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John Coleman
RIVERSIDE, CA- The Riverside Branch of the NAACP will be honoring community photographer and journalist, John Coleman, at its ‘Freedom Fund’ celebration which will be held on Wednesday, May 14 at the Riverside Convention Center, 3637 Fifth Street in Riverside. The Theme for this year’s event is “Forward: The Movement That Changed the World”. Mr. Coleman (MSSW, LCSW) is a retired military veteran who served in Korea. He was also employed with the California Department of Mental Hygiene from 1958 to 1968 where he provided ‘in-patient’ services at Patton State Hospital.
From 1968 to 1992, Coleman was recruited to the University of California Riverside where he served as Campus Ombudsman, University Admissions Officer, Placement Officer, Medical Social Worker and Counseling Psychologist. Also during this period of time, the military veteran taught part-time at San Bernardino Valley College in the Community Services Certificate Program, and he briefly served as a Medical Social Worker at the Loma Linda Veterans Hospital.
Mr. Coleman’s has a resume of tremendous community service where he sits on several Boards of Directors, which includes Redlands Humans Relations Council (President); Inland Area Urban League; Arrowhead United Way; National Association of Social Workers; American Cancer Society; and a countless of others. He was appointed and reappointed by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to represent the public on the Development Disabilities Area Board, XII (Area 12).
Currently, Coleman continues years of community service as the ‘community member’ on the Institutional Review Board, (IRB) , California State University, San Bernardino, the organization responsible for protecting the rights & interests of human subjects of University research. Prior to his retirement, he was recognized as the ‘historic’ value of photography in his current role as a ‘community photographer’. He attempts to identify and photograph certain individuals, organizations and events upon submitting them for dissemination to local Black Press and Media outlets. (Rewritten and edited by Naomi K. Bonman)
