Head of Pasadena Urban League to Take San Diego Job

Ibrahim Naeem, director of the Pasadena/Foothill Branch of the Los Angeles Urban League for the last five years, will leave March 19 to take over as chief executive officer of the San Diego Urban League.

Naeem was selected from among 100 applicants and 12 finalists to oversee the San Diego office, which has 34 employees and an annual budget of $1.5 million, said Deborah Brady-Davis, board chairwoman of the San Diego Urban League.

“He has a personality that will fit in perfectly with our staff and the San Diego community,” Brady-Davis said. “He can interact with the corporate aspects of the community just as comfortably and efficiently as he can interact with our constituents.”

Naeem, 41, graduated from Kent State University in Ohio and did graduate work at USC. He spent 12 years with the Pasadena Urban League office, which has a $238,000 annual budget and five staff members. As director, he spoke frequently before the Pasadena Board of Directors on issues affecting the predominantly minority northwest Pasadena community.

Under his direction, the Urban League participated in minority employment job fairs and programs with businesses and developers, including backers of the planned La Vina housing project in Altadena.

The Urban League also joined a dozen individuals and groups who opposed the city’s growth-management initiative, a building restriction measure passed by voters last year. Naeem argued that restrictions on construction would make less low-income housing available.

Naeem served on the board of the city’s Community Access Corp., a residents group that oversees access to local cable TV programming. He also belonged to the Black Male Forum and Pasadena Advocates.

Naeem will be missed in Pasadena, said community activist Don Wheeldin, adding that Naeem worked with members of the minority community who previously were overlooked or ignored.

“As result, he endeared himself to many, many people,” Wheeldin said. “I rode with him in an open car in the Black History Parade and people shouted out his name.”