Sen. Dodd: Fairfield’s Rosalind Young-Reid is Community Champion

FAIRFIELD -- After 17 years as a San Francisco police officer, Rosalind Young-Reid was all too familiar with the fate of many young people growing up in poverty or without direction who wind up incarcerated – or worse.  So the Fairfield resident devoted a second career to ensuring Solano County children don’t fall through the cracks, first working as a teacher and a drop-out prevention specialist, and later joining the Solano County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Commission. For her efforts, which include distributing tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships through the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Young-Reid is named Community Champion by Sen. Bill Dodd.

“I have a great passion for working with youth,” Rosalind Young-Reid said. “If nobody tells them how great they are, I’ve seen up close and personal what the end result is. I make it a point to inject positive motivation. I tell the kids I like them. They look at me and say, ‘really?’ People say they are ‘at-risk.’ But I say they are at-promise. I know they may have been written off but they have so much potential.”

“Rosalind is doing the work that needs to be done to ensure all of our children have a chance to succeed,” Sen. Dodd said.  “I am awestruck by her passion and commitment toward helping our most vulnerable. She is a true gem. Simply put, there need to be more people like Rosalind in our community. I am honored to recognize her achievements.”

After growing up on the East Coast and graduating from Rowan State University in New Jersey, Rosalind became a San Francisco police officer in 1985, serving in Mayor Willie Brown’s Community Policing Task Force, among many other assignments. She also earned a master’s degree in criminal justice at Golden Gate University.

An on-duty injury sidelined her career in 2002, and she began substitute teaching in the Fairfield-Suisun and Travis school districts. That work evolved into a position as a student attendance review specialist in the Vallejo City Unified School District, where she conducted home visits and helped families get their kids back in school. She was instrumental in installing a washer and dryer in a local middle school to ensure kids had clean clothes.

With the Solano County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Commission, which she joined in 2001, she conducted annual inspections of the county’s juvenile hall and police facilities and reported findings to the court. She has also helped host annual Christmas and Independence Day dinners for children at juvenile hall.

Other volunteer work includes advocating for women and registering voters. She serves on the boards of the Solano Community Foundation, and is a member of 100 Women of Solano County, the Essie Justice Group helping women with imprisoned loved ones, Heather House, which was devoted to addressing homelessness, and the Paradise Cove Neighborhood Watch.

###

Senator Bill Dodd represents the 3rd Senate District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Solano, Yolo, Sonoma, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties. You can learn more about the district and Senator Dodd at www.sen.ca.gov/dodd.