Dave Manson has a lengthy and diverse background in education, non-profit management,
government service, and private sector sales and marketing. Starting his career as a classroom
teacher in South Central Los Angeles in the late 1980’s, Dave soon migrated to leadership in the
non-profit arena as Director and Executive Director of a variety of community benefit
corporations. His work in the nonprofit arena spanned community development efforts in
prisoner reentry and criminal justice reform, affordable housing, youth development, and food
insecurity.
David has been involved in the drafting of legislation, lobbying of elected officials for sound,
evidence-based public and fiscal policies around public safety and reentry issues, coordination
and collaboration of care and services for the reentry population in one of California’s largest
counties, direct delivery of services to that population, and providing consultative services in
solution to systemic barriers to effective partnering.
Dave also served as a Baptist Minister and High School Basketball Coach for 25 years, and was
selected in 2001 by the Contra Costa Times as the San Francisco Bay Area Coach of the Year. In
2007, Dave was selected by the San Francisco Foundation as a Koshland Civic Unity Fellow as a
result of his work in community transformation.
Dave transitioned from his work on the front lines of community service to work for California Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata as his Deputy District Director, responsible for operations of the Senator’s district office, public safety and violence prevention issues and legislation, and alsowas the inaugural Chair of the Alameda County Reentry Network.
After the Senator termed out of office, Dave entered the private sector, where he excelled in
sales and marketing. Dave was soon drawn back into his mission-driven work in the nonprofit
sector where he continued to successfully impact his local and regional communities through
collaborative community transformation projects.
Building effective community partnerships through strong relationships that are respectful of
each partners’ goals and missions has been a key to Dave’s success.