About Noreen
Community builder. Author. Filmmaker. Changemaker.
"A change-maker who believes in the power of people, art, and community to shape a more just and resilient future."
Noreen McClendon is a community builder dedicated to transforming lives through leadership, advocacy, healing, and storytelling. Her career spans decades of service, bridging the worlds of grassroots activism, arts, and policy.
Nonprofit Leadership
As Executive Director of CCSCLA, Noreen has led initiatives addressing affordable housing, economic development, environmental justice, community violence prevention, prison reform, and youth development. Over 700 affordable housing units have been delivered under her leadership.
Author & Educator
Noreen is the published author of Hurt People Highway, now a required text in California correctional facilities and at Chaminade University of Honolulu's Prison Education Program as part of their Congressional Earmark scholarship curriculum. She is also author of Living Authentically You, the Reentry Relationship Survival Guide, and several companion workbooks and Spanish editions.
Filmmaker & Storyteller
Noreen McClendon founded CCSCLA's Entertainment Industry Training Program (EITP) in 1997 and produced Something About Mother (dir. Millena Gay) and Not Without Alonzo: The Origins of West Coast Hip Hop (dir. Timothy Lee Conley).
Public Speaker & Advocate
Featured on KCRW and the LA Sentinel. Noreen speaks nationally — including at Waiawa Correctional Facility in Hawaii and inside California Department of Corrections facilities — on social justice, housing, prison reform, and community leadership.