Our Team
Dr. David C. Turner III – Senior Advisor
Dr. David C. Turner III joins the ABMoC team as a Senior Advisor, working with the team to further develop internal infrastructure and on campaigns to uplift community schools, transform school discipline, and decriminalize youth and communities of color. Prior to joining the ABMoC team in an official capacity, Dr. Turner was a partner with the Alliance as the manager of the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition in Los Angeles, a part of the inaugural ABMoC Data Fellowship with the Tableau foundation, and as a staff member with the Social Justice Learning Institute in Inglewood, CA, his hometown.
Dr. Turner brings years of experience to the team, having successfully co-led and supported campaigns to reinvest resources from carceral institutions to life-sustaining ones, driven large-scale participatory action research projects, and worked to change youth and education policy at both the local and state levels. Notable campaigns include the movement to reallocate school police dollars to a Black student achievement plan in LAUSD, eliminating willful defiance for grades K-8 at the state level, and working to collect and analyze over 24,000 surveys as a member of the Research team with Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and the People’s Budget LA Coalition.
Dr. Turner holds a Ph.D. in Education from UC Berkeley, a Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Africana Studies from CSU Dominguez Hills. He also holds an appointment with the Department of Social Welfare as an assistant professor of Black Life and Racial Justice at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. When he’s not organizing, teaching, or writing, you can catch him and his wife at the latest Marvel movie premiere, trying to keep his blood pressure down while watching Lakers games, or somewhere near a basketball court.
Eric Morrison-Smith – Executive Director
Eric Morrison-Smith is the Executive Director for the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color (ABMoC). He formerly was the Policy Director for the Alliance and supported the network’s operations and communications. As the Executive Director, Eric works to center directly-impacted people and grassroots organizations to translate their vision and aspirations into structural change and works with network partners to build power to abolish systems of oppression and transform the material conditions of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color.
Eric has worked at PolicyLink, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and RISE San Diego, where he focused on strategy, communications, and youth organizing for policy and system change efforts. He currently sits on the boards of Mid City-CAN and Center for Policy Initiatives and the Policy and Advocacy Committee for Catalyst San Diego. In his free time, he loves to read, work out, cook/eat good food, and will watch anything and everything comics-related.
Gustavo López – Deputy Director
Gustavo is the Deputy Director at the Alliance for Boys and men of Color. He supports the Executive Director in managing operations, logistics and team development. He also leads the research, evaluation, and data work for the Alliance. Prior to joining ABMoC, Gustavo led the research agenda for the Southern Border Communities Coalition of Alliance San Diego, focusing on migration and border policies. He guided the development and launch of the Border Lens data portal, which aggregates economic and demographic data on the border region. Gustavo also worked as a research analyst at the Pew Research Center where he focused on demographic and survey research. He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Purdue University, and a master’s of public policy degree from UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. He lives in San Diego and enjoys running, adding to his growing collection of plants, and baking.
Jedi Jimenez – Membership & Network Coordinator
Jedi Jimenez has dedicated himself to social justice and helping create change in Long Beach, CA, starting at age 15 when he was a youth participant of the Filipino Migrant Center’s youth program. Growing up as a son to migrant parents from the Philippines, his experiences as a youth growing up in poverty and hardship, and being pushed out of school compelled him to take part in changing the material conditions of his community. Jedi eventually helped organize local Filipino youth to become leaders and agents of change in their community. Social justice and resistance through music has always been his passion in movement work. Jedi became an Operations Coordinator for Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition from 2021-2025. He then helped build the infrastructure and eventually became Co-Director in leading Administration, Finance, and Operations for BSS. Now, Jedi serves as Membership & Network Coordinator for ABMoC utilizing his experience in coalition and alliance building.
