CDC Founder Named to Weingart Center Board

The Weingart Center Association (WCA) recently appointed Sabrina Kay, founder of California Design College in Los Angeles, to its board.

The 33-member association operates the Weingart Center, located in the old El Rey Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The 11-story shelter offers temporary housing, alcohol and drug detoxification and rehabilitation, and training and job assistance to over 600 homeless men and women nightly.

Kay will bring her expertise in marketing and political affairs to the nonprofit agency, which is known for its strong business orientation.

In 1991, Kay founded the California Design College, which specializes in computer fashion design. The Education Management Corp. acquired the design school in January 2003.

Currently, Kay serves as chief executive officer and chairman of Fremont Private Investments Inc., the parent corporation for Fashion Umbrella LLC, which performs private investments and joint-venture projects for the apparel industry.

As director of marketing and public relations at the WCA, Kay will create new brochures and promotion videos and head the community outreach and development programs.

Kay said she is particularly concerned by the lack of good transitional centers that can accommodate homeless women and children, whom she believes are the most vulnerable. She hopes to build a shelter where women and children can gain nutritional, medical and educational services. “Challenges always create great opportunity, and this will be a good opportunity for our society to make a difference,” she said.

Kay founded the Sabrina Kay Charitable Foundation in 2003 and is currently working with the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission to develop an internship and mentoring program for children and young adults interested in sports, entertainment and fashion. She is also independently funding Camp LAPL (Los Angeles Public Library), a summer program that teaches inner-city children about the public library system.

“If I can be lucky enough to be part of others’ lives—to inspire them to lead a little bit happier lives, that is what I would like my ministry to be,” Kay said. —Jessica Kantor