The Inland Valley News Announces Joe Romero Community Builder

By Naomi Bonman

IVN Staff Writer

Upland, CA- The Celebration of Excellence Gala will also be presenting a Community Builders award in honor of the late Chief Joe Romero. This year the award will be presented to Pastor Brian and Hilda Kennedy.

Pastor Brian Kennedy has been the Senior Pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church since 1998 in Ontario, California. For over eleven years, he was on the management team of Prison Fellowship as the Los Angeles Area Director. Under his leadership, the Los Angeles area grew significantly, reaching out to numerous volunteers, churches and prison officials in five distinct regions including; Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. His wife, Hilda Kennedy, is Executive Director of AmPac Tri State Certified Development Company (CDC) in San Bernardino, California. She has worked in local government in the City of Inglewood for more than 12 years. Under Ms Kennedy’s leadership as Director of Economic and Business Development, the City adopted a Citywide Economic Development Strategic Plan, which involved the participation of residents, business leaders, staff and elected officials.

The late Chief Romero was a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) conducted by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in Massachusetts. He earned Advanced and Management certification from the California Commission on Peace Officer Training (POST). He graduated from the POST Command College and in his educational achievement he earned a bachelors degree in Public Administration and a master’s degree in Criminal Justice.

Romero was someone who was interested in children and teens and was always available to support programs for youth whether it was department’s Gang Resistance Education and Training Program through which students learned problem-solving skills and ways to deal with challenging situations or supporting a spelling bee or speech contest.

“Romero had a way of quickly establishing relationships with children, even with the shy, introverted ones,” said Virginia Madrigal, who began working with him in the mid-1990s and did so more intensely through the Community Engagement Group.