David Ambroz

David Ambroz is a national poverty and child welfare expert and advocate, Emmy nominated, Nautilus Award winner, and best-selling author. He was recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change. He currently serves as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon. He previously led Corporate Social Responsibility for Walt Disney Television, and has served as president of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission as well as a California Child Welfare Councilmember.

After growing up homeless and then in foster care, he graduated from Vassar College and later from UCLA School of Law (J.D.). He is a foster dad and lives in Los Angeles, CA. 

His memoir, titled “A Place Called Home,” is a personal account of his experiences with poverty and homelessness as a young queer child. "In foster care, I was diagnosed as suffering from gender identification disorder, or GID, because I was queer – and clearly so. The outright hostility, violence and neglect for that part of my identity was manifest. There are so many parts of my life that were a struggle, but the societal distaste for queer people was a lesson drilled into me by state-sanctioned violence. We need queer parents today, not because this is still the law, but because children need strong and gorgeous queer role models. Not just queer children, but all children, all of which deserve families."

Ambrose will speak from 6-7 PM. The remaining hour is reserved for sharing and support. You do not need to RSVP to join us in person. If you prefer to attend via Zoom, please RSVP and we will send an email with the link to join us the night before the event. This is not a library sponsored event. You'll find us in the meeting room to your left as you enter the library.