School District. She is also a partner to the LAPD’s Community Relationship Division, and has worked extensively with Days of Dialogue, the Martin Luther King Legacy Association (Youth Leadership Academy), and designed innovative projects for Youth Opportunities Unlimited’s after-school programs in partnership with the Intel Corp.

In the Bay Area, she has been a principal consultant for VCUSD’s Youth Justice Programs, trained high schools students to run Youth Court, and served as a principal for PROJECT RESTORE and the Positive Youth Justice Initiative, which was supported by the Sierra Health Foundation.

It should be noted that in Dr. Aliah’s work with the LAPD’s Community Relationship Division, she supports youth leaders — and adults — to create solutions for police-involved violence. Her approach is based on the “Brain Trust” model, were those who shape society engage the “critical thinking” and insights from experts regarding the problem — and in the case of the loss of life that is happening around policing, she feels that BOTH citizens and law enforcement are the needed experts!

Additionally, Dr. Aliah is an “Equity Partner” for the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and tirelessly supports educators with her original program called the “Secret Language of Equity™”, which provides pioneering communication tools for reaching students of color. Dr. Aliah also offers remote-access planning calls and consulting services to deliver “Executive Coaching & Team Coaching for Educators” to Equity-focused School Leaders across the state. Her commitment is to support emerging Equity Initiatives through the implementation process, and to help her clients to problem-solve by being only a phone call away.

Dr. Aliah also works directly with youth, young people that come from every walk of life from crossover students all the way to the academically gifted. Rev. Dr. Aliah is an ordained minister who focuses on  building a better future and the power of social transformation, utilizing her degree in “Practical Theology.” She is trained in Transpersonal Psychology and has a part-time practice as a personal growth coach and grief counselor.

Dr. Aliah is a longtime trainer and consultant in the field of diversity, and has contracted for corporate initiatives as well as government, educational and non-profit interventions since 1989. And, since removing racial barriers and assuring that all young people no matter their background receives what they need for success is a life-long passion of hers, Dr. Aliah also facilitates programs in association with the Anti-Defamation League, Centinela Youth Services and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Lastly, Dr. Aliah has served as a volunteer in several high-impact social organizations, most recently as a Commissioner for Vallejo’s Human Relations Commission and in times past she was a delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. She is a state certified mediator, and a conflict facilitation specialist, and she often incorporates Restorative Justice and Appreciative Inquiry value systems into programs as well as a wide array of her social change efforts.

 

Lori Leyden, PhD, MBA

Lori Leyden, PhD, MBA is an internationally known stress and trauma healing expert and uniquely qualified psychotherapist, author, workshop leader, inspirational speaker and humanitarian. After a near death experience, Lori developed The Grace Process, a transformative spiritual practice for heart-centered living. She is the author of The Grace Process Guidebook: A practical guide for transcending ego and engaging the wisdom of your heart and The Stress Management Handbook: Strategies for Health and Inner Peace available in English, Spanish, Arabic and Korean.  Lori holds a doctorate in Health and Human Services with a concentration in psychoneuroimmunology, and a master’s degree in Business Administration with a  concentration in management. Dr. Leyden is an Accredited Certified Master EFT Trainer with the Association for the Advancement of Energy Therapies (AAMET International) and a member of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP).

Inspired by the resilience of orphan genocide survivors she works with in Rwanda, Dr. Leyden founded the non-profit Create Global Healing (CGH) and established Project LIGHT: Rwanda – the world’s first international youth healing, heart-centered leadership and entrepreneurship program.  Project LIGHT is a new form of humanitarian aid nurturing our next generation of young people to heal, work and lead us into a peaceful future. She is the Executive Producer of When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy, a documentary chronicling the inspiring transformation of Project LIGHT Ambassadors. In only two short years they paid forward their healing to hundreds, from Rwanda to Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy was a film festival winner at Moondance, Unspoken, New York Peace, Illuminate and lead film and Audience Award Winner at Anima, in Argentina where Dr. Leyden, sponsored by the US Embassy, presented the film to an international audience.

 

Suzanne Antone, MBA 

Suzanne Antone, MBA offers expertise in diversity, cross-cultural and interpersonal communication, change management, process improvement, and instructional design. Suzanne compiled Report of the March 2014 ACSA’s Equity and Access Survey Results by the Association of California Superintendents and Administrators (ACSA). She served on the Next 50 Years’ diversity initiative with Vallejo City Unified School District cultivating leadership development among four high schools.  She was the team lead for a 2014 Girls’ Empowerment Summit addressing social media, healthy relationships, substance abuse prevention and goal setting.

Other diversity clients include Chevron, Louisiana Bar Association, Oschner Hospital, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and more. Suzanne has been involved in healthcare industry assignments with Kaiser Permanente, Hill Physician Medical Group and Deloitte Consulting for the California Genetic Disease Branch and the Affordable Care Act California Health Exchange, Covered California. Suzanne has spent her adult life exploring and collaborating with diverse groups in the communities in which she works and lives.  Her work has allowed her to live in six U.S. states and Singapore, China and the Dominican Republic.

 

Laura Mui, M.Ed., LMFT

Laura Mui, M.Ed, LMFT. is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She earned her BA in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and after a few years serving youth in schools and community based agencies across the Bay Area as a teacher, therapist, behaviorist and mentor, she found her gift in empathetic listening and interpersonal relationships.  This led her to obtain a master’s degree in both counseling psychology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University.  Laura then received additional advanced post graduate training at the Women’s Therapy Center (WTC), a social justice and feminist agency that provides low to moderate fee psychotherapy services to women, couples, adolescents and in recent years to transpersons and elders.  During her training there, Laura played a prominent role in the agency’s commitment to social justice by serving on the cultural diversity committee.

After graduating, Laura was asked to return to WTC to co-facilitate the interns’ Professional Development Group (PDG)–the space where the interns’ had the unique opportunity to address their unconscious biases and heal the traumatic effects of internalized “-isms,” in the service of training them to be more authentic, aware, and culturally skilled therapists and healers.  Laura has also earned her certificate in the Art of Mindful Facilitation from Stirfry Seminars and Consulting and is currently finishing her internship hours.  Laura offers humor, warmth, compassion, appreciation, equity, and authenticity to support people in their journey towards self-awareness, self-love, self-acceptance, and self-empowerment, believing that a person’s internal terrain is the least traveled and the most rewarding and impactful for both personal and community healing and transformation.